RECONCILIATION: MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER - APPENDICES
F-12
• There are two main issues: We don’t have enough housing stock and we grossly underestimate homelessness and how challenging maintenance will be. • During the interviews the initial discussion was around reconciliation and Indigenous self-determination. After reading the document twice, I realized reconciliation is a strong word to use and has drawn out a specific response. What is missing is the sense of urgency in the housing crisis. I would love to see the report screaming urgency and
that there is an immediate housing need. Indigenous people are the most marginalized group and you can see that from working on the ground.
• BC Housing need more people on the ground to actually see what is going on – get a family to tour you around in their home and show you the mould they are living with. The best way to show respect to Indigenous communities is to create a manageable healthy housing stock that looks after Indigenous people who live in the units. Housing organizations are in survival mode, and that shows we are in a crisis. They don’t have enough budget to work with high risk individuals. • There are national best practices on homelessness that BC seems reluctant to get in to. e.g., 100,000 homes campaign. • Reconciliation and best practices should be two separate conversations. There are 200 diverse First Nations in BC. This report captures the perspectives of 16 of them. The others may not feel that their experience with BC Housing is reflected by what is captured in this report. In the next stages of developing the Strategy, therefore, it will be important to involve the other Nations, as well as the urban Indigenous and other housing organizations to be invited to be part of the process. Importantly, the process needs to do more to involve Indigenous partners in the actual development of the Strategy (as opposed to being pulled in at the very end to review or being included as an afterthought). It is important to include the urban Indigenous and the dispossessed Indigenous populations. There is a tendency in government to fall back on UNDRIP definitions of Indigenous peoples that only recognizes First Nations, Inuit and Métis; as discussed in the interview. I thought you did a good job of capturing these thoughts from the interview, but just wanted to highlight that so that those groups are not left out of the process. Empowering Indigenous peoples is critical - meaning that actions on BC Housing’s part need to expand beyond simply hiring more Indigenous peoples in their internal teams. BC Housing need to empower organizations like AHMA and others to help genuinely lead the work.
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