Why Edmonton's work on Indigenous-led housing remains complex
On Nov. 27, Edmonton city council's executive committee endorsed investing $8.3 million from the city's Indigenous Housing Grant into three Indigenous-led housing projects from NiGiNan Housing Ventures, Yellowhead Tribal Council, and Métis Capital Housing Corporation. If approved at a future city council meeting, the projects will add a total of 93 new housing units in the Elmwood Park, Calder, and Belvedere neighbourhoods.
Meanwhile, in late November, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi released a joint public statement with the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations that followed a 2023 letter of intent. That letter committed the city to create more Indigenous-led housing, "which includes the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations being directly involved in decision-making and activities related to housing for its members in an urban setting."
While the 93 new units and the new agreement will undoubtedly help, they confront a housing challenge that can only be described as wicked. The number of people without stable housing in Edmonton is growing, after years of decline. About 4,700 people were living without stable shelter in Edmonton in September, an increase of nearly 2,000 from the same time last year, according to Homeward Trust's point-in-time count. More than 70% of Indigenous people here originate from communities outside the city, nearly 60% of people experiencing homelessness here identify as Indigenous, and one in three Indigenous households that rent here are in core housing need.
As Edmonton enters an election year, then, it's clear that more of its residents are struggling to find adequate housing than ever before, and most acutely within the Indigenous communities that make up 6.2% of the region's population. To find out why this is happening, what's working, and what needs to be improved, Taproot spoke to experts who work in Indigenous-led housing across Edmonton.
Why Indigenous people in Edmonton face housing challenges
History offers the largest part of the answer to why this is happening. What is now Edmonton was, as recently as 150 years ago, the home or meeting place for many different Indigenous nations. Treaty 6, signed in 1876 between the federal government and chiefs representing the Nêhiyaw, Nakoda Oyadebi, and Ojibwe nations (many others joined later through adhesions) partially formalized this relationship in Canadian law. But though the treaty was ostensibly an agreement for Canada to help Indigenous nations transition to an agricultural economy, create land reserves and schools, and provide healthcare, help during famine, and annuities, it was ultimately used to enable settlement.
Canada enticed settlers with the Dominion Lands Act of 1872. For $10, settlers got 160 acres of land, and they came by the tens of thousands. By 1891, rapid settlement and over-hunting had effectively extinguished the plains bison, and several Indigenous nations faced starvation, including the Papaschase Nation. That nation, whose people lived in what is now Mill Woods in Edmonton, tells its history of being dispossessed of land as Canada allowed its people to starve, forcing many to accept scrip, or the extinguishment of their claim to land, in exchange for relief. "It was basically all fraud that was committed," Papaschase Chief Calvin Bruneau said in a 2021 interview.
Experts told Taproot that further answers to why are found in Edmonton itself. "Edmonton is an extremely unique community in that we have a growing population of unhoused but we also have a number of different programs and services that have brought people here," said Keri Cardinal, chief executive officer of NiGiNan Housing Ventures, one of the largest providers of Indigenous-led housing in the city. The magnets include hospitals, universities, colleges, and justice facilities. People are pulled here for varying reasons, she said, and can end up without shelter. "Sometimes they get left behind here, or sometimes they ... get stuck."
It's difficult for the City of Edmonton to solely fix a challenge that occurs within its boundaries, due to its limited resources and fledgling relationships with Indigenous nations, which have historical legal and fiscal relationships with the federal and provincial governments (acting on behalf of the Crown). The city has nonetheless worked for a significant time to move the needle. Its most recent work includes creating an Indigenous Relations Office, signing agreements with multiple nations, and building an Affordable Housing Strategy that includes actions aimed to "prioritize and incentivize" Indigenous-led housing. In 2022, a city report suggested the city should exempt these housing projects from property taxes; create rebate programs, a special permitting stream, rent subsidy programs, and new financing options; and develop its partnerships.
But while the new housing and partnerships recently announced suggests the city is making headway on its goals, some feel the problem is bigger than increasing the supply of housing. Karen Bruno, co-director of Indigenization at EndPovertyEdmonton (which will wind down its operations by the end of the year), and Cree from the Maskwacis area, told Taproot the glaring problem with the system is that it tends to work for those with the fewest challenges, and not people who use heavy drugs such as meth or suffer from schizophrenia and other complex challenges. "It's supposed to be the people who are the ones in most need (being housed), and yet we have all these people who are in the most need (who) are not being housed," Bruno said.
