Mino Bimaadiziwin Homebuilder Program’s Impact on Sustainable Livelihoods Among Youth in Garden Hill and Wasagamack First Nations: An Evaluative Study

Abstract

The Mino Bimaadiziwin Homebuilders postsecondary education pilot project built Indigenous youth capacity and houses in two remote Anishinini reserves—Garden Hill and Wasagamack. To evaluate this community-led project, a sustainable livelihood assessment holistically measured the impact on 45 of the 70 (64%) Homebuilder students and the community. The community benefited by gaining three culturally appropriate houses built from local lumber and employment opportunities for Anishinini instructors. A longitudinal survey found five of the six livelihood assets improved statistically and significantly, including satisfaction with social relationships, cultural awareness, income and ability to pay bills, housing safety, and human development. Students reported better relations with their families and neighbourhood. Most (85%) of the 70 Homebuilder students earned postsecondary certificates either in forestry, homebuilding or both while obtaining a training stipend, which elevated their incomes. These positive outcomes occurred despite project underfunding, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, climate change events, and inequitable housing policies under the Indian Act. Based on this project’s success, we recommend investing in Indigenous-led postsecondary education in community homebuilding projects. However, to attain equitable housing and human rights, a plan is needed to overturn the Indian Act, which keeps Indigenous people as “wards of the state” and their land in trust.

Intégrer les connaissances autochtones dans la conception de logements avec les étudiants en construction résidentielle de Wasagamack et Premières Nations de Garden Hill, Manitoba, Canada

“…Many restrictions exist on the federal government solely responsible for funding IR housing. Through the discriminatory restrictions, First Nations people typically have no options for design, homeownership, and financing IR housing (Allary, Thompson, & Mallory-Hill, 2023;Oni et al, 2023;Indian Act, 1985).…”

“…For this community engagement, two of the co-authors, Shirley Thompson and Shauna Mallory-Hill, travelled to Wasagamack for three days and then to Garden Hill by boat for a few days to conduct "design cafés" and home visits with Elders and youth. The authors documented the community cafés through film, design drawings, photos, and notes to assist with designs and programming (Oni et al, 2023). Further, co-authors Catrina Sallese and Shirley Thompson worked with Homebuilder students and the community with several week-long stays in the community to teach, visit, and build alongside Homebuilders (Figure 8).…”

“…The lack of winter road delayed building for a year. Without trucked-in gas, construction and maintenance material prices skyrocketed (Oni et al, 2023). The house in Garden Hill was finished after the winter road delay, but a fire in Wasagamack's warehouse burned all building materials, with no insurance or funds to replace some things, although a standing house was produced.…”

“…Mino Bimaadiziwin means good life as the creator intended. This post-secondary community-led education program trained 70 Indigenous students intent on building capacity and building houses for a better life (Oni, Martin, Bonnycastle, Wood, & Thompson, 2023;Mino Bimaadiziwin Partnership, 2020).…”

Enhancing Housing Awareness and Knowledge: The Malaysia Indigenous Community Outreach Project

“…Besides that, it has been shown that the most critical aspect of developing better housing conditions for the indigenous people is when students get to engage in and with the community from which they come. To illustrate, results demonstrate that there indeed improved housing securities, cultural awareness, and community livelihood assets in the Anishinini Reserve when students of Mino Bimaadiziwin were involved (Oni et al, 2023). Then, it is not by accident that the Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH) succeeded in breaking ground for culturally sensitive housing in an Aboriginal community within the Kimberley.…”