Pivot Legal Society

People are trying to survive, and they are asking for solutions. You can help spread the word and take action by following this link:
https://win.newmode.net/drugwarsurvivors/urgentsupportabbotsforddecampments

Follow our Protest Camp journey to City Hall and sign our petition!

https://win.newmode.net/drugwarsurvivors/urgentsupportabbotsforddecampments

The "police accountability" system in so-called B.C. is failing Indigenous Peoples, while they are overpoliced and underprotected.

We must stand in solidarity with Indigenous families demanding justice.

Learn more and take action:

Impacted Families Call for Inquiry Amidst Failings of Civilian Police Oversight in B.C. Impacted Families Call for Inquiry Amidst Failings of Civilian Police Oversight in B.C. Join the call and stand in solidarity with Indigenous families: https://www.pivotlegal.org/demandjustice

📣 Join the call for a national & provincial inquiry into the disturbing & disproportionate police-involved killings & deaths of Indigenous people, & for a formal, nationwide tracking system:

https://win.newmode.net/pivotlegalsociety/demandjusticeforindigenouspeoples

Indigenous people are 10x more likely to be shot and killed by police than white people. Even though Indigenous people make up only 5% of the population, they represent approximately 40% of those fatally shot by RCMP and other police forces. Coupled with low charge approval rate from BC Crown Prosecutions Services, (2019-2024 only 18 out of the 39 cases referred by the IIO to Crown for charges were actually approved, and not a single case where officers contested the charges has resulted in a conviction), These statistics reflect the historic and institutionalized racism of police and RCMP towards Indigenous people.

Join us and stand in solidarity with the families mourning the loss of their loved ones.

https://win.newmode.net/pivotlegalsociety/demandjusticeforindigenouspeoples

Pivot is seeking a qualified and motivated individual to direct the organization's finances on a part-time (approximately 24 hours per week) basis for six to twelve months.

Compensation for the position includes: Salary of $52,500 per annum (based in 24 hours of work per week.)

The successful candidate will be eligible for health benefits from their start date, without any probation period.

This is an interim, part-time exempt management position. The position is expected to be primarily in-office due to the nature of the role, with some flexibility to work remotely.

Please review full job description of the role, and how to apply: https://www.pivotlegal.org/work

Are you a member looking to get more involved? Are you a supporter wishing to make an impact by providing governance support to Pivot Legal Society? Look no further – Join Pivot’s Board of Directors!

For more information about the role, what we are specifically looking for, and how to apply, check out https://www.pivotlegal.org/work

Please note: You must be a member of Pivot Legal Society to apply. Deadline to apply for membership for the purposes of being considered for Board of Directors is May 31st. The deadline to apply for the Board of Directors is the end of the day, June 3rd.

Join Pivot and PACE Society in so-called Toronto, on Fri., May 10th, 2024, for a panel on policing race, gender and s*x work with insights from scholar-activists, lawyers, and organizers in s*x workers’ rights and broader racial justice movements. This panel will offer reflections on the recent Charter challenge to the s*x work laws, create a shared space to deconstruct the harms of policing that invariably impacts the lives of racialized communities, and offer Black feminist frameworks for decrim by connecting intersecting struggles against s*x work criminalization, drug policy, policing and racial violence.

Fri., May 10th, 2024, in person | 5pm EST

RSVP at bit.ly/s*xworkdecrim2024 for location

It's time for the BC government to stop focusing on how to evict tent cities, and instead start meaningfully supporting precariously-housed people.

Join the BCCLA, BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, West Coast LEAF, Pivot Legal Society in stopping forced evictions and sign the letter today: https://ow.ly/1hSI50QK1HA

📣📣📣 Join BC Civil Liberties Association, and Pivot, in calling for a human rights based approach to tent cities.

~Link in bio~

We wish that "cracking down" on tent cities meant ensuring that all people currently unhoused or precariously housed were getting access to the housing they need.

Unfortunately, with the passing of the idea of reasonably adequate shelter will be used to evict unhoused peoples, infringing on residents’ rights and dignity.

There are eight principles articulated by the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing and endorsed by the Federal Housing Advocate that give the BC Government a clear path forward.

Take action and sign the letter now!
~Link in bio~

Pivot has moved and we are now located at & members of

We're pretty excited since we will be sharing this building with many of our community partners & allies, which presents the exciting prospect of deepening collaboration & solidarity.

Also, it's pet friendly🐶

Pivot has moved and we are now located at & members of 312 Main

We're pretty excited since we will be sharing this building with many of our community partners & allies, which presents the exciting prospect of deepening collaboration & solidarity.

Also, it's pet friendly 🐶

Big news: Pivot is moving! At the end of this month, our new chapter will begin at 312 Main. Thank you for being a part of proud legacy we created at 121 Heatley, our home base of nearly two decades!

If you’d like to support us as we pack our boxes this month, please consider making a donation today:

Join the fight for human rights Unjust laws and policies criminalize marginalized communities across Canada, and we're fighting to change these oppressive systems to ensure that dignity and fairness are rooted in the law.

Words are important. By changing the words we choose to use when talking about s*x work, we can begin to alter the way wider society views s*x workers and s*x work.

Read “Let’s talk about s*x work” – a terminology statement and guide: https://nswp.org/resource/nswp-publications/lets-talk-about-s*x-work-terminology-statement-and-guide

This week, the BC Supreme Court released a critical decision in Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society (VACFSS) v R.R. This decision impacts how families can seek remedies for discriminatory practices by child welfare agencies.

While we’re pleased that families can address their human rights concerns at the Tribunal, errors found in the Tribunal’s decision means that Afro-Indigenous mother R.R. will now have to navigate another Tribunal case or appeal the BCSC decision.
Read our press release: https://westcoastleaf.org/press-release-bc-supreme-court-confirms-human-rights-tribunal-jurisdiction-but-sends-indigenous-mother-back-to-the-court/

Will continue its legacy of supporting kindred colonial outposts in the subjugation of and genocidal campaign against Palestinians, or will it embrace an arms embargo against Israel (at the very least), and support the interim orders of the ?

Pivot's statement of solidarity for Palestine and analysis of the legal frameworks upholding colonial complicity in the occupation of Palestine.

Pivot's Statement of Solidarity With Palestine Pivot wishes to voice full support for a permanent ceasefire and for the liberation of Palestine from settler colonization and imperialism. We unequivocally condemn the genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing that the nation-state of Israel has waged against the Palestinian people for over 75 years,....

VICTORY: Today the British Columbia Supreme Court ordered a suspension of BC's ban on public drug consumption, citing irreparable harm to our client, The Harm Reduction Nurses Association and their clients, many of whom live in communities that have fought to oppose supervised consumption sites and overdose prevention sites.

Read the joint press release from Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Pivot, and the Harm Reduction Nurses Association below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: BC Supreme Court rules in favour of Harm Reduction Nurses Association, pauses coming into force of BC’s public drug consumption law - Canadian Drug Policy Coalition FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: BC Supreme Court rules in favour of Harm Reduction Nurses Association, pauses coming into force of BC’s public drug consumption law xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, sḵwx̱wú7mesh & səlilwətaɬ...

Pivot will be in Court tomorrow on behalf of the seeking to stop BC’s new public use law from coming into effect. Rather than use its powers to ensure supervised consumption services across BC, the Province is punishing people who use drugs. Read HRNA's statement here:
https://www.hrna-aiirm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HRNA-to-Challenge-Bill-34-Statement-20231113.pdf

🌟 Do you love the work Pivot does? This , please consider donating so we can continue advocating for justice and equality into 2024! 🌟

https://ow.ly/hEJ750QcfVm

On Friday, November 24th at 5PM ET/ 2 PM PT, we invite you to join Pivot and PACE Society for a s*x work decrim workshop. This virtual event will offer an intersectional lens on policing race, gender and s*x work, as well as provide practical tools to support critically informed engagement for s*x workers, advocates, scholar activists, lawyers, and organizers, to advocate for better policies, and principled struggle in social movements for s*x workers’ rights!

Friday, November 24, 2023
5-7 PM EST/ 2-4 PM PST
ONLINE – ASL interpretation will be provided
RSVP à https://bit.ly/s*xworkdecrim

Pivot has signed on to this open letter condemning the pervasive repression of speech and scholarship on Palestinian Liberation as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens.

As a human rights advocacy organization, we stand in solidarity with Palestinian people in their struggle for survival and self-determination in the face of what an increasing number of international law and human rights experts are calling an ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Like the hundreds of undersigned, we denounce the persistent conflation of expressions of solidarity with Palestinians and criticism of the State of Israel with unacceptable hate, such as anti-Semitism. Pivot vehemently denounces these attempts to stifle fundamental rights to assembly and freedom of thought, belief, and expression.

As an organization working within the colonial law on stolen lands, the core of Pivot’s work is the condemnation of all forms of dehumanization, stigmatization, and discrimination, whether that be Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-poor discrimination, or the criminalization of people who use drugs, people who do s*x work, and people who are unhoused.



https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR5d4qAEKPBRh3tVnZEX7LdbCNZxyF-KVIR56tlbJyMF9P5m1WOz9uooNvni7M5W0kFk3iwGAzoeN7E/pub

"Nurses know that providing access to a regulated drug supply is an effective, evidence-based response to the drug poisoning crisis. We also know that advancing safe supply in an equitable way will require a diversity of approaches, including but not limited to community-led models such as DULF’s compassion club."

Nurses Condemn the Arrests of Safe Supply Providers | The Tyee Now is not the time to strong-arm an end to community-led models of safe supply.

MEDIA ADVISORY & PRESS RELEASE

What: The BC Court of Appeal is set to hear McNeil v. Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, which stands to impact core housing rights and tenancy protections for low-income communities.

When: Monday October 16, 2023, at 8:30 AM

Where: 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC [Smithe Street Entrance]

Who: Our Homes Can’t Wait (OHCW) members, Pivot Legal Society (PIVOT) and the BC Civil Liberties Association

McNeil v. Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver: Tenancy rights at stake! MEDIA ADVISORY When: Monday October 16, 2023 at 8:30 AM Where: 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC - Smithe Street entrance Who: Our Homes Can’t Wait (OHCW) members, Pivot Legal Society (PIVOT), and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA)

Today the Province introduced yet more restrictions on its already meagre decrim policy. BC’s planned legislation will ban public use in all parks, beaches, bus stops, and doorways.

It is telling that BC has caved to unevidenced moral panic by recriminalizing PWUD rather than enforce a 7-year-old Ministerial Order requiring health authorities to establish OPS – an order that has been violated by each and every health authority since 2016. Even in communities that refuse to establish OPS, the new law will be enforceable.

We will be updating our Know Your Rights cards in the coming weeks.

BREAKING: Following our recent notice to challenge section 4(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (drug possession), Public Prosecution Service of Canada has issued a stay of proceedings, meaning that this particular case will no longer proceed.

While excellent news for our client, we know that many others continue to be criminalized for the personal possession of drugs at direct cost to their health, safety, and rights.

We remain committed to fighting drug prohibition and will post updates as they arise.

Sarah Runyon and Caitlin Shane file Charter challenge to drug possession at BC Provincial Court PRESS RELEASE - Challenging Canada’s prohibition on drug possession. Application filed last week at BC Provincial Court by Sarah Runyon (Marion & Runyon Criminal Lawyers) and Caitlin Shane (Pivot Legal Society). Stay tuned as the case proceeds.

While the rights of marginalized communities in low-income neighbourhoods have been continuously trampled on, these same communities have rich traditions of organizing in tenant associations where people impacted by housing precarity come together to organize and advocate for improved housing conditions that advance housing as a human right. We recognize that there is strength in numbers in resisting landlords and in being able to advocate for housing protections for those who need it most.

Read more about how Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition and Pivot are fighting for housing protections for those who need it most: https://www.pivotlegal.org/building_community_power_for_housing_as_a_human_right_pt_3

PRESS RELEASE - Challenging Canada’s prohibition on drug possession. Application filed last week at BC Provincial Court by Sarah Runyon (Marion & Runyon Criminal Lawyers) and Caitlin Shane (Pivot Legal Society). Stay tuned as the case proceeds.

Sarah Runyon and Caitlin Shane file Charter challenge to drug possession at BC Provincial Court PRESS RELEASE - Challenging Canada’s prohibition on drug possession. Application filed last week at BC Provincial Court by Sarah Runyon (Marion & Runyon Criminal Lawyers) and Caitlin Shane (Pivot Legal Society). Stay tuned as the case proceeds.