Advocates in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside say they fear that residents will be removed from the neighbourhood as the city prepares for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The neighbourhood is inside a two-kilometre “beautification” radius around B.C. Place stadium, a requirement of FIFA’s host city agreement. While the city has not detailed its plans for the zone, many in the Downtown Eastside fear a repeat of what they say happened during the 2010 Olympics, when unhoused residents were pushed out of key areas in the name of safety and security.

Immediately following his election in 2008, then-mayor Gregor Robertson moved quickly to prepare the neighbourhood for the 2010 Games, backed by the province’s Assistance to Shelter Act. The law gave authorities the power to force hundreds of people sleepi

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