Winnipeg man alleges landlord who evicted tenants forced him out too
CBC News did not get a response from Kelly Vasas through his lawyer
A Winnipeg man says the landlord of a College Avenue apartment block where dozens of tenants were evicted with little notice this month also forced him out of his longtime suite in 2021.
Christopher Reed alleged he was bullied and harassed so severely that he filed a complaint of discrimination against 211 Furby Ltd. with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, Reed said in an interview with CBC News.
Reed, whose traditional name is Black Bear Walking in the Daylight, is a member of Rolling River First Nation.
In his complaint, he alleged he experienced harassment based on his Indigenous ancestry, his disability living with post-traumatic stress disorder and his source of income being provincial Employment and Income Assistance.
Reed lived at 211 Furby St. from 2016 until December 2021. That's when he said a conflict with the building's management escalated, resulting in his door being removed and his utilities being shut off without notice over the Christmas holidays, the complaint said.
Reed said he was given multiple eviction notices which were based on false claims, including that he had changed the lock and key to his apartment door without permission.
Reed said he believes the escalation in bullying and harassment happened at least in part to get him to move out immediately as renovations were taking place in the building, and also in retaliation toward his ongoing requests for repairs in the complex. His lawyer at the time, James Beddome, agrees.
"It was a clear pattern of bullying and harassment, intimidation in my opinion," Beddome, who was Reed's lawyer through Legal Aid Manitoba, said.
Kelly Vasas is the sole director of 211 Furby Ltd., which owns the building at 211 Furby St. It came under his management in 2020. Vasas is also the sole director of a numbered Manitoba company that owns 285 College Ave., where evictions took place earlier this month — ones the province described as "illegal."
Reed said he's speaking out after hearing about Vasas's connection to the complex.
"What he did, how he displaced me is the same," said Reed. "[I had a] God-awful feeling … when I saw those people sitting outside of that apartment block."
CBC requested comment from Vasas through his lawyer, Garry Sinnock, last week.
Sinnock, a lawyer with the firm Chapman Goddard Kagan, has been instructed not to respond at this time, he told CBC in a message on Friday.
'Never experienced this from a landlord'
In early December 2021, Reed said he attended an online Residential Tenancies Branch hearing with Beddome and his then-landlord, Vasas, about repairs and services he had requested in the building.
When he got home from the hearing, Reed said the power in his apartment was off.
Later that month, on Christmas Eve, Reed said his utilities were shut off again and not turned on again, despite conversations and texts with management, including Vasas.
"I had no running water again … and no heat," Reed said.
"I remember laying in my bed in the middle of the night. I had my winter coat on…. I had to stay warm."
Four days later, Vasas and staff removed the front door to Reed's apartment while he was out getting water, according to Reed's complaint to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. His girlfriend at the time saw it happen, Reed said.
"It's an invasion of privacy," he said last week. "I've never experienced this from a landlord in my rental history."
The complaint says officers from the RTB came by his suite the next day and ordered the door to be replaced and the utilities restored. After the officers left, Vasas called him a "sasquatch," Reed's complaint alleges.
"'Why don't you pack your black garbage bags and call your chief to get you a cab and take you back to your reservation?'" Reed's complaint says Vasas told him.
The conflict escalated further on Dec. 30, 2021, when water began pouring through Reed's bathroom and bedroom ceilings. Reed said he called the city, police and the Spence Neighbourhood Association, along with Vasas.
According to the complaint, Vasas told Reed he wasn't sending any workers, because "'it isn't safe with you there.'"
A public health inspector later arrived and deemed the suite uninhabitable, the complaint says.
In a whirl of confusion, fear and uncertainty, Reed said he was forced to move out that day.
Beddome said Reed's case is the worst tenant file he's handled.
"I've helped dozens of tenants through Legal Aid. This one was pretty unique," Beddome said.
Beddome said in a conversation with Vasas, the landlord expressed that Reed had to move out and made disparaging and prejudicial remarks about him. Beddome said he told Vasas to abide by the Residential Tenancies Act.
"I felt this one was particularly difficult … because the landlord had no interest in trying to find a way to resolve things."
Changes to RTB needed
Reed said he doesn't understand why government services and police didn't intervene sooner when residents of 285 College Ave. were displaced so suddenly in mid-July.
"I relate to their anger and their frustration," he said.
Reed says he believes the Residential Tenancies Branch needs improvement and more teeth.
Beddome agrees with Reed's suspicions that his utilities may have been deliberately shut off during the Christmas holidays, when it would be difficult to reach government services.
Reed said establishing an after-hours phone line in case of emergencies would help.
He also said he wants the landlords' appeal process to change so that emergency orders issued by the RTB, including having an apartment door replaced, happen faster.
The RTB says it's open to options that could improve services for tenants who find themselves in this position, a provincial spokesperson said in an emailed statement Friday.
The RTB continues to investigate what happened at 285 College Ave., they said.
"All findings will be considered in future policy and legislative work."
As for Reed's complaint before the Manitoba Human Rights Commission — which he filed in April 2023 — he's waiting for it to be assigned.
The commission's executive director recently told CBC the current average wait for a complaint to be assigned to an investigator is 18 months.
Reed said he continues to fight so vulnerable tenants are better protected.
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