Someone Lives Here

August 27, 2024
7 PM
SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts | 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Someone Lives Here is a modern-day David and Goliath story, set against the backdrop of North America’s housing crisis.

In October 2020, a carpenter named Khaleel Seivwright drove to a remote area of a Toronto park to build a small, insulated shelter. On the front of the shelter, he posted two signs: “Anyone is Welcome,” and the details to a GoFundMe page dedicated to raising money to build more. His idea is simple: to provide unhoused people outside in the winter with tiny, insulated shelter that would keep them safe and warm.

The project soon attracted international attention. With Toronto’s unhoused population rising, and a long winter approaching, many deem his shelters a life-saving measure. Donations to the GoFundMe surged. Before long, city officials take issue, and send Khaleel a cease and desist letter. Undeterred, Khaleel continues building and does his best to convince the world that his shelters are a viable interim measure for people living outside in the cold.

Someone Lives Here follows Khaleel’s story over the course of one brutal Toronto winter and captures an important chapter in the battle for the soul of a city.

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Pivot works in partnership with communities affected by poverty and social exclusion to identify priorities and develop solutions to complex human rights issues. Their work is focused in five policy areas: criminalization & policing, drug policy, homelessness, anti-stigma & poverty, and sex workers’ rights.

They combine strategic litigation with high-impact public education and advocacy campaigns to maximize their effectiveness. Their deep collaboration with marginalized people and grassroots movements, combined with their unique approach to social change, makes Pivot the only human rights organization of its kind in Canada.

Our Homes Can’t Wait (OHCW) organizes on the stolen and unsurrendered territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). As an organization that struggles for secure homes for all people living on unceded First Nations’ territories, they recognize and honour the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples to govern their lands and resources.

OHCW is a coalition of Downtown Eastside organizations and allies that struggle for universal and decommodified housing, free from unjust surveillance and management. They centre human dignity and interests over private property and profit. They fight to create a world where all people have safe, dignified and permanent accommodation, regardless of their income or status in society.

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Reel Causes partners with filmmakers and Canadian causes dedicated to addressing global social justice issues. We host film screenings followed by panel discussions to educate and inspire our community, and provide a forum for authentic conversation around the issues that affect us locally.

City of Vancouver
BC Arts Council
Canada Council for the Arts
SFU's Vancity Office of Community  Engagement
Consumer Protection BC