SoVote

May/2/23 7:46:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, when people are experiencing violence, not having a home and not being able to leave keeps them in that cycle of violence. Obviously there has to be more funding and solutions to provide housing for women. We are talking about women, but I believe my colleague from Winnipeg Centre would agree that this affects the whole community. Children are also affected when they are in crowded living conditions, and every aspect of life is affected. Housing really is a key issue. The Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs studied this issue and discussed it with the minister. We realized he means well, but at the same time, there was an admission during the committee that the shortfall would never be eliminated. There is already a shortage, and there will be no way to meet growing demand. These populations are very young, and they need safe places to live. There is not enough money and not enough housing being built. We need concrete measures.

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Context: House Hansard - 189 - May/2/23

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

May/2/23 8:46:33 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, one of the issues the member raised was about indigenous children who have been brought into care, and far too many of them have. In fact, in my home community of Vancouver East, our community call this the modern-day residential school where indigenous children have been taken into care. What is worse is that when they come out of care, they have zero support whatsoever, and many of them do not have access to housing. In fact, in British Columbia, 15% of the homeless population are youth. This is not acceptable. In the the “Calls for Justice” report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, there were 231 calls for justice, and housing was mentioned in that report numerous times. My question to the member is this: Should we not now have a dedicated approach on a for indigenous, by indigenous housing strategy that targets indigenous youth, particularly those who are coming out of care and those who are from the LGBTQ2+ community as well?

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Context: House Hansard - 189 - May/2/23

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/2/23 8:47:49 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is a great question. We had the opportunity, through the status of women committee when we were recently doing a tour studying human trafficking, to go to Sault Ste. Marie, and we visited a centre that oversaw indigenous care. It was an incredible facility, and speaking exactly to what my colleague was just asking about, it has increased indigenous children in care, which was up an extreme amount. However, with the money that was being spent, there was no housing. So, the member is extremely on point in terms of having access to the tools that are needed, housing and supportive housing. One of the things we do not talk enough about in this House of Commons is that housing is fine, but when we are dealing with people who have never been given the tools or knowledge, especially young children who have never been loved in the way they were supposed to be loved by no fault of their own, the parents' own, they need supports, they need connections and they need a lot of wraparound support. I definitely think we need to be focusing on that. To tie back to what I said earlier, we need to listen to the people who are dealing with these children on what their needs are so that we can make sure that we are giving them the right resources that they need.

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