The grand chief of Treaty 8 in Alberta says the auditor general’s latest report on housing is an example of the federal government not honouring the treaties.
On March 19, Karen Hogan issued a scathing report saying that in more than 20 years, the federal government and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, an agency of government more commonly called the CMHC, had done little to fix housing in First Nations across the country.
Not only that, the CMHC had been using data from the 2001 census to work out how much money First Nations across Canada would get.
“I come from a membership that is about 700 population and at a time we kind of got into this process [housing] in ‘92. In 1992, our housing funding was $137,000 – So going on 30 years plus, it’s still $137,000,” said Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey.
Hogan was equally surprised by what she found in her report.
“After four audit reports, I can honestly say that I am completely discouraged that so little has changed and that so many First Nations and families continue to live in substandard homes,” she said.
In 2019, Canada pledged to close the housing gap in First Nations by 2030.
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According to the audit, there are 119,000 housing units in approximately 600 First Nations in Canada. Hogan found that people living on First Nations are “4 times more likely to live in crowded housing and 6 times more likely to live in housing in need of major repairs than non‑Indigenous people, according to Canada’s 2021 Census.”
First Nations are “4 times more likely to live in crowded housing and 6 times more likely to live in housing in need of major repairs than non‑Indigenous people, according to Canada’s 2021 Census.”
First Nation, Inuit and Métis are the fastest growing population in Canada – increasing 9.4 per cent from 2016 to 2021 according to the latest census.
Noskey said the federal government hasn’t taken the higher population into account.
“Through a land claim process they use numbers like 3.9 people per house to a max of 5.2, 5.3 per household,” he said. “So if they take the populations now in First Nations country and do the calculations, I think that funding would adjust drastically.
“Housing is very crucial. It’s very crucial to your health, your confidence and your demeanor, but like I said, they keep doing things that don’t honour what the agreements are supposed to be.”
In response to the auditor general’s report, the CMHC said it would use the latest census data to work out how much money First Nations need.
