Human Resources Committee on Nov. 19th, 2020

[Juliette Nicolet]

That's correct. Friendship centres were conceived of and have always been what's referred to as “status-blind” and serve anybody, indigenous or not, coming through the doors.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

That is, Métis, Inuit and any first nations?

[Juliette Nicolet]

Métis, Inuit, first nations, non-status—anybody who identifies as indigenous—and in a number of communities where the friendship centre is the only social service player in town, it serves everybody.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

And that's why it's critical to move outside the Indian Act and outside the national indigenous organizations, to set up a fourth independent and “all of the above” kind of service centre that attaches to people.

[Juliette Nicolet]

That is correct. Frankly, that would address many of the outcomes of the discrimination intrinsic to the implementation of the Indian Act over a century and a half ago, or however long it has been.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

The other part of this that you have identified is that because of the way people have been displaced into urban settings, whether they are rural, northern or the large cities, you need a trauma-informed approach, and you need more than just housing; you need to build in spaces for ceremony, spaces for healing and spaces for a whole series of other services.

[Juliette Nicolet]

This is for child care?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Yes, child care. Currently, CMHC only funds housing. Would you support an urban-rural northern strategy that supported more than just housing, so as to make the housing successful?

[Juliette Nicolet]

I would only if it were properly funded.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Right.

There is a patchwork of indigenous urban housing providers, rural providers and northern providers across the country, but it's asymmetrical. B.C. and Ontario have very strong provincial organizations, but Newfoundland, for example, hasn't. Then you have different organizations scaled to various provincial programs.

Is that why a national system is needed, rather than one dispensing dollars regionally or project by project?

[Juliette Nicolet]

I think what a national approach would allow you to do is bring different players to the table and, if done properly, allow everybody to have a voice, which would mean that smaller players or housing players in rural or remote areas would not be necessarily overrun by the Ontarios. It would, however, have to be equitable, because the interests of places where vast numbers of people are living also need to be adequately represented.

The advantage of a national approach is that you can build something that brings people together to address things properly and simultaneously to break it out to meet specific needs.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Madam Camille, in your approach in B.C., where there's a very strong B.C. indigenous housing corporation, would you also support consolidating all of the federal programs as much as possible, from Reaching Home through the national housing strategy and the funds that are acquired in other departments?

Would you also accept this idea of bringing in national consolidation of all funding streams, with additional dollars to solve the challenge, but leave it in the hands of indigenous administrators to make the decisions as to how to apportion the dollars rather than somebody, say, at CMHC or in the federal government?

[Carol Camille]

I have to second-guess my answer a little, because I have seen cases in history in which we put money out to indigenous people and then it's not.... We must have strong parameters around how it's going to happen, so that there isn't infighting amongst.... But yes, I would recommend having it all together, because it is needed.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Would you recommend a process to have indigenous people create those parameters themselves?

[Carol Camille]

I would, if it's inclusive of everyone.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

An administrative component to this program, then, is also critically important, as are capital, operating and repair dollars?

[Carol Camille]

Yes, most certainly.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

In the work you do, you don't differentiate between status and non-status people in B.C.?

[Carol Camille]

No, although we're funded mostly through indigenous programming for indigenous people, we don't stop anyone from coming in. We're a small community and everyone accesses services through us.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Creating a urban, rural and northern strategy would allow you to fill the gaps where they exist, whether it's on reserve or off reserve. Whether it's a family who has one parent who is Métis and the other parent who is Mohawk, you would still serve the child of that union and serve them as an indigenous housing person in need of support.

[Carol Camille]

Yes, we would, most definitely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Vaughan.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Camille and Ms. Nicolet, for your testimony here today.

We are going to suspend as we check the mikes for the next panel of witnesses, but again, to each of you, thank you so much for the work you do. Thank you for the clarity of your testimony. It is greatly appreciated and of significant value to the work we'll be doing on this study.

We are now suspended for, say, three minutes until we get our next couple of witnesses in and set up. Then we'll hear from them.

Thanks again. We're suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

We're back in session. I'd like to welcome our witnesses: Arlene Hache, a community advocate from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and Chief Lance Haymond and Guy Latouche, with the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador.

Ms. Hache, you have five minutes for your opening remarks.