Evidence of meeting #8 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was métis.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I hope you can hear me well because on my side, there is a lot of crackling on the line, as we say back home. The problem may be on my side, but the important thing is that you hear me well.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
That's good.
I thank our witnesses for being with us tonight.
My first question is for you, Ms. Bonneau. You have already answered a good part of one of my questions, but I have more.
From what I understand, your organization provides housing for seniors in indigenous communities. There are two or even a few projects. Can you tell us a little bit about the more specific needs of the older indigenous population?
Senior Director, Operations, Métis Urban Housing Corporation of Alberta Inc.
Thank you for this question.
Actually, right now what we are dealing with is a shortage of housing, not just for our young people or our students but also for indigenous seniors. We are a Métis organization, and we do not have a Métis-specific senior facility where we provide all the supports to people who need long-term care: people who need level 2, 3 or 4, or people with disabilities who need care. We run two senior facilities. One senior facility where we provide assisted living is owned by the Métis Capital Housing Corporation. That facility is about 50 years old, and we're trying to refurbish it to accommodate the needs of the people who live there. This facility is not suitable to their cultural needs.
The biggest barrier indigenous people face is that the housing they are in today is not culturally appropriate. We do not have housing that is barrier-free. These are the issues our seniors are facing today.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you for your answer.
What could we do, Ms. Bonneau? What would the solutions be?
In the specific context of the pandemic, there is much talk about the fragile situation of seniors, whether in terms of health, economic or social issues. If you address the cultural issue, which is indeed specific to these indigenous communities, how could programs support this adaptation to cultural realities?
We are looking to help people and find solutions through the program. Do you have any suggestions for us?
Senior Director, Operations, Métis Urban Housing Corporation of Alberta Inc.
That is correct. We can certainly help, and we can certainly suggest what we can do.
I had an opportunity with Alberta Health Services where they asked for a supported-living care facility proposal. We have done that.
However, the problem is that there is so much time required to complete all these proposals and documents. We do that, and then there is no follow-up. A huge amount of time is taken to complete all of these formalities. It is red tape. We do need to reduce this red tape. We need to reduce the time it takes to complete one step to another step and then to another, because the need today for housing is critical for seniors, adults, students and young people. If we reduce the time it takes to complete all the formalities, I think that is where we are going to see the difference.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you very much.
Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you.
My question is for Mr. Byers.
Greetings, Mr. Byers. Thank you for being here.
The project you are promoting in your communities is quite innovative. You say that you're still encountering problems and in a recent report you outline the types of solutions. I think you'll send us the ones that could be put forward.
Does your organization receive money from the national housing strategy? Do you get any funds from the strategy?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Namerind Housing Corporation
We don't receive funding, really, from any.... We've received funding as a community entity through the Reaching Home homelessness strategy, but as far as Namerind Housing is concerned, and funding to provide affordable housing, we get revenue from the rent and then from our various social enterprises.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
Thank you, Ms. Chabot.
Thank you, Mr. Byers.
Next is Ms. Gazan, please, for six minutes.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Thank you.
First, I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today and, of course, it's always nice to see my colleagues.
My questions are for Mr. Byers.
I really appreciate what you were talking about in terms of Regina. I represent Winnipeg Centre, and 70% of the shelterless community, of course, is indigenous. Currently, my community has very similar demographics. You talked about, again, “nothing about us without us”. I think I'm agreeing with you in that we are the best at finding solutions for ourselves, understanding our histories and where we come from, so I just want to say that I really appreciate that.
This government promised to release a distinction-based first nations, Inuit and Métis housing strategy, but unfortunately we're still waiting. It was recommended by two of our witnesses at our last meeting that an urban indigenous housing strategy should be developed—something that has not happened. Do you believe that this is needed? What type of funding do you believe would be required to ensure that such a strategy would be sustainable and successful?
I know that Madame Bindu Bonneau spoke about how it's great to have the infrastructure, but where are the operational costs? Can you expand on that, please, Mr. Byers?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Namerind Housing Corporation
There are a lot of things going through my head when we talk about that. I'll try not to get too sidetracked. The need for a distinct strategy for us is so important. I know that we've talked about dollars. Off the top of my head, as soon as you said dollars, I just went blank. If we go back to where we talk about the need for 73,000 homes across Canada, billions and billions of dollars are needed over the next, say, 10 years.
I should probably stop there, because I think I would just start to ramble a bit, sorry.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Sure, it's not a problem. I asked that because we talk about how we're all in this together, but we know that indigenous peoples, in particular, were not part of it before COVID. They were already behind, and we know that the impacts of COVID will leave us even further behind.
I know that Namerind Housing Corporation is a Reaching Home community entity for Regina. We've heard that since Reaching Home is mostly proposal-based, it's challenging for organizations, since housing is long-term in nature. It's hard to develop long-term plans when you're doing proposals that last a year or funding that lasts two or three years.
Can you speak about the ways in which Reaching Home could be improved to support organizations like yours to be more sustainable and adequate?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Namerind Housing Corporation
I know that what we've been talking about with some of the sub-projects here is the way they write the proposals. If we can change that, then maybe we can have them so that they're renewed year after year so that they don't have to keep writing a proposal. We understand the time and the cost, and being small non-profits, we don't always have the time or the money.
As a community entity, we've been investing a lot of time working with the organizations—the sub-projects, I guess we could call them for now—on a new way of doing things, on a more efficient way. Honestly, I think that COVID.... When I talked earlier to Mr. Long, I talked about doing things differently and being prepared. I think COVID, for us, has really helped us work out efficiencies and ways of doing things differently and better. When we took over, being an indigenous-led organization.... When it's indigenous people leading indigenous people, that's fine, but when indigenous people are leading the community, that's a little bit different. It took harder work and a little extra work, but I really believe that we've reduced, maybe, some fear or some resistance that was community-based or community-wide.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
I'm a long-time community advocate as well, and I understand the dynamics of that.
I actually was a vice-principal in a first nations community, where we had to write proposals for things that schools off reserve just automatically got. I found myself spending hours and hours writing proposals, and it took me away from working with the community, so my question is this: How does proposal-based funding negatively impact the ability of indigenous organizations to address housing and homelessness in a meaningful way that is both long-term and sustainable?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Namerind Housing Corporation
Well, I think people sometimes get stuck in that one way of doing things. We look after both funding streams, and the indigenous funding stream is larger than the designated community stream. We meet with the designated community people and say, look, your funding is going to be different than it was last year, but we believe it provides you with opportunity to do things differently. We go to the indigenous organizations and say, there's more funding for us now; there's more funding to be more creative so that we can have projects or ideas that are more sustainable. It may be—