Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 25
Marcel Lawson-Swain
View Marcel Lawson-Swain Profile
Marcel Lawson-Swain
2020-12-03 16:50
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm joining you today from Delta, British Columbia, on the traditional territory of the Tsawwassen First Nation. I am the CEO of Lu'ma Native Housing Society, First Funds Society, Lu'ma Medical Centre society, the Aboriginal Land Trust, and Lu'ma Development Management Ltd. I am also co-chair of the Metro Vancouver Aboriginal Executive Council, a committee member of the national indigenous homes innovation initiative, and a committee member of the national indigenous urban, rural and remote homelessness caucus. I'm also a lawyer by profession.
It is a pleasure to appear before this committee on behalf of the Lu'ma group of companies. I want to thank the committee for listening to indigenous Canadians and hearing the concerns and fiscal challenges of the indigenous housing and homelessness service providers from across the country.
Lu'ma began 40 years ago with the simple dream of providing affordable housing to indigenous peoples. Since then our society has morphed into a broad-based community organization that provides a wide range of services. These include social housing, affordable housing, modular housing, homelessness services, youth programming, the Aboriginal Patients' Lodge, medical services, community voice mail, and project development services for social-purpose real estate.
We are also the community entity on behalf of the indigenous and non-indigenous communities in the GVRD and throughout other parts of the province of British Columbia pursuant to the federal government's Reaching Home program. Our aspiration is to see a day when urban and rural and remote indigenous peoples experience the same level of access to housing and services that are afforded to all other Canadians and the distinction-based nations—namely, first nations, Métis and Inuit. To achieve this goal, it will take political will and bold and courageous actions on the part of the government and Canadians alike.
It should be noted that urban, rural and remote indigenous peoples are the have-nots in this country, and for the most part are landless and distinctionless as a peoples. We are experiencing gross and systemic violations of the right to housing. In Canada approximately 80% of indigenous peoples live in urban, rural and remote communities. Although we comprise approximately 4% of the total population, we are overrepresented in the homeless population across this country. The range of homelessness across Canada for indigenous peoples is between 30% and 80%. The data made available through the national homelessness point-in-time counts indicate that indigenous peoples comprise 30% of the homeless population across 61 Reaching Home communities. These figures are more than just numbers. They represent the members of our communities, our nations and in many instances our families.
In urban, rural and remote communities, we come from diverse backgrounds, indigenous nations and life experiences. Service providers such as Lu'ma and the many others that form part of the national indigenous urban, rural and remote homelessness caucus share a long-standing commitment to serving our communities in accordance with our cultural knowledge, practice and teachings.
I want to point out to this committee that the homelessness situation for urban, rural and remote indigenous peoples became more acute post-1983, when the federal government ended the social housing program under the National Housing Act. While we suffered significantly prior to this period, our homelessness conditions worsened to the point where we are now today. Since then, and for the past 27 years, Canada has continued to fund the distinction-based nations while urban, rural and remote communities have suffered with a patchwork of programs that have left our communities in desperation.
Last year we were one of many indigenous agencies that authored a letter to the Prime Minister where we demanded that Canada recognize the right to adequately resource a national urban, rural and remote indigenous housing and homelessness strategy developed and implemented by the urban, rural and remote housing and service providers; that Canada recognize urban, rural and remote housing and service providers as expressions of indigenous self-determination, as recognized by the Federal Court of Appeal in the Misquadis case and as per articles 4, 21 and 23 of UNDRIP; and that Canada create legislation mirroring the rights of the accountability framework articulated in the National Housing Strategy Act, which recognizes culturally relevant housing as a human right for indigenous people in urban, rural and remote areas.
I have made the above presentation in the sincere hope that our housing and homelessness conditions will be prioritized in the federal government's implementation of the national housing strategy as a matter of human rights and consistent with UNDRIP so that one day, urban, rural and remote indigenous peoples will experience the same access to housing and services afforded to all other Canadians and distinction-based nations.
Thank you.
View Peter Kent Profile
CPC (ON)
And just as a final question, you wouldn't fall, I don't believe, under the major cities stream of rapid housing, but would you see any applications in the project stream given that it does provide for indigenous governing bodies?
Marcel Lawson-Swain
View Marcel Lawson-Swain Profile
Marcel Lawson-Swain
2020-12-03 17:01
Yes, we have made an application and are currently waiting for CMHC to make its decision on that application.
View Brad Vis Profile
CPC (BC)
You guys received some specific financial designations as well. Do you want to speak to that quickly and to why they should just give you more money, and less through Ottawa?
Ralph Leon Jr.
View Ralph Leon Jr. Profile
Ralph Leon Jr.
2020-12-03 17:28
With the 10-year grant funding program, we have to prove to the government that we can develop a financial law, that we can come up with the policy and procedures and be accountable to our people as well as the AFN and the federal government. We've proven ourselves already that we can be financially stable.
View Adam Vaughan Profile
Lib. (ON)
If we're going to transfer block funding, multi-year funding, which is the recommendation you put forward here, with indigenous-led design and deliver housing programs, what steps have been taken to make sure there is an organization on the other side of the table to actually hand over block funding, to manage that funding, to manage the disbursal of that funding to the different urban, rural, remote areas, and to northern settings?
Marcel Lawson-Swain
View Marcel Lawson-Swain Profile
Marcel Lawson-Swain
2020-12-03 17:52
Currently, under the Reaching Home program, we have an indigenous caucus from across the country that represents the different community entities from across the country. In that scenario, there's a ready opportunity to provide block funding to that type of an agency to meet the needs on the Reaching Home side.
Clearly, there is a distinction between housing programs and homelessness programs. Those who are providing housing don't necessarily deal with the issues of homelessness and the dire needs of homeless populations to be served. The 24 hours a day, 7 days a week care, the hardest to house of the populations, the supportive housing services that they need on an ongoing basis, they're quite different from the family housing projects across the country where you're providing merely a subsidy for someone to survive and function on a daily basis.
I support the fact that there should be a distinction between the two: a Reaching Home pot of resources that continues to go on a national basis to indigenous organizations in urban, rural and remote communities; and a pot of money that goes for a housing strategy for urban, rural and remote indigenous communities.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you, Chair, and our witnesses.
This is a great conversation today, by the way. I'd like to build on what Chief Ralph Leon Jr. was talking about, if I could, and then I'll swing back and forth because I've got a lot of questions here.
I'd like to build on the comments that were made regarding the relationship with the federal government. From what he said—if I interpreted it correctly—the current relationship with the federal government isn't working. The status quo isn't working, so we need a new relationship that also focuses on the economic reconciliation as well. Did I understand what you're saying correctly?
Ralph Leon Jr.
View Ralph Leon Jr. Profile
Ralph Leon Jr.
2020-12-03 17:55
I believe so. When we try to do things, communication takes time. Maybe there's changeover or maybe there are elections coming up and everybody has to go like this for a little while till the election is over. Then we get lost in the system. We try to communicate with different ministers to have meetings with them and it's just not happening.
We have resolutions from the AFN that are just not being looked at. They're not being read. We just had an AFN meeting—our BCAFN meeting—with some of our ministers, and the only reply we got was that they were sorry that they didn't have time to look at our resolutions. Those resolutions are very important to us. They affect everybody on reserve, off reserve, in nearby cities and in nearby communities.
A lot of our native housing here in the Fraser Valley.... If I go to native housing nearby, I would never see any of my own people in there. I've never seen my neighbouring communities' people in there. It's all people from every other place and there's no place for our own people to go.
If we had that block funding for housing and infrastructure, we could do it. I know Sts'ailes can do it.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
I liked what you said, too—and it's something that's come out in different testimony in this committee and others—about how the federal government has a block of money, then it goes to the province and then it goes to another level. Eventually, as it works its way through the system, that amount you're getting is smaller and smaller, until it comes to your community. Then you're basically looking at the bigger pie and saying that you should be getting that, not this.
Ralph Leon Jr.
View Ralph Leon Jr. Profile
Ralph Leon Jr.
2020-12-03 17:57
Holy, man, you just hit it right on the button. That's exactly the way it goes with that three or four-pronged funding. The main funding is from the federal government and it goes to the province in Victoria and then it goes to the municipalities. Then Indian Affairs comes here and dictates what we can build, how we can build it and when we can build it.
We Sts'ailes are ready to do all of that on our own. I don't know if we're looked at any differently from those who are in treaty or non-treaty. We're an independent band. We're a successful band. I have full confidence that a lot of our neighbours can probably do the same. Even those who are in treaty could do the same. They could manage their own funds.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
What about the idea of a first nations infrastructure institute where communities can do public-private partnership, manage their own money and kind of take out the middlemen, so to speak, which are the different levels of government? You'd be able to go to this indigenous, first nations, Inuit or Métis-led organization and give your proposal and get on with it, because it's run by people who live in your community or nearby.
Ralph Leon Jr.
View Ralph Leon Jr. Profile
Ralph Leon Jr.
2020-12-03 17:58
I think it's an awesome suggestion. When I give out a portfolio, if it's housing, you're in charge of all funds, all infrastructure and so on. If we did that with the federal government and the MP of housing, if he was elected, if he was appointed to be the housing infrastructure MP, then he looks after that money. It follows that this MP, whoever he is, if it was done that way and comes straight to the communities that applied for that money for housing infrastructure.... We never get dollars for those who live off reserve.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
What about potential off-ramps from the Indian Act for the bands that want to get away from it? Would you support something like that if there were the ability to do so, to choose whether or not you wanted to remain or leave?
Ralph Leon Jr.
View Ralph Leon Jr. Profile
Ralph Leon Jr.
2020-12-03 18:00
I fully support not utilizing Indian Affairs. As I said before, they take the majority of our funds and by the time our funds get to us, for me to build a new house, what I get from them is very little: $20,000. If I was to go to a nearby city, I would probably need $200,000. There's no balance.
Results: 1 - 15 of 25 | Page: 1 of 2

1
2
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data