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First Nations Canada HOUSING The enormity of problems with the First Nations of Canada (Aboriginals) is hard to isolate to just one issue. They are very complex and cannot be resolved overnight. But, it can begin with some improvement with the standard of life just like their counterparts in the United States. All of the issues cannot be covered with this project but will only focus with the housing, infrastructure, recreational facilities, school buildings, medical facilities and drinking water matters. Inadequate housing and crowded living is a major problem with the First Nation’s Aboriginals. The conditions drew national and international media attention to a housing situation that far too many Aboriginal communities struggle with. As quoted from Statistic Canada, “Aboriginal people are more likely to live in houses requiring major repairs.” The 2006 Census found that aboriginal people were much more likely to live in dwellings that were in need of major repair. For First Nations people, 29% lived in a home in need of major repair, up from 26% in 1996. Métis people were the only identity group to see a reduction in the past decade. The proportion of Métis people in homes requiring major repair decreased from 17% in 1996 to 14% in 2006. The Inuit population showed the largest increase in the proportion of people in homes needing major repair. In 2006, the proportion rose to nearly 28% from 19% 10 years earlier. In 2006, 7% of the non-Aboriginal population were living in homes in need of major repair, compared to 8% in 1996. Nearly half (45%) of First Nations people living on reserve in 2016 lived in homes that they identified as needing major repairs, compared to 36% a decade ago. With little change from 1996 to 2016, 17% of First Nations people living off reserve indicated that their homes were in need of major repairs. Even still in 2018, the intractable housing crisis plaguing Attawapiskat, Ontario and many First Nations communities across Canada is brought into sharp focus. Inside the homes are broken, loose and stained ceiling tiles, heaving and cracked linoleum floors, plastic-covered and boarded-up windows. It continues with very poor insulation, lack of heat during the winter and little to no running water. In Attawapiskat, a community of 80 houses has deemed the majority of homes condemned and unfit for habitation. And to compound matters with the unsuitable living standard, the majority of homes are pledged with mold. Government documents read that, in the Province of Manitoba’s First Nations live in some of the most dilapidated homes in the country and it will cost $2 billion to eliminate mold and chronic overcrowding in that province alone. That’s almost 13 times more than the $150 million the federal government has budgeted for housing on all reserves across Canada in 2016. Reports from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, obtained by The Canadian Press under access to information legislation, read that the housing situation in Manitoba has worsened as infrastructure funding has been siphoned off to other areas. Therein, First Nations continue to face further deterioration in infrastructure. Manitoba has among the highest percentage of Indigenous People living in poor housing in Canada. Officials say Alberta is the only other province in a similar situation. The situation is a “ticking-time-bomb” in the remote aboriginal community of St. Theresa Point in northern Manitoba. The waiting list for housing on the cluster of four reserves in this tribal council is 1,500. Last year, this reserve got 18 units. They were the lucky ones. Other reserves got less than that. It’s not uncommon for 18 people to live in a small bungalow. Last year 2015, there were 23 people living in a two-bedroom home and had to take turns sleeping. While the government’s own estimates put Manitoba’s housing needs at $2 billion, the department said $50 million is budgeted for on-reserve housing in the province back in 2016. That dropped to $29 million the following year. Overcrowding, dilapidated housing and general unaffordability are issues faced daily by many of Canada’s Indigenous families, especially those living on settlements and reserves, where it’s been suggested that 49 per cent of existing housing is in need of repair, and an additional 85,000 housing units are required to address the current supply shortage. Native Americans United States HOUSING Homelessness is considered a subject of no public interest in the United States and therefore very little information about the homeless American Indians is available, but it is estimated that there are “90,000 homeless or under housed Indian families,” especially in the reservations where the shortage and decay of houses is a challenge. Old shacks (often left behind army buildings) and flats have a lack of electricity, running or warm water and, in more than 50% of all cases, public sewer and are in need for repair, are common housing conditions. On top of that, 40% of Native Americans who live on reservations are in substandard housing. One-third of homes are overcrowded, and more than 84 percent don’t have indoor plumbing. Housing on reservations is funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered and augmented by tribes, and has been historically underfunded, despite treaties and the trust responsibility of the federal government. As a result of the shortage of housing, American Indian houses have to offer home for big families and their acquaintances, so that 33% of the American Indians live in overcrowded homes and sometimes “25 people are living in a two-bedroom home” which promotes a lack of hygiene and the spread of diseases. The waiting list for tribal housing is long; the wait is often three years or more, and overcrowding is inevitable. Most families will not turn away family members or anyone who needs a place to stay. It is not uncommon for 3 or more generations to live in a two-bedroom home with inadequate plumbing, kitchen facilities, cooling, and heating. It was estimated by the Millennial Housing Commission that current estimates indicate an immediate need for 200,000 housing units to live sustainable on the reservations. Further increasing the concerns with reservation housing is the noticeable absence of utilities. While most Americans take running water, telephones, and electricity for granted, many reservation families live without these amenities. On a seriously stretched budget, utilities are viewed as luxuries compared to food and transportation. Overcrowding, substandard dwellings, and lack of utilities all increase the potential for health risk, especially in rural and remote areas where there is a lack of accessible healthcare and health facilities. And with that point, the health conditions on the reservations are deplorable. Native Americans are suffering with diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis and other health conditions and are dying at shocking rates. The cases of asthma, heart failure, cancer and AIDS are also noticeable accumulated within American Indian communities. Unfortunately mostly among the elders and children and are out of all proportion to the inadequate health care system. Especially the malnutrition based diseases such as rickets and diabetes require expensive medical treatments like for example dialysis and therefore the federal health service in many reservations is overburdened. Native peoples suffer from high rates of poverty, unemployment and, as of late, a shocking suicide rate between the ages of 15 to 24, the second leading cause of death. Seventeen percent of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and 27% of all self-identified Native Americans and Alaska Natives live in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. However, the national figure distorts the prevalence of poverty on Indian reservations and in Alaska Native communities, where 22% of Native American people live. In 2012, three of the five poorest counties in the United States, and five of the top 10, encompassed Sioux reservations in North and South Dakota. In 2014, President Barack Obama visited the Standing Rock Sioux on the border of North and South Dakota, where the poverty rate is 43.2% - almost three times the national average. The unemployment rate on the Standing Rock Reservation was over 80% as of 2018. Nothing has changed since Obama’s visit.

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