THUNDER BAY - Indigenous Canadians from across the country want a national housing strategy that will provide resources based on the needs of remote First Nations communities.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation hosted a roundtable discussion in Thunder Bay on Monday to gather input on rural and Indigenous housing for a national housing strategy.
In the 2016 budget, the federal government announced plans for a national housing strategy. The CMHC is taking part in national consultations on behalf of the federal government, which includes hosting a series of roundtable discussions to gather information on the housing needs of Canadians.
The roundtable in Thunder Bay was one of several special meetings focused on Indigenous housing and the needs of remote First Nations communities.
“One of the challenges that we’re hearing that the problems can be local,” said Michel Tremblay, senior vice president, policy, research, and public affairs at CMHC. “They are not the same across the country. There are different issues that we need to consider as we develop this national strategy.”
Indigenous, Metis, and First Nations members from across the country attended the roundtable in Thunder Bay.
David Seymour, with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association in British Columbia, said the national strategy should respond to the needs of individual Indigenous communities.
“The need is to make sure that when you are developing housing for the Indigenous community that you do it in three components,” Seymour said. “One, reflect the communities needs; two, make sure it is culturally appropriate; and three, make sure the program is flexible to adapt to the innovation that is necessary in some of the remote and isolated communities.”
Tremblay added that geography in many parts of Canada presents challenges for remote communities.
“The remoteness causes different challenges and pressures,” he said. “We are also hearing that First Nations want nation to nation discussions to take place. We are taking feedback into consideration and seeing how we can incorporation that into the national housing strategy.”
For Seymour, a national housing strategy should take into consideration that each community is unique and has its own set of challenges and barriers.
“Resources should be targeted to communities based on their needs, the community itself must be involved in the process, and delivered through Aboriginal organizations to the communities,” he said.
A second roundtable discussion will be held in Winnipeg on Wednesday to gather additional feedback on Indigenous housing for the national strategy.
Tremblay said that these roundtable discussions provide the CMHC with valuable input because it will be the voice of Canadian’s helping shape the national housing strategy.
“We acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers and we don’t have all the solutions,” he said. “There are people that are thinking about these solutions and the gaps in these solutions as we are. The more we collaborate the more we will get back solutions for all Canadians.”
“I am confident that they listened to us and they were very attentive and paid attention to what we had to say,” Seymour said.
Further roundtable discussions will be held across Canada in the coming weeks and the federal government will deliver a report on the findings on Nov. 22. Feedback is also being collected at www.letstalkhousing.ca.
