A northern Saskatchewan MP says the federal government needs to develop a national housing plan for Indigenous communities.
In the House of Commons last week Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, MP Georgina Jolibois told lawmakers that in Hatchet Lake, as many as 20 people are sharing a single home that is unsafe to live in.
She says overcrowding is a reality due to forced evictions and lack housing.
“When a family is evicted or thrown out of a housing unit where do those families go to? They will go to a family member with a house, because they have no place else to go,” Jolibois said.
Jolibois describes the situation as a crisis, where families are becoming homeless or must live in houses invested with mould.
“I have seen and I have heard of some residents throughout the north who have that particular issue. It is a public health issue because it’s a mould situation [and] health problems will arise because of mould. So, families end up in the hospital for treatment,” Jolibois explained.
“Instead of taking this crisis seriously, the Liberals only say that more work needs to be done. Northern families cannot wait any longer for the Prime Minister to act.”
Yet Justin Trudeau countered saying the government is implementing a national housing plan. “Not only do we have a plan to address that crisis, we started to put it in place years ago. I can highlight that in budget 2018, we put $600 million toward first nation housing, $500 million toward Métis nation housing, and $400 million for an Inuit-led housing plan. We know we need to continue to work to close the unacceptable gap in housing for indigenous peoples. There is much more to do, but we are acting, not just talking about it.”