Thank you.
Good afternoon. Welcome to each and every one of you, first and foremost.
I am coming to you live from the Treaty 1 territory here in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I am from a small first nations community where I was raised with my parents and my four brothers. It's called Pinaymootang First Nation. It's a small community in central Manitoba.
I'm coming to you from the Assembly of First Nations. I am responsible for the housing portfolio.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, meegwetch for inviting the Assembly of First Nations to address the focus of your current study, which is the effects of the housing shortage on indigenous peoples across Canada.
First nations have been living with the impacts of a housing shortage for generations. First nations housing suffers from decades of federal underfunding and neglect, which has led to a host of negative outcomes in health, education and economic progress. There are regular news media reports of first nations trying to manage COVID-19 outbreaks amid overcrowded houses with no space for isolation. I suspect that you would want to focus, as the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations have been doing jointly over the last few years, on how to fix the problem.
First nations are moving toward the control of our own housing as part of the solution to the housing crisis. Now the Minister of Finance must do her part, which is to fulfill Canada's treaty fiduciary and other obligations by making the needed guaranteed investment of $44 billion to meet the current first nations housing needs, plus an additional $16 billion to accommodate the population growth projected to 2040, for a total of $60 billion.
First nations reasonably expect the full amount of that investment now as the federal government has, since 2016, repeatedly told first nations that it is committed to fully addressing the housing shortage.
The Assembly of First Nations submitted to you the 2021 research report that we commissioned, which provides the breakdown of estimated costs to address overcrowding, replacement of units, repairs, renovations, servicing of lots and other costs. With the data now on hand on the real cost of the unmet first nations housing needs, there is no excuse for delay. Anything short of full funding will not result in first nations raising the standard of our housing to a level comparable to that of mainstream Canadians.
The control by first nations of our own housing is a key pillar in the national first nations housing and related infrastructure strategy, a copy of which the AFN office made available to you and upon which I can expand during the question and answer period.
The solution has several additional requirements of the federal government. One is to conclude as soon as possible agreements with those first nations that are willing to assume care, control and management of their housing. This process has already started. Another is to codevelop and design, with the Assembly of First Nations, sufficiently funded and first nations-exclusive federal housing programs for first nations that choose not to assume control of their housing in the short or medium term. Also needed is an additional federal investment of $21.37 billion in community infrastructure, without which additional housing is not possible in many cases.
The Assembly of First Nations has requested an additional $2.6 billion of federal investments over the next five years for programs and services aimed at preventing and eliminating homelessness. The Assembly of First Nations is developing a national action plan on first nations homelessness that is based on first nations administering our own homelessness programs.
The Assembly of First Nations is working with Infrastructure Canada to provide recommendations based on research and engagement of first nations on priorities for the first nations distinction-based funding stream of the federal Reaching Home program. The current budgets of the federal government homelessness programs for the first nations are insufficient compared to the immense needs. They must be adequately funded to be successful.
In closing, Canada's obligation under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples includes full financial support for first nations to manage and control our own housing.
I want to thank you for your time today. Meegwetch and I'm ready to take questions that you may have.