Assembly of First Nations national chief calls for action following reports on housing, policing

The Assembly of First Nations national chief is calling for action from the federal government following two reports from the Auditor General released Tuesday showing continued shortcomings in Indigenous housing and policing. 

The report on housing in First Nations communities referred to 2021 Census data showing that people in First Nations communities are four times more likely to live in crowded housing and six times more likely to live in housing in need of major repair than non-Indigenous people. 

"These reports provide a clear path forward for the changes urgently needed," said Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak. 

The report, which focused on on-reserve housing in the provinces, says there has been no meaningful improvement since 2015 in housing conditions. It cited a 2021 Assembly of First Nations report that estimated more than 55,000 new units were needed and 81,000 units need repairs.

In 2019, the Trudeau government pledged to close the housing gap in First Nations communities by 2030, but the report says Indigenous Services Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation are not on track to support First Nations to meet this goal. 

Woodhouse Nepinak said she thinks the government is falling short of the 2030 deadline. 

"The housing crisis and infrastructure gap in our communities is a main driver of [First Nations] homelessness," she said. 

Jamie-Lee Wesley and her husband recently moved back to her home community of Gitsegukla First Nation, about 700 kilometres north of Vancouver, for her husband's job. 

The couple is living with her parents.

"It's not the best situation, but it could be worse," said Wesley, who is Gitxsan and Tsimshian. 

She said she is happy to be home but living in her parents' five-bedroom house with six people can get tricky, and other siblings sometimes come and stay as well. 

"We're just trying to find other options, but being in such a rural part of B.C., it's kind of sparse," said Wesley. 

Wesley said a housing waitlist with her First Nation is long and she hasn't been able to get an application. 

Another Auditor General report was critical of the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program — a cost-shared program between the federal and provincial and territorial governments created in 1991, meant to improve the safety of First Nations and Inuit communities.