A family in Manitoba’s Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation is getting a new home after the deplorable state of their crumbling, overcrowded house was detailed in a YouTube video -- a happy outcome for one family that sadly represents a housing crisis plaguing indigenous communities across the country.
Clint McIvor posted a three-minute video tour of his cousins’ decrepit house last month in the hopes of getting the prime minister’s attention and raising funds to get the family into a more habitable abode. According to McIvor, 10 people call the rat-infested, three-bedroom trailer their home. A newborn baby is also on the way, McIvor says. In the video, he shows backed-up sewage, a profusion of mould, hole-riddled walls and rotting foundations.
“The smell of sewage is so bad -- it’s horrible,” McIvor says in the video. “I don’t know how anybody can live like this… These people are suffering. There’s no heat. Sewage is backed up. Rats are crawling in, scratching at the kids at night.”
Initially hoping to crowdfund $100,000 for a new house, McIvor’s dream was soon realized by Ontario’s Total Construction Management.
"I asked them if they'd be prepared to consider paying up and possibly providing a home for these people at cost,” McIvor told CTV Winnipeg. “And I couldn't believe it when I talked to them, they actually went one step further and said we'll do this as a donation.”
Total Construction says it will split the cost with a partner firm. The new house should take eight weeks to build and be ready for the family in the New Year.
The Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation sits on the shores of Lake Manitoba, some two hours northwest of Winnipeg.
Sandy Bay Chief Lance Roulette told CTV News that half of the houses in his community need to repaired or condemned. Some families here are forced to use slop pails in lieu of functioning toilets. Many lack central heating and running water. Others see more than a dozen people crammed into small, dilapidated dwellings.
“We have a total of about 477 people that are in need of houses,” said Roulette. According to 2013 data, 6,174 people call the community home.
Roulette estimates that it would cost roughly $76 million to provide homes for everyone -- a sizable chunk of the $554.3 million the federal government has promised over the next two years to address a housing crisis plaguing First Nations communities across the country.
That crisis has been the focus of meetings in Winnipeg this week, where indigenous leaders and government officials are working on a plan to use the money promised in the last federal budget.
“We’ve had a backlog in housing for over 30-40 years, and we’ve got to find new ways of working together to address the need,” said Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
More than 3,100 new homes have been promised for First Nations across Canada, including 14 for Sandy Bay. Others houses have been earmarked for improvements. But for such communities, the government’s promises still remain in the realm of words and rhetoric.
With files from CTV’s Manitoba Bureau Chief Jill Macyshon
