![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
A disproportionate number of Indigenous people are homeless in Canada—a situation that is particularly grave in Canada’s North. This study assesses the extent of the current housing and homelessness problem and identifies contributing factors in the Tłıchǫ region of the Northwest Territories (NWT). It concludes that the housing and homelessness issue is severe, with one of the four communities in the region—Behchokǫ̀—being the site with the most persistent and longstanding concerns. It asserts that the territorial government’s housing approach in the Tłıchǫ region fails to align with the best practice model employed for Indigenous housing in remote geographies. The study elaborates on how multiple, interrelated factors, such as ongoing impacts of Canada’s colonial past and welfare system, sociocultural shifts within the Indigenous community, the constraints of a remote geography, and past and current housing policies, contribute to housing insecurity and homelessness. The study also offers some potential solutions and recommendations to deal with this crucial housing issue.
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the funding and logistical support provided by the Tłıchǫ Government. Thank you to Laura Duncan, Jim Martin and all the Tłıchǫ residents who hosted us and participated in the study.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Canada’s North refers to the political boundaries of three territories—Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut—as well as the northern regions, approximately 50° latitude and above, of the seven provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
2. The Tłıchǫ Government is the result of the Tłıchǫ Land Claims and Self-Government Agreement, signed on August 25, 2003, by the Tłıchǫ representatives, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the Government of Canada. Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution Act, 1982, recognizes Indigenous self-government as an Indigenous right of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. The Tłıchǫ Agreement is the first combined land claim and self-government agreement in the Northwest Territories and nationally is second only to Nunavut’s comprehensive land claims agreement.
3. Following the guidelines provided in the Government of Canada’s Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (Citation2018), the participants’ identities are kept anonymous. They were also informed of their right to voluntarily leave the study at any time before publication.
4. The category unemployed refers to people who, during the week prior to the survey in 2016, (a) were without work, had actively looked for work in the previous 4 weeks, and were available for work; (b) had been on temporary layoff and expected to return to their job; or (c) had definite arrangements to start a new job within the next 4 weeks.
5. Being in the labor force refers to people who, during the week prior to the survey in 2016, were either employed, unemployed, or looking for employment in the 4 weeks prior to the survey.
6. The eligibility age for income support is 19.
7. Economic families refers to people living in the same house who are related by blood, marriage, common law, or adoption.
8. The Friendship Centre’s Behchokǫ Homelessness Needs Assessment Survey (2018) included more men than women participants. However, the City of Yellowknife’s Point in Time Homeless Count (2018) had participation from slightly more women than men, as well as more children and youths than in their previous count.
9. As of 2019, the Behchokǫ Friendship Centre runs a four unit transition shelter through the NWTHC's Northern Pathways to Housing program.
10. A couch surfer is an individual who is homeless and finds couches in various homes to sleep on to survive.
11. The Sixties Scoop refers to Canadian government policies that allowed Indigenous children to be forcibly taken, or scooped up, from their families and communities for adoption or placement in non-Indigenous foster homes. This practice began in the late 1950s, but much of it occurred during the 1960s, and it continued into the 1980s.
12. Passed in 1876, the Indian Act defines how the Government of Canada interacts with First Nations bands and reserves and their members, how reserves and bands can operate, and who is recognized as Indian. Since its enactment, the act has been amended numerous times, most recently in 2013.
13. A few exceptions exist in Behchokǫ̀. We came across two individuals—one living in a public housing unit and the other in a private home—who open their doors to homeless people if and when they need shelter or want to get away from the cold.
14. Heavy drinking is defined as drinking five or more drinks at a time, per the NWT Community Survey (2014). The frequency of doing so, however, varies between less than once per month to once or more per week.
15. The average Canadian electricity price was 12.9¢ per kWh in 2017 (Canadian Energy Regulator, Citation2017), so the cost is almost triple in the NWT.
16. The community government in a Tłıchǫ community is a municipal corporation, like any other municipal government, with responsibilities for community planning, public works, and community improvements. Public utilities (such as water quality, water delivery, and sewage services), as well as emergency response planning and fire protection, recreation, and other services (such as bylaw enforcement) also fall under the community government’s jurisdiction. In addition, it administers all lands within the community, and regulates land use and development through its Community Plan, zoning bylaws, leasing, and development permit processes. A Community Government Council consists of 10 members and is led by a chief, elected every 4 years.
17. Despite guaranteed hunting and trapping rights in Treaty 11 of 1921, the government did not fully respect the treaty obligations. Treaty 11 is the last of the numbered treaties, signed between First Nations and the Canadian government in 1921. It covers a large part of the present-day Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sandeep K. Agrawal
Sandeep K. Agrawal is a professor and Inaugural Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research focuses on the intersections of planning policies and human and Indigenous rights, multiculturalism and international development.
Celine Zoe
Celine Zoe serves as a project advisor on the executive of the Tłı̨chǫ Government in its Yellowknife office, Canada. She is involved in many Tłı̨chǫ priorities such as housing and highway projects and economic and training strategies.