Should Vancouver create a Homeless Charter of Rights?

The city of Calgary has just unveiled the first document of its kind in Canada: a charter of rights that specifically addresses issues faced by the city's homeless population. So why hasn't our city done something similar?

According to an October 2014 count conducted by the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF), approximately 3,555 people in the city are without permanent housing, while 182 are living on the streets. The results of Metro Vancouver's latest count, which was conducted in March earlier this year, haven't been released yet, but numbers from the previous year found 2,777 people to be homeless, and 538 without shelter.

Having lived in Canada's fastest growing city for two years before moving back to my home on the coast, I witnessed on many occasions the contempt and disrespect shown by middle and upper-class Calgarians while taking public transit and walking through the downtown core's cold, dark streets.

The disparity can't possibly go unnoticed: oil tycoons in thousand-dollar suits and fur parkas stepping over members of Calgary's street population in below-freezing temperatures like they simply don't exist; a group of university students spitting on a man passed out in the train station; and police officers, bouncers, and business owners publicly humiliating individuals found temporarily sleeping in public areas trying to keep warm on Calgary's frigid winter nights.

For those living on the streets, being on the receiving end of this kind of behavior is almost expected, and for the aggressors, it has simply become the norm. 

To launch a project (or a social movement, as described by the CHF and the Alberta Human Rights Commission) like the Homeless Charter of Rights not only empowers these individuals by making them aware of the fact that they are not second-class citizens. It also tells the rest of the city that the mistreatment of these individuals is more than not okay: it goes against the very fabric of our country.

For some readers, this may seem like common knowledge, but having witnessed similar situations of aggression toward the homeless population in our own city, I find myself wondering why something similar has not yet been put into place in Vancouver.

We like to think that we've got it all together, that we're ahead of the curve and that our progressive city is working with organizations to try and make the lives of those who are living on the streets easier.

How many people really, truly know their rights? It wouldn't hurt to follow in Calgary's footsteps and release a document stating that where and how you live shouldn't determine how you're treated by other people.

 See the full charter here.