Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on April 1st, 2022

[Alvina Paul]

Thank you very much, Lori. I appreciate your question, and I'm very sorry for your experiences thus far. I feel you. We are a part of the class action in regard to representing residential school survivors, so it's been a heavy week for this.

The funding is getting thin as the cost of fuel and lumber, and all those other supplies, go through the roof and the living wage is minimal. To provide training for all our nation members who are interested in the industry.... We know that, by far, all the industries and trades are short of manpower. Therefore, to be able to provide a wage that's going to be sufficient to rent and/or build a home in their own community is something that needs to be factored in also. I think the price of all these supplies is just too much to bear.

I know when I built my home at the beginning of the millennium in 2000, I actually was very fortunate that it was approximately about $150,000 to $160,000. Now you're getting a shoe box size for that.

That's just another factor that we need to consider for safe, affordable, healthy housing.

Thank you.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you.

Regarding the shortage of housing and substandard old houses, these are a concern to all indigenous people in Canada: Métis, first nations and Inuit.

The federal government has some monies they allocate but that is never enough. We all know that. I want to ask you, what would you say the federal government needs to do more of to ensure quality indigenous housing is a right and not a privilege?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

President Clayton, would you start?

[Eva Clayton]

The standard of homes on Nisga'a lands and in our Nisga'a communities has been a concern for quite some time. Some of them have been in place for 40-plus years. There's a need to bring them up to standard because of the electrical changes over the years. The one-pane windows are not doing it when it comes to heating the homes because the heat goes right back out, and there are the mould issues because of the damp and the heat coming together.

I think it would be great if the federal government would target bringing the homes up to standard in the indigenous communities. It would be a target just for that, and not to build new homes.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Councillor Paul.

[Alvina Paul]

To bring the standards to a healthy, safe status within communities is with codes, I believe. With regard to the new standards, I'm not too sure if it's like building a new home and putting plastic wrap around it—and I'm not a builder—but with the mould issues that we have within the affordable housing rentals in our community, it's not sufficient.

To be able to repair and renovate those units is costly with regard to all of the wages and the supplies needed to complete and make those units safe and healthy again. The emotional impact of living in a dilapidated unit is demoralizing, and that mental health component is what I factor in to healthy communities.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Ms. Idlout.

We'll go to a second, shorter round. We'll start with Mr. Vidal.

Mr. Vidal, you have five minutes.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also want to thank President Clayton and Councillor Paul for being here today.

President Clayton, I'm going to start with you.

In your comments, one of the things I heard from you is that you seem like a person who builds good relationships and you build partnerships. That seemed to be the nature of a lot of what I heard. You also talked about starting with no economic base after the treaties.

One of the things we talk about when establishing communities—and I'm getting to housing—is infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools and other services. How does your nation approach infrastructure in the context of partnerships? Do you have some private sector partnerships that are contributing to that, or is it strictly government-funded or strictly funded by your own nation?

I'm curious about the partnerships you might have from an economic perspective.

[Eva Clayton]

The Nisga'a Nation has been quite busy building relationships. We have our four communities, which are working in partnership to build those kinds of relationships where they can invest in the Nisga'a Nation.

Workers aren't going in that area. We continue to work to bring in partnerships that will assist the nation.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

On Tuesday this week, we heard from a vice-chief from a tribal council in my area. He made a direct link—and I'm curious if it's true in other places—between economic opportunity and some of the work being done by the first nations leadership. He made a link between that and the number of people in each home.

Within his tribal council, there were nine first nations. He said, where there was greater opportunity, the average number of people in a home was less than where there were smaller opportunities. I'm curious if that applies in your nation as well, and if that's a pattern or if that's just his example.

[Eva Clayton]

I think that would apply to his area, when you think about the differences between economic bases. The Nisga'a Nation is working toward building that economic base, and I'm sure that there would be far fewer in one home when we have a healthy community.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

In doing some research on the Internet about your nation, you have a quality of life strategy. Could you tell us a bit about that quality of life strategy and then tell us how that interlocks or connects with your housing strategy?

[Eva Clayton]

The nation's quality of life strategy is one that we carry out on an annual basis to measure. We use it as a measuring tool for the quality of life of our nation, and it gives us a picture of where our people stand with housing. We have been working quite diligently to carry on with that quality of life.

The quality of life strategy addresses all areas. We also look at homelessness in our nation, because we know that our nation is not immune to homelessness.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

In that quality of life strategy or the index that you measure, there's a direct link to housing in that, as well. Is that right?

That's what I think I heard and I want to confirm that.

[Eva Clayton]

Yes, it gives us a picture.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you.

I also noted that you have the authority to levy taxes within your jurisdiction, but you don't have the ability to tax property yet. I was fascinated by what I read about your home ownership and fee simple, and what my colleague talked about with the right to transfer mortgage and will homes.

Can you just explain to me the journey towards property taxation? What do you think that will accomplish in your desire to achieve better housing outcomes for your nation?

[Eva Clayton]

Thank you for the question.

We do have the authority to levy taxes. It has been a work in progress since 2015, I believe, with the property tax and coordination agreement.

Our nation is fully aware that we require these taxes in order to become truly self-governing. The property tax in each of our communities is ongoing. Our members have been paying property tax since 2013 or 2015.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mr. Vidal.

Mr. Powlowski, you have five minutes.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Let me start off by saying that, not being from B.C., I find that the situation for your B.C. communities is very different from the communities around where I'm from in Thunder Bay, where the Indian Act applies.

President Clayton, correct me if I'm wrong. Under the Nisga'a Final Agreement, the Indian Act doesn't apply at all to your community. Is that right?

[Eva Clayton]

Technically, yes.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Technically yes, but in practice it still does?

[Eva Clayton]

The principles of the Indian Act don't apply.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Okay.

Alvina, you are a self-governing first nation, but I think the Douglas treaties still apply to you. Are you basically like the Nisga'a in that the Indian Act doesn't apply to you either?

[Alvina Paul]

No, it does not. We still mimic it in some forms, but we are developing our own ways to try to better our community for self-governing.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Being a self-governing community, you don't have a treaty like the Nisga'a Final Agreement.