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Vancouver councillors and anti-poverty advocates say the city’s human rights plan, ahead of this summer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup, doesn’t go far enough to protect unhoused and vulnerable people.
A city council motion last week said that the existing draft human rights plan doesn’t have clear metrics or targets to ensure no unhoused people are displaced due to the three-week-long soccer tournament.
For months, advocates have raised concerns about the potential effects of the city’s wide-ranging hosting agreement with FIFA — which mandates everything from temporary surveillance cameras to a buffer zone closed to vehicles around B.C. Place stadium.
The motion from Green Coun. Pete Fry and OneCity Coun. Lucy Maloney said that the human rights plan, which aims to mitigate any negative impacts from the World Cup after years of criticism over FIFA’s human rights record, doesn’t include ways to track the tournament’s potential negative impact.
Vancouver has started installing 200 surveillance cameras as part of heightened security measures for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but experts say the cameras can easily infringe on people’s privacy.
“Council and the public need to understand how these commitments are being implemented and that we’re tracking everything — not after the fact, but in real time,” Fry said during an April 1 council meeting.
In addition to asking that instances of people being displaced due to the World Cup be tracked, and that police and city bylaw officers document any interactions with unhoused residents, the motion also asked for more shelter spaces in the city.
“The operation here is to ensure that we have safe, dignified alternatives so that when we are dispersing people, we have somewhere that they can store their stuff … if we’re going to ask them to move along, we should be giving them safe alternative spaces,” Fry said.
Local skateboarders are losing access to a cherished East Vancouver skatepark this summer. As the CBC’s Renee Lukacs reports, the closure’s impact may affect more skaters than just those in the neighbourhood. For pro skateboarders, and those hoping to become one, it’s the best training facility in the country.
Motion defeated
The motion, however, was defeated by the ABC Vancouver-led majority on council.
ABC councillors argued the motion was unnecessary, as the plan already commits to working with community partners to “support safe and respectful interactions between venue visitors and vulnerable populations.”
The plan also says that the city’s work will be guided by “trauma-informed practices” and will minimize disruption for those experiencing homelessness, especially those in the vicinity of World Cup venues.
The City of Vancouver is moving ahead with a temporary bylaw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The changes will be in place from mid-May to late July. As Meera Bains reports, they could include extended allowances for noise, restrictions on street vending and new rules on signage.
Chantelle Spicer, the co-director of the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition, said the draft human rights plan as it stands was simply a “laundry list of policies or programs in place that are already not serving people” amid overlapping housing and health-care challenges in Vancouver.
The advocate said that the plan instructs anyone who wishes to report a human rights violation to go to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal or dial the city’s 311 number — which Spicer argues could lead to logjams.
“[The 311 number] is a system that’s meant for people to report bylaw infringements — like if your neighbour is being too noisy or if garbage hasn’t been picked up,” she said.
“So the idea of that being a place, where people can report in a trauma-informed way about their human rights being violated, seemed not very well planned.”
Seattle comparison
South of the border, in Seattle, the city is building 500 new temporary shelter units ahead of the World Cup’s kickoff in June.
The shelter units will be operated under the tiny home village model that is in use across B.C. in other municipalities, where staff monitor security 24/7 and residents have access to a community kitchen and other facilities.
On The Coast9:48Seattle aims to open 500 new shelter beds ahead of FIFA World Cup
Sharon Lee is the executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute in Seattle.
“I think we have to get away from the idea that we’re just going to like sweep encampments and then people pick up their tents and move a few blocks away,” said Sharon Lee, the executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute, a Seattle-based non-profit that’s working with the city.
“The idea of setting up tiny house villages and other shelter options … on a long-term basis makes a whole lot of sense,” she added.
Sandra Singh, the deputy city manager at the City of Vancouver, told the council meeting that comparing Vancouver to Seattle isn’t apples-to-apples — as that city operates in a different jurisdictional environment.
“We know that there’s not enough daytime spaces, there’s not enough shelter,” she said.
“That is the responsibility of the province, and we’re in constant contact with the province around that.”
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