Immediate services needed in the DTES

Recommendation 17: Fund more 24/7 low-barrier emergency shelters, transition homes, and drop-ins for women with long-term funding and full wrap-around supports. Also fund more Indigenous-centered and community-based, rather than police-based, victim services programs that provide holistic support including connection to land-based healing and guidance from elders.

Immediate services needed in the DTES

Recommendation 18: An Indigenous Health and Wellness Centre in the DTES and Indigenous-run health programs that use Indigenous methods to address physical, mental, sexual, emotional, and spiritual harms. Also fund more mobile healthcare vans and community-based clinics, street nurses, and healthcare providers in the DTES.

Guaranteed public services

Recommendation 28: Provide a safe and affordable home for every Indigenous woman on and off reserve. This housing must be with long-term security of tenure, independent of matrimonial or common-law status, and self-contained units of at least 400 square feet with bathrooms and kitchens. Housing must also consider specific needs such as mobility access, space for children and extended families, and ceremonial practices. Highest priority for social housing should be given to Indigenous women fleeing violence and Indigenous mothers at risk of child apprehension.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 40: The federal government must guarantee:

1. Access to clean drinking water; food security based on a traditional diet; critical infrastructure including roads and sanitation systems; and essential health, education, child care, housing, transport, recreational, cultural, and emergency services on every reserve.
2. Safe, affordable, and livable housing for every woman on her reserve that is independent of her matrimonial status.
3. Affordable child care and licensed day care options on every reserve.
4. Complete complement of maternal and infant/child health services on reserve to enable women to remain closer to home to give birth.
5. Free public transportation between each town and city located along the entire length of Highway 16 and all other highways, with a number of safe homes and emergency phone booths along the length of all the highways.
6. Increase funding on all reserves for programs and services that strengthen traditional and cultural knowledge grounded in Indigenous laws, values, and practices.
7. Range of anti-violence services including preventive programs, crisis intervention, victim services, advocacy support, restorative justice circles, shelters, transitional housing, and second-stage housing on every reserve.
8. Cultural sensitivity training for all first responders such as police, healthcare professionals, and social workers who assist survivors of violence on reserve.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

Band councils

Recommendation 49: Women’s shelters on reserve should have the option to incorporate as nonprofit organizations to receive funding directly from INAC, rather than through Band councils, in order to maintain the privacy of those accessing the shelter.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

Band councils

Recommendation 50: Aboriginal governments should provide mandatory training for band councillors and community leaders to ensure that they treat the issue as a high priority.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Build social housing and transition homes

Recommendation 98: Highest priority for social housing should be given to Indigenous women fleeing violence and Indigenous mothers at risk of child apprehension.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Build social housing and transition homes

Recommendation 100: Open more transition homes and low-barrier shelters that are for Indigenous women only.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 123: Guarantee free individualized support such as culturally appropriate parenting programs; detox on demand; and counselling for mothers with mental health diagnoses, learning disabilities, drug use dependence, and who are survivors of domestic violence.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Legal and judicial reform

Recommendation 148: End the counter-charging and criminalization of Indigenous women who defend themselves or their children from abuse and violence.