'This is hate': West Vancouver homeowners, local MLA want racist land covenants removed
CTV
West Vancouver homeowners calling for the removal of what they describe as hateful and dehumanizing land covenants now have an ally in MLA Karin Kirkpatrick who is asking the province to take action and remove the racist language from official documents.
When Michele Tung applied to renovate her West Vancouver home, she had to obtain the original land title from the 1950’s. She knew some homes of that era in the British Properties had racist land covenants, but was still shocked to see it right there in black and white.
“Upon reviewing the document, there was a clause that said no cows, no pigs were allowed on the property. Below that, it said no one of African or Asiatic decent was allowed to reside or occupy the premises, unless they were a servant,”said Tung, who added the first thing she felt was humiliation.
“Here is a document that says someone of my skin tone, of my ethnicity is inferior to someone of a lighter skin tone. I am coming below that of animals, farm animals. It’s very dehumanizing,” said Tung.
While the race-based covenants were deemed illegal in the 1970s and aren’t enforced, some homeowners say the language is hurtful and should be removed entirely.
“It’s no question these are racist, they are hateful covenants, and they do not represent the current society’s values,” said West Vancouver resident Yashar Tashakkor. “Unless somebody takes leadership and voices that this is important and something needs to be done, I don’t think it’s going to be done on its own.”
The homeowners now have an ally in West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Karin Kirkpatrick, who has tabled a private members bill asking the provincial government to take action.
“They are the ones that manage the land titles, and they’re the ones that can change the law to allow us to remove these covenants altogether,” said Kirkpatrick.
