The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has thrown out a complaint that Vancouver's Downtown Ambassadors are unfairly harassing homeless people and drug addicts.

The Pivot Legal Society and Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users had complained that the ambassadors were discriminating against the homeless -- including a disproportionate number of disabled and aboriginal people -- by systematically pushing them out of the downtown core.

Tribunal member Tonie Beharrell agreed that a large number of people had been negatively impacted by the Ambassadors' practices of waking up those sleeping in parks and asking people sitting or lying down on sidewalks to move along. But she went on to say that those negative impacts weren't necessarily the result of discrimination.

"While the evidence presented by the complainants certainly raises the possibility that the actions of the Ambassadors may have an adverse impact in relation to protected grounds of discrimination, the complainants have not provided evidence that establishes, on a balance of probabilities, that the Ambassadors' actions have done so in practice," Beharrell wrote in a decision posted online Monday.

The ambassadors' official mandate is to patrol the downtown area, giving directions to lost tourists and assisting the police. The program is operated by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and funded by the city.

Charles Gauthier, the DVBIA's executive director, said he was pleased with the tribunal's decision.

"This ruling reaffirms the full confidence we've always had in our program and our Downtown Ambassadors," he said in a release.

"They are ‘eyes and ears' on our streets, they provide access to resources for people living on the streets, they liaise with our member businesses and they help visitors to our downtown."

However, the tribunal's decision wasn't necessarily an endorsement of the Ambassadors. Beharrell wrote that homeless people and drug addicts were made to feel "socially undesirable" and being asked to leave parks and other areas led to "actual loss of use and enjoyment of public space."

The tribunal heard evidence of at least 100 similar incidents in 18 months in Portal Park alone.

"Being asked to relocate has an adverse impact on the dignity of the targets and causes humiliation," Beharrell said of the removals.