Auditor’s Report comes as no surprise to Kahnawake, Rice says
Federal Auditor General Karen Hogan’s report that the federal government has massively failed First Nations communities on matters of housing funding comes as no surprise to anyone in the community who has tried to access funds for housing projects, Mohawk Council of Kahnawake executive operations officer Alan John Rice said.
Rice said Tuesday morning that Hogan’s report, which showed very little had improved for First Nations housing since 2015, sounds about right.
“That’s how I look at it,” he said. “There is absolutely funding available for housing projects but there are so many deadlines and hoops to jump through that it’s almost impossible to get anything done.”
Rice said that the reporting required by the government to release housing funding is so rife with red tape that it makes projects very difficult to plan – in effect, Rice said, forcing communities to plan without a budget.
“That’s almost impossible,” he said. “If the funding is released, sometimes it’s got a condition that the building has to go up in a year. In theory, if we’re looking at a large-scale housing project, that would take a lot longer than a year to complete.”
Hogan’s report said that despite multiple warnings, federal underfunding of housing means that the percentage of First Nations homes that need repair or replacement is essentially the same in 2022 as it was in 2015.
"Adequate housing is a basic human need," Hogan said. "After four audit reports, I can honestly say that I am completely discouraged that so little has changed and that so many First Nations individuals and families continue to live in substandard homes."
Rice said since Kahnawake’s organizational infrastructure is solid and community officials are so frustrated by the government regulations, he has sympathy for other First Nations communities that may not have quite as much continuity of leadership.
“We are pretty well set up here,” he said. “Some communities aren’t. If it were possible to get the funding set up, establish reasonable reporting guidelines and get the projects moving, I think everyone would be better off.”
To that end, Indigenous Services minister Patty Hajdu said her department will be changing how they fund and plan housing in First Nations communities.
“While significant strides have been made, this report reminds us that there is still work to do. First Nations leadership, communities, and organizations know best what is needed in their communities and how to meet those needs. In the spirit of self-determination and reconciliation, this government will follow their lead and support their housing projects so more houses can be built on reserves across the country. That is why we are changing how we address housing in First Nations and why the Assembly of First Nations, the Chiefs Committee on Housing and Infrastructure, Indigenous Services Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada worked together to develop the National First Nations Housing and Related Infrastructure Strategy.”
Rice said easing those red-tape restrictions is the right move.
“This will make seed funding more available and make things a little easier, yes,” he said.
Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Iori:wase
