Housing and human rights with Marie-Josee Houle
B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner is launching the Beyond the Headlines livestream series with a discussion of housing as a human right. On Thursday, Nov. 28 from 1 to 2 p.m. PST, Commissioner Kasari Govender sat down with Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle for a candid conversation about navigating the housing crisis while keeping human rights in focus.
As described in the Commissioner’s landmark Rights in Focus report, released earlier this year, the housing crisis has exposed vulnerable people to increased risk of violence and exploitation—and has pushed thousands of people in B.C. into homelessness. Coming on the heels of National Housing Day, this Beyond the Headlines discussion provided a space to better understand how to navigate the housing crisis through a rights-based lens.
About Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate
Marie-Josée Houle was appointed as Canada’s first Federal Housing Advocate in February 2022, marking a new chapter in her career in affordable housing and homelessness. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Houle held a number of roles including frontline work in housing co-ops, consulting and project management for affordable housing development, bylaw review, housing-related research projects, developing educational programs for housing co-ops and non-profits and senior leadership roles. She has worked with diverse partners in the sector to foster innovation, leverage strategic partnerships and address gaps and human rights violations related to housing. She is recognized for her leadership, community activism, human rights expertise and extensive knowledge of the housing system.
Watch the conversation
Missed the livestream? Not to worry! You can view the recorded conversation below:
About “Beyond the headlines”
How can we address the most important issues facing British Columbians while keeping human rights in focus? What do B.C. residents need to know for themselves, their families, their neighbours and their communities? To help answer these questions, B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner is hosting a series of conversations with leading experts from across the country.
Each Beyond the Headlines conversation will focus on a key human rights issue facing the province right now. The topics are drawn from the Commissioner’s 2024 Rights in focus: Lived realities in B.C. report, which provides a snapshot of inequities in 10 systems, including housing, health care and child welfare.
Over the course of the Beyond the Headlines conversations, the Commissioner and her guests will discuss questions about these systems that are top of mind for British Columbians.