• Full report pdf format

• Situational homelessness:
• Episodic homelessness:
• Chronic homelessness:

• Significant findings

• Displacement from the land
• 1995 revisions to Ontario Works
• Roles in the economic development
• Welfare dependency

• Sioux Lookout's new Transitional Support Program
• A Call for a Land-Based Healing Program
• A Call for Detox and treatment services in Sioux Lookout
• The Sioux Lookout District Must Work Together to Address the Issues
• Correcting Distortions of History- More Opportunities for the Municipality and northern First Nations to Work Together
• A Need for Affordable, Supportive, Transitional Housing, and Innovative Development in Sioux Lookout

• Rethinking Ontario Works
• Merge Traditional and Wage Economies
• On-Reserve Housing
• Aggressive Drug and Alcohol Awareness Campaigns Report Highlights "A Sociological Analysis of Aboriginal

• Situational homelessness: Refers to those individuals who end up on the streets because of an acute life crisis. Family violence, eviction, divorce, and a release from jail are some examples of why individuals may end up on the streets, without shelter. These individuals have no place to go, but they are not among the chronic - or long term - homeless. These individuals generally access supports and either settle in Sioux Lookout, return to their home communities, or take up residence in another community.

• Episodic homelessness: Refers to those individuals who visit Sioux Lookout for one of several reasons, a medical/counselling/family services appointment for example. Or, they travel to Sioux Lookout for recreation purposes, or to visit family, or they specifically visit the community "to drink". Regardless of the reason for the trip to Sioux Lookout, persons who end up on the streets generally choose to extend their stay to meet up with others on the street, to drink. Some individuals stay for a day or two, while others remain in Sioux Lookout for up to a month. They alternate between being sheltered (while in their home communities) and being unsheltered (while in Sioux Lookout). Some individuals, however, find shelter on the sofas of friends or family. Not included in this group are the individuals who travel to Sioux Lookout specifically to drink, but unlike the episodic homeless they remain in Sioux Lookout indefinitely. They too could return to shelter in a home community but choose to stay on the streets. Each with his or her own reason chooses not to return home. These individuals are considered to be among the chronic homeless.
• Chronic homelessness: Refers to individuals (or families) who without the provision of emergency shelter would have no place to live. They live in make-shift shelters, tents, abandoned cars and buildings, and "in the bush".

• 47% of the informants of this study disclose backgrounds of violence and abuse, compared to 39% of the homeless in other communities disclosing backgrounds of violence and abuse
•  58% of the 19 informants live with some form of mental illness, or are in need of counselling or healing services. People who end up on the streets are having difficulty coping, a fact directly related to residential school experiences, a rapid displacement of the family system as the primary unit of economic production, a normless quality of life created by the loss of traditional skills, a dependency created by the federal government, and limited life chances.
• At least 84% of the informants are what Elders refer to as "lost souls" who experience a sense of hopelessness and despair, deep heartaches that they feel can only be lessened with the over consumption of alcohol and/or substances. They turn to alcohol and substances as a means to bury the pain they carry from past abuses, early childhood adversities, family violence, childhood sexual abuse, and residential school abuses.
• People who turn to the street have lost loved ones to suicide, often many loved ones. They live in communities plagued with chronic unemployment and welfare dependency. They've lost children to Child and Family Services. They've lived through physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, either within the residential school system or elsewhere. Their hearts ache consistently. They turn to alcohol to numb the heart ache.
• The loss of a significant other places Aboriginal persons at high risk of homelessness.
• 100% of the informants of this study use alcohol and/or solvents. Implementation of Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee's new Transition Support Program for homeless persons and persons at risk of homelessness lead to a new type of homeless person. Persons and families in search of support services now travel to Sioux Lookout to link to programs and services that will help move them toward independence.
• Close to 50% of the informants have no place to call home. They are among the chronic homeless and the situational homeless.
• Housing Shortages on and off-reserve place Aboriginal persons at high risk of homelessness. In Sioux Lookout, there is up to a two year waiting list for geared-to-income housing. Some individuals return to over crowded housing conditions on reserve because of the lack of supportive and affordable housing in Sioux Lookout.
• For most of the year 63% of individuals on the streets receive no income. (37% of the informants hold seasonal jobs, making them ineligible for Employment Insurance at the end of employment. Not one person applies for Ontario Works during the off season. Another 26% receive no income from any source.)
• Addictions is a major barrier to individuals without income. They recognize the Ontario Works criteria that they seek employment or training to be eligible for continued monthly financial support and therefore do not apply for social assistance.
• Contrary to popular belief that people on the streets "live off government money", only 5% of the individuals in this study receive monthly assistance from Ontario Works, and another 11% receive an income from Ontario Disability Support Program. Income from neither of these sources is sufficient to afford average market rent in Sioux Lookout at $834.00 per month. (The Ontario Works recipient is eligible for $325.00 per month shelter allowance, and the ODSP recipient is eligible for a $414.00 shelter allowance per month.)

• Displacement from the land, or pushing people to reserve settlements, and robbing communities of rights to land and natural resources is a major factor contributing to the hopelessness and despair experienced by many Aboriginal peoples today. These underlying factors contribute to the lack of jobs in reserve communities, as well as the subsequent role displacement associated with alienation from tradition.
• 1995 revisions to Ontario Works criteria means that only one person per household may collect social assistance. In communities where multiple families live in one house, it is simply not possible to feed an entire household on one social assistance cheque. Where a family has lost its traditional skills, the impact is even more devastating.
• Aboriginal persons participation in the early fur trade, wage labour in the mines, clearing bush for construction of roads and railway, play significant roles in the economic development of the Sioux Lookout District. Trade and wage labour, however, introduced a new way of life, a way of life which for the most part has become a way of the past, thereby creating a generation removed from acquiring the skills required to know how to live off the land. The new economy then devastated Aboriginal people who do not have the skills to compete today's labour market.
• Welfare dependency inhibits potential to save money to acquire assets and, according to Elders, lowers incentive to learn traditional skills.
  

A Model to Address Homelessness and Calls for Action

• Sioux Lookout's new Transitional Support Program: The need for a continuum of services was identified at the early stages of project research. Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee (SLHC) recently implemented a Transitional Support Program for persons on the streets. A Transitional Support Worker (TSW) is available to link persons to services (e.g. Nishnawbe-Gamik Friendship Centre's Native Courtworker Program, Alcohol and Addictions Program, and Community Health and Wellness Program, as well as other programs within the community - literacy, counselling, employment, training and skills development, mental health, churches, traditional teachings, outreach programs, income assistance, parenting support, grief support, faith supports, and housing). Links to support programs depends upon individual need and preference for mainstream or traditional services. The Transitional Support Program also offers in-house healing and sharing circles, and links to persons with the knowledge to deliver traditional supports such as smudges and the sweat lodge. The TSW also assists individuals with completing forms for everything from housing and income assistance to obtaining personal identification such as status cards and birth certificates.
• A Call for a Land-Based Healing Program: There is a need for a land-based program to facilitate healing and life skills development for persons on the streets requesting such services. The site will be located in a remote, or semi-remote, area where individuals may gain a sense of "connectedness" to the land. Programs offered at the site will include counselling and healing supports, sharing circles, Elders teachings, teaching and learning of trapping and hunting skills, sweat lodge, and training in literacy, employment and life skills (e.g. self awareness, anger management, problem solving and conflict resolution, and money management). Clients will address residential school issues, addictions issues, identity issues, and issues of childhood maltreatment. Program objectives include building a sense of identity, self worth, self respect, and acquiring the skills necessary to adapt to a bi-cultural way of life. Land-based program clients will be vital component of the daily operations of the program - assisting with cooking, drying and smoking meats, cleaning, maintenance, and teachings. In fact, during the programs initial stages the clients will assist with construction of cabins, a main hall, and a healing lodge.
• A Call for Detox and treatment services in Sioux Lookout: According to data collected at Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee's new Transitional Support Program, hundreds of people travel to Sioux Lookout each year for medical and other services then end up drinking on the streets of Sioux Lookout. The structural and historical factors involved are presented within the context of this paper and are not to be ignored. On the surface, addiction and problem drinking are key factors contributing to homelessness in Sioux Lookout. Yet, Sioux Lookout has no detox or treatment program to assist individuals who choose to make changes in their lives. Elders tell us there is a need for more than detoxification. All persons seeking treatment services must be prepared to work through the personal issues at the root of their desire to "numb the pain". Individuals returning from detox and treatment programs and ending up on the streets of Sioux Lookout tells us they require "half way" programs to readjust to life without alcohol and/or drugs. Individuals require a safe place to make a smooth transition to independence. Provincial health dollars should be allocated to meet this need, and the provincial and federal governments must be prepared to partner with local medical, mental health, and other community programs to assist with the development of effective detox, treatment, and transition programs.
• The Sioux Lookout District Must Work Together to Address the Issues: The Corporation of the Municipality of Sioux Lookout may consider working with SLHC and other relevant parties in the following ways: Work with provincial and federal governments, First Nation Chiefs, Councilors, and Elders, and with Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee and people on the streets to develop a "land-based" healing and skills development program for people with addictions and childhood maltreatment issues; Work with private developers, Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee and appropriate non-profit organizations to develop transitional and affordable housing in Sioux Lookout. The Municipality's contribution toward any of these developments may take the form of land transfers.
• Correcting Distortions of History- More Opportunities for the Municipality and northern First Nations to Work Together: The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples identified an essential first step in the process of healing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relations as "acknowledging errors of the past, making restitution when and where possible, and correcting distortions of history".
  

• A Need for Affordable, Supportive, Transitional Housing, and Innovative Development in Sioux Lookout: There is up to a two year waiting list for geared-to-income housing in Sioux Lookout, while Nitawin Community Development (a housing service for Aboriginal persons) has no single person units. Nitawin has 138 on its waiting list, East Kenora Housing 153, and 135 for Sioux Lookout Non-Profit housing. The Manager of Nitawin Community Development, reports a need for at least 200 family units and 50 single units.

• Rethinking Ontario Works: Welfare dependency is inevitable for the majority of persons living on reserve. Employment opportunities are limited, and those that do arise are generally contract or seasonal positions which do not last long enough to meet Employment Insurance criteria. Revisions to Ontario Works, which included a provision that only one person in a household may collect a social assistance cheque, had severe impacts in communities where housing is sparse and multiple families must crowd into single family units. There is an obvious need for more on-reserve housing, as well as a rethinking of Ontario Works eligibility criteria. Eligibility criteria must reflect experiences and housing availability on reserve communities.
• A rethinking of Ontario Works policies should also consider a need to teach Aboriginal children living on reserve the hunting and trapping skills practiced by their Elders. These skills are vital to healthy lifestyle on reserve, where there are few jobs and the cost of food and clothing is generally two to three times the costs off reserve.
  

• Merge Traditional and Wage Economies: People living on reserve land must be able to rely on the resources of the land to avoid dependency on government assistance. The education system should be permitting children to accompany Elders on hunting and trapping excursions. A one or two week school and employment "shut down" during hunting and trapping seasons will allow Elders to educate the young. "Shut down" should not be accompanied by a loss of wages, or the risk that an Ontario Works recipient will lose his or her social assistance because the child was not in school. The traditional economy must merge with wage employment to provide a living wage on reserve, and to revive traditional survival skills.
• On-Reserve Housing: Clearly where there are multiple families crowded into single family units on reserve, or elsewhere, there is a need for accessible and adequate housing. Crowding multiple families into single family units contributes to the spread of disease, illness, depression, and even violence. The fact that any community has a twenty year waiting list should be considered inhumane. The Federal government must address this issue; action must be taken.
• Aggressive Drug and Alcohol Awareness Campaigns: The Federal government must continue to support drug and alcohol programs on reserve (NNADAP, for example) and add new monies for the development and implementation of aggressive education and awareness campaigns.