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 guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Employment security

Recommendation 82: Restore the coverage and enforcement of employment standards at the Employment Standards Branch including effective proactive investigations and enforcement for wage theft and other employment violations, and providing benefits such as paid sick leave to all workers.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Universal public services

Recommendation 83: Guarantee a free and culturally appropriate child care system for all Indigenous families, including families awaiting kinship care placements. Child care must accommodates families’ diverse schedules, be available to children of all needs and abilities, and must be independent from child welfare services.

Recommendation 84: Universal public healthcare coverage to include supplements, prescriptions, counselling, dental, optical, mobility devices, adaptive equipment, and alternative treatments like acupuncture.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Universal public services

Recommendation 86: Implement better educational supports:

1. Expansion of the Head Start program for Indigenous families.
2. Guarantee a school breakfast and lunch food program in all public schools that is free, nutritious, and culturally diverse.
3. More Indigenous-focused schools with Indigenous teachers, Indigenousbased educational methodology and curriculum, and that is supportive to urban Indigenous students needs and contexts.

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

Recommendation 89: The Definition of Indigenous homelessness in Canada should form the basis of all policies on Housing and homelessness with appropriate solutions to homelessness that integrates land, culture, belonging, and kinship networks.

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

Recommendation 90: Comprehensive federal, provincial, and municipal Indigenous Housing policy framework to specifically address Indigenous homelessness.

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

Recommendation 92: Funding initiatives to end homelessness must be more inclusive of Indigenous women. Implement the existing recommendations of Homes 4 Women and Women’s Shelters Canada on making homeless initiatives and funding structures more gender-equal.

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

Recommendation 93: Federal funding for homelessness needs to go beyond Housing First initiatives to better suit the diverse needs of Indigenous women. Housing First funding must also have less eligibility criteria and longer timelines.

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

Build social housing and transition homes

Recommendation 96: A minimum of 30 percent of all units funded by the current National Housing Strategy and the various Building BC Housing Funds must be designated to Indigenous women and families, and be operated by Indigenous housing providers.