Qalipu First Nation tapping community voices to assess the need for housing support and services

The Qalipu First Nation is trying to improve its housing strategy by getting more information from the people who need it most.

Members of the Qalipu Nation have been travelling across western Newfoundland with the Rural Development Network, a non-profit organization from Alberta that aims to support and amplify voices in Canada's Indigenous communities.

Qalipu is one of six First Nations the network is partnering with to create what it's calling the First Nation Housing Data Collection Tool, which health and wellness director Mitch Blanchard says will help them better understand where programs and resources should be developed.

"We want to make sure that we have the voices of our community members heard … and make sure that programs and services, you know, is targeting and meeting the community's needs," Blanchard said Tuesday. "This is their voices, their stories, which is a different approach from other researches that we've done in the past."

Taylor Sparklingeyes, the data collection project manager, said initial responses have gone over quite well. More than 50 people have already shared their stories, she said, with affordability and a connection to cultural lands emerging as themes.

“"It's definitely very different perspectives from the different communities so far that we've engaged with. It's very interesting to hear what different struggles they have in different locations across Newfoundland," she said"It's definitely very different perspectives from the different communities so far that we've engaged with. It's very interesting to hear what different struggles they have in different locations across Newfoundland," she said. "There's really nowhere for members to go connect and be one with nature, which you know, that in itself is a form of homelessness. That loss of connection to our culture and our traditional ways of living."

Sparklingeyes said the goal of the data tool is for gather grassroots information that can be handed off to First Nations like the Qalipu to give them the power to make their own decisions on policy and programs. "There are so many different forms of homelessness that First Nations people experience that are often overlooked by, you know, these Western constructs of how the Canadian government defines homelessness," she said.

"Really understanding it from a culturally appropriate lens will amplify and provide accurate data around … how some of our people are living."

The final session wrapped up in Stephenville on Tuesday, and data collection in other regions will continue in the fall.