Recommendation 11: End the criminalization of people who use or possess small amounts of illicit substances.

Legislative reform to reduce Indigenous women’s manufactured vulnerability

Recommendation 14: Amend the provincial Residential Tenancy Act to cover all housing and to strengthen tenants rights. Amend the provincial Human Rights Code and Residential Tenancy Act to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of social condition including health status and drug use.

Immediate services needed in the DTES

Recommendation 21: Rapid easy access to Indigenous women’s detox-on-demand where there is no time limit; Indigenous-run treatment centres; indoor overdose prevention sites and consumption sites for Indigenous women only; access to safer drug supply; and full spectrum of substitution treatment options.

Immediate services needed in the DTES

Recommendation 22: Guarantee a 24/7 Indigenous mental health and addictions counselling program that is low-barrier, drop-in based, available on demand, and includes overnight street-based counselling in the DTES. Also ensure long-term mental health and addiction services, ranging from prevention, early intervention, treatment, crisis care, home visits, and aftercare.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 47: Close the gaps in health outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and focus on indicators such as infant mortality, maternal health, suicide, mental health, addictions, life expectancy, birth rates, infant and child health issues, chronic diseases, illness and injury incidence, and the availability of appropriate health services.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Employment security

Recommendation 77: Rectify Indigenous women’s exclusion from the economy by:

1. Developing equitable and inclusive hiring policy and standards.
2. Creating a diversity of low-barrier jobs in the DTES with priority hiring and support for Indigenous women of the community.
3. Creating peer-based employment programs including navigation positions throughout the housing, mental health, substance use, and income support systems.
4. Ensuring Indigenous women peer workers are paid a living wage, have full benefits, and have the right to unionization.
5. Creating jobs that value and compensate skills such as weaving, beading, drum making, food harvesting, and traditional healing, and support the creation of an Indigenous women’s cooperative in the DTES.
6. Improving employment supports and workplace accommodations for Indigenous women who are single parents and/or in recovery to ensure that they are not setup to fail in their employment due to systemic barriers.

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

Recommendation 134: Redirect growing municipal, provincial, and federal police and prison budgets towards solutions that increase safety for Indigenous women such as more housing, child care, income, healthcare, mental health and addictions services, and healing supports.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Policing

Recommendation 142: Ensure that that all policing practices conform to the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Policing

Recommendation 144: Expand non-policing options for publicly intoxicated people, including civilian-operated 24-hour sobering centres providing appropriate care for Indigenous women.