When people get together in First Nation communities, the topic of housing often comes up. In the Elsipogtog First Nation, a Mi’kmaw community and the largest First Nation in New Brunswick, there is someone in the conversation circle making people feel they are being heard. The community now has a council member with responsibility for the housing portfolio, and community members are part of the volunteer housing committee. The housing committee attends informal gatherings, answers questions, listens to concerns and proposes solutions.

The Elsipogtog First Nation is implementing a new direction for housing that’s based on increased knowledge and awareness, and better communication between the housing administration and the community members. The volunteer committee is a key element of this plan. While housing was the focal point of many informal discussions in the past, there was a lack of opportunities for input into solutions. This made it difficult to develop and implement housing improvement plans.

“We had programs in place, but community members were being told they needed to go see this person or that person,” says Charles Levi, Director of Housing. “There ends up being a lot of miscommunication and misinformation about housing – and members often did not know what their responsibilities were.”

The Chief and Council would express a desire to improve housing but often did not understand the obstacles or the way to access the necessar ...