This week, End Homelessness Winnipeg released Kíkininaw Óma – A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers. From our Outreach teams, to our Communications team, Directors and Executive Director, Main Street Project was involved in the development of this strategy.
The Kíkininaw Óma Strategy was created in collaboration with a group facilitated by End Homelessness Winnipeg. The Strategy group includes representation from the City of Winnipeg, first responders, outreach workers, homeless-serving agencies and people with lived experience of homelessness. The name Kíkininaw Óma can be translated as “This is our Home Here” from Cree. Elder Belinda Vandenbroek gifted this name to the Strategy.
The Strategy offers context on unsheltered homelessness and encampments in Winnipeg. It also provides an overview of the work of the Kíkininaw Óma Strategy group over the past year. Most importantly, it makes key recommendations for supporting individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness or living in encampments.
You can download the document here: Kíkininaw Óma – A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers
Referenced in this strategy is Jesse Thistle’s Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada, which is an essential document to read to gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous Homelessness in our country:
Indigenous homelessness is a human condition that describes First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals, families or communities lacking stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means or ability to acquire such housing. Unlike the common colonialist definition of homelessness, Indigenous homelessness is not defined as lacking a structure of habitation; rather, it is more fully described and understood through a composite lens of Indigenous worldviews. These include: individuals, families and communities isolated from their relationships to land, water, place, family, kin, each other, animals, cultures, languages and identities. Importantly, Indigenous people experiencing these kinds of homelessness cannot culturally, spiritually, emotionally or physically reconnect with their Indigeneity or lost relationships (Aboriginal Standing Committee on Housing and Homelessness, 2012).
Read Jesse Thistle’s Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada
Other Relevant Reading:
2018 Winnipeg Street Census
A-National-Protocol-for-Homeless-Encampments-in-Canada
