In October 2008, the BC Supreme Court struck down Victoria's bylaw banning people from erecting tents or other structures in city parks. The judge ruled that due to the lack of housing and shelter, homeless people in Victoria have the right to security. The city appealed the ruling and last week the BC Court of Appeal heard the closing arguments from the city and from the interveners in the case including the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the Pivot Legal Society and the Poverty and Human Rights Centre. The interveners are arguing that every resident of Canada has the right to adequate housing and at the very least the government should not be preventing people from erecting shelter.

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The Poverty and Human Rights Centre is intervening to to support homeless people in the Tent City Case. The appeal will be heard in the British Columbia Court of Appeal on June 10 and 11, 2009. The PHRC was granted leave to intervene on April 3, 2009, by Groberman J.A. of the BCCA. The PHRC position is set out in their factum.