Dear Mayor Sim, Vancouver City Councillors, and the Vancouver Police Department:

Last week, during the middle of an extreme weather alert due to the cold and falling snow,1 the City of Vancouver (“the City”) and the Vancouver Police Department (“VPD”) evicted people from their shelters – their best and generally only housing option – on the 100-Block of East Hastings Street (the “Evictions”). These shelters were part of what community members refer to as the Hastings Street Encampment (the “Encampment”). The BC Civil Liberties Association (“BCCLA”) and Pivot Legal Society (“Pivot”) have serious concerns about the constitutionality of these actions and in particular the City’s unnecessary deployment of police officers.