The legality of overnight sheltering in Victoria parks is headed back to court, as a group of unhoused people challenges the city’s restrictions.
The case comes 15 years after a precedent-setting ruling from B.C.’s top court that found Victoria could not ban people from sleeping in parks overnight if indoor accommodation wasn’t available.
Alex Kirby, the lawyer representing the three petitioners, says that since that ruling the city has been slowly “chipping away” at the number of parks in the city that unhoused people are allowed to sleep in.
He said there were just five such parks left when the city closed two more where the petitioners were sheltering, Irving Park and Vic Park West.
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“It’s very clear from the case law that you can’t put a blanket ban on sheltering outside, so it follows that you can’t achieve the same result by chipping away at people’s rights one by one until you get to the point …