The Victoria Declaration

The Home in the City project began as part of Renée Beausoleil’s PhD research. Meetings were co-facilitated by Renée and Matthew Wildcat, with the support of the UVic Indigenous Law Research Unit, the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, and numerous dedicated participants.

The purpose of this website is to share the outcomes of our community process, especially our draft governance resource, the Victoria Declaration.

We gratefully acknowledge our work is taking place on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen speaking people of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

The Home in the City project includes people with current and previous experiences of homelessness and people facing diverse issues related to housing – marginally housed, inadequately housed, unstably housed, or unsafely housed. Our project includes people living in poverty as well as some housed allies who are not. Many of us access services and some of us provide services. We are connected to a range of organizations and groups; although, many of us are only representing ourselves. The group that contributed to the Victoria Declaration includes community members from diverse backgrounds and communities: visitors to these territories as well as Indigenous peoples, including Elders, from a number of nations close and far. We do not claim to sufficiently represent all of these groups, nor do we all agree on all matters.