Housing Rights Implications of Hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Toronto and Vancouver: Towards a Legal Framework that Effectively Protects the Right to Adequate Housing in Canada

Féderation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) organizes the greatest sporting event in the history of soccer – the FIFA World Cup (FWC). The 2026 FWC starts in June 2026, with Canada, Mexico, and the US as host nations. This thesis focuses on Canada to ascertain how the hosting of the 2026 FWC could impact the right to adequate housing in the host provinces/cities of Ontario/Toronto and British Columbia/Vancouver vis-à-vis the already precarious housing situation in these provinces/cities and the anticipated high demand that would be placed on the housing market by soccer fans and spectators coming into the host cities in 2026. The thesis thus analyzes the central issue of whether or not the hosting of the 2026 FWC in Toronto and Vancouver obliges the Government of Canada and the provincial/municipal governments of these host provinces/cities to initiate immediate appropriate legislative measures that address the possible impacts the 2026 FWC could have on right to adequate housing. To ascertain this, the thesis first provides the much needed background to the possible housing rights risks of the 2026 FWC. Given the dearth of scholarly works on the housing rights implications of past FWCs, the thesis evaluated the housing rights impacts of five different Olympic events as a precursor that highlights the possible adverse impacts on housing rights that should be of concern to the host cities of Toronto and Vancouver. The thesis further examines and discusses the immediate obligations of the government in Canada under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and under FIFA’s human rights initiatives, to - through appropriate legislative measures - protect against the housing rights risks of the 2026 FWC. The thesis also analyzes the efficacy of the housing rights frameworks in the host provinces/cities, and concludes with proposals and recommendations that would facilitate a hosting experience in Toronto and Vancouver that does not violate housing rights.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Laws (LL.M.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Law

Grantor

University of Saskatchewan

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Aneke, Kenechukwu Christopher

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Newman, Dwight Gordon

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Buhler, Sarah Marie
• von Tigerstrom, Barbara Joanne
• Dennie, Martine

• Housing Rights
• Sports Law
• Sports Autonomy
• Human Rights
• FIFA World Cup
• Affordability
• Security of Tenure
• Criminalization of Homelessness
• Evictions
• Treaty Obligations
• Constitutionalization
• ICESCR.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10388/16679

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/16679