Addressing Housing Crisis in First Nation Reserves, Boreal Forest, Canada

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Mino Bimaadiziwin Partnership builds networks and capacity with northern indigenous communities to address housing and food crises in First Nation reserves. The project is led by Dr. Shirley Thompson of the Natural Resources Institute, and involves dozens of interdisciplinary researchers, including Shawn Bailey, Lancelot Coar and Dr. Shawna Mallory-Hill in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. Additional partners include Manitoba academic and industry partners, and multiple First Nation organizations, including Garden Hill First Nation, Wasagamack First Nation, and the Island Lake Tribal Council (ILTC).

The world-renowned interdisciplinary team seek to succeed in the implementation of community-led programming on housing, food, education and other community needs.

For First Nations in northern Manitoba, inadequate housing contributes to the health inequity that exists between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) offers a way to a good life, called Mino Bimaadiziwin in Oji-Cree, through the “injection of capital and the integration of housing objectives with other social and economic activities in Aboriginal communities, creating a synergistic effect, making housing a source of community healing and economic renewal.”

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