Councillors, advocates concerned over Vancouver's human rights plan ahead of FIFA World Cup

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.

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"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.

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