Page 50 - Walking_The_Red_Road

8. Culturally-safe and community-responsive housing supports are needed for North Bay’s Aboriginal community.
Let’s compare the non-Native homeless person to the Native homeless person. The needs of a non-Native homeless person are pretty basic. Not saying that they’re, uh, devoid of culture or whatnot, but the needs of a Native homeless person is a little different in the fact that they need that extended social support there. They might feel better if they go to ceremonies or whatnot or if they have access to circles or like even feasts or whatnot. They’re more or less groomed for a more community approach.
There’s so many things that are different from on reserve and off reserve. It’s too wide
of a gap and there’s nothing in there and so people just fall through all the time. They go back to the reserves, or they’re here and they’re disenfranchised and they turn to addictions. There’s too big of a gap...nobody’s meeting those needs. There’s a great big hole there and people fall through there all the time.
Efforts to address housing and homelessness must take into account the historical context of colonial policies and residential schooling and the resulting intergenerational trauma. Alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues, poor parenting practices, violence within families, and crime were all mentioned by the participants as issues affecting their lives. These issues intersect with employment and housing and must be actively recognized and addressed through housing and related social support initiatives and approaches. Essentially, housing approaches need to be culturally relevant, trauma informed and holistic. They need to be culturally safe.
Walking the Red Road | REPORT OF THE URBAN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES THRIVE PROJECT | 50
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