NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — A lawyer for a group of homeless people says the City of Abbotsford, B.C., has no concern for the well-being of those living on the streets and is only anxious about moving them on.
Pivot Legal Society lawyer David Wotherspoon told a B.C. Supreme Court judge that the homeless have been pepper sprayed by police and had chicken manure dumped on their campsite by city workers in an effort to get them to move on.
Pivot is representing a group called the Drug War Survivors in a trial that is expected to wrap up next week.
The group is challenging Abbotsford bylaws that make it illegal to set up shelters in public spaces.
The lawyers are in the closing-argument stage of what has been a five-week trial.
Pivot has said that a decision in favour of the group would establish a right to public space for homeless people and be a crucial step in recognizing a right to housing in Canada.
