Human-rights complaint alleges East Van shut out of advance voting

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      A First Nations man has filed a human-rights complaint against the City of Vancouver because of the lack of advance voting locations in East Vancouver and, particularly, the Downtown Eastside.

      In a statement released on October 30 and emailed to the Straight the next day, Mark Handley wrote: "Advance voting in the Vancouver municipal election is practically unattainable for a vast majority of people who are poor and Aboriginal.  Advance polls shut out the most vulnerable of Vancouver’s population:  the homeless and the poor residing in the Downtown Eastside, Mt. Pleasant, Grandview Woodlands and E. Hastings."

      The release stated that Handley filed the complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal on October 28, noting that the homeless, poor, and aboriginal "population is being discriminated against based on ancestry, place of origin and source of income, with preferential treatment being given to wealthier people living on the west side of Vancouver".

      The statement also noted: “There is a large percentage of Aboriginal people who are homeless, do not have access to a computer to register to vote and do not have identification,” stated Mr. Handley. “They are further disenfranchised by not being able to get to advance polls between November 4-12, 2014 because they do not and cannot afford to travel outside the communities they live in.” Each of the east side designated advance polling stations are an average of 50 blocks away from the downtown core, making them unattainable for the majority of poor and marginalized people."

      Neither Handley nor human-rights lawyer barbara findlay were available by phone at deadline.

      Vancouver's city clerk/chief election officer, Janice MacKenzie, announced the eight advance voting stations back on June 25 this year. 

      They are: Vancouver City Hall, Kerrisdale Community Centre, Killarney Community Centre, Kitsilano Community Centre, Roundhouse Community Centre, Sunset Community Centre, Thunderbird Community Centre, and the West End Community Centre.

      “We want to make the locations as accessible and as convenient as possible,” MacKenzie told reporters at the time. “We want to make casting a ballot as quick and as easy as possible.”

      The city clerk is appointed by council.

      The city has turned down requests to open advance voting stations closer to downtown, even though the Trout Lake and Britannia community centres and the Union Gospel Mission have offered their premises. Union Gospel has now announced that it will offer a shuttle service to the stations.

      "It is very telling that priority is given to the west side of the population who have 9 days to vote at their leisure while the east side of Vancouver only has one day to cast a ballot, due to the fact that advance polls are not available where the people live,” Handley stated in the release.

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