NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — The City of Abbotsford is wrong to blame the homeless for defecating in public spaces after dumping chicken manure at encampments in an effort to evict people, a lawyer has argued.
David Wotherspoon, with the Pivot Legal Society, said the city is discriminating against the homeless with bylaws that prohibit them from setting up camps overnight.
He wants a B.C. Supreme Court judge to declare such measures unconstitutional.
The homeless are being criminalized for leaving human waste and garbage at camps but the city isn't providing needed services, Wotherspoon told Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson on Tuesday.
"People make garbage, people have to urinate, people have to defecate. They have to do it somewhere," he said.
"Blaming Abbotsford's homeless for the existence of those circumstances is, effectively, blaming the victim," said Wotherspoon, who represents the War Drug Survivors.
"Suggesting that Abbotsford's homeless should be responsible for the choice of being homeless is wrong," he said.
"There are real choices being made, but those are choices that relate to the city — the choice not to provide a variety of services."
Lawyers for the city were expected to make closing arguments later Tuesday in response to the lawsuit.
The trial, which began in June, has heard that the city's homeless have been repeatedly removed from public spaces through various means.
The War Drug Survivors represent at least 151 homeless people and maintains that the city's 25 available shelter beds, provided by the Salvation Army, can't accommodate everyone.
Abbotsford has already presented evidence suggesting more housing is available, but the group counters that most of the spaces are difficult to access, especially for drug addicts.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is an intervener in the case and its lawyer also argued in favour of striking down the bylaws.
"It falls to the city to craft the bylaws that respect constitutional rights," said Alison Latimer.
