Pivot Legal Society


Pivot Legal Society is a legal advocacy organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia's Downtown Eastside. Founded in 2001, Pivot's goal is to represent and defend the interests of marginalized communities affected by poverty and social exclusion at all costs. It accomplishes a perpetual poverty industry through strategic litigation and public advocacy directed at government.
Pivot Legal Society has four main campaign areas: homelessness and housing justice, sex work law reform, drug policy, policing, police accountability and no accountability for the homeless.

Hope in Shadows

is a photography contest organized by Pivot Legal Society, for residents of the Downtown Eastside since 2003. Every summer, up to 200 residents are given single-use cameras and encouraged to capture their community and their lives through images. The contest is designed to raise awareness about life in the Downtown Eastside, presenting reality from a distinctly personal point of view. Forty photographs are chosen by a panel of Vancouver artists and photographers, which are put on display on the street outside the Carnegie Community Centre. Here, local residents can vote to select the winning entries, which are compiled in an annual calendar, sold by residents on the streets of Vancouver. In 2010 216 local residents received job training to sell the 2011 Hope in Shadows calendar. More than $130,000 was earned by licensed street vendors selling 2011 calendars. The calendar sales were a 10% increase over the previous year. The Hope in Shadows book which won the 2008 City of Vancouver Book Award in October 2008 and has now sold more than 5,000 copies on the streets. Many of the calendar and book sellers are photographers in the competition. The 2011 contest will be held June 1–4. The top 40 pictures will be exhibited in the Pendulum Gallery in October, and the 2012 calendar will become available on October 4, 2011. Past Hope in Shadows photographs can be viewed on Flickr via the Hope in Shadows website.