Estair Van Wagner – The Conversation

The Knowledge Totem pole carved by Coast Salish artist Cicero August and his sons Darrell and Doug August of the Cowichan Tribes stands on the front lawn of the B.C. Legislature in Victoria, in May 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

September 3, 2025

The B.C. Supreme Court’s recognition of Cowichan title is an invitation to enact transformative change

Sarah Morales, University of Victoria and Estair Van Wagner, University of Victoria

We tend to view private property as a sacrosanct, never-changing principle. But property rights are legal constructs — never absolute and always evolving.

Tents at an encampment in Crab Park, Vancouver, in August 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

November 21, 2023

British Columbia’s proposed bill on ‘alternative shelter’ risks doing serious harm to unhoused people

Stepan Wood, University of British Columbia; Alexandra Flynn, University of British Columbia, and Estair Van Wagner, University of Victoria

If passed, B.C.’s Bill 45 will trample over the constitutional rights of unhoused people by ignoring shelter barriers, Indigenous rights and the need for daytime shelter

A homeless woman sits outside a fenced-off camp in Vancouver after a 12 p.m. deadline for the park to be vacated in Vancouver on May 9, 2020. The province relocated hundreds of people from tent encampments in Vancouver and Victoria to hotel and community centre accommodations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

June 9, 2020

Cities must end homeless camp evictions during the coronavirus pandemic

Estair Van Wagner, York University, Canada and Alexandra Potamianos, York University, Canada

Without sufficient safe shelter space and universal testing, cities are forcing homeless people into encampments, limiting their ability to stay safe and violating international human rights laws.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford returns to the provincial legislature during a midnight session to debate the bill that cut the size of Toronto city council from 47 representatives to 25 in September 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

October 2, 2018

Toronto must keep fighting Doug Ford – for the good of democracy

Estair Van Wagner, York University, Canada and Alexandra Flynn, University of Toronto

City council is a level of government deserving of recognition and autonomy. That’s why Toronto must continue to fight Ontario’s attempt to exert its will over the city.

Contact Estair for