Protesters at an occupied building in Burnaby are hoping to raise awareness about the problem of “demovictions” and say it’s time for housing to be considered a human right.
For 11 days, protesters with the Alliance Against Displacement have been holed up in a building on Imperial Street. The empty low-rise building is slated for demolition, making way for the construction of a low-rise condo development. Protesters say the removal of the current building is depriving some of the city’s most vulnerable of an affordable place to live.
READ MORE: Burnaby council votes to rezone area near Metrotown to make way for condos
On Friday, RCMP officers informed the protesters of a court injunction ordering them out but instead of leaving, the squatters barricaded themselves inside a top floor unit and called for a meeting with Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan.
There are roughly a dozen people occupying the apartment building on the 5000-block of Imperial Street and they are comprised of homeless people and supporters. According to protesters, this building has become Burnaby’s only homeless shelter and there should be a moratorium on the destruction of affordable rental units.
“The fact that Burnaby got away with passing a re-zoning law that is within their jurisdiction and technically legal, and is now using that zoning law as an excuse to not engage with and not uphold their obligations as a municipality to protect the human rights of these tenants means we need better laws,” DJ Larkin from the Pivot Legal Society said.
Despite the court injunction, the protesters said they were planning to stay in the building and were willing to get arrested.
The group says on its Facebook page that “this occupation is merely the first of many to come.”
~ with files from Nadia Stewart
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