“This government continues to massively and systemically underfund Indigenous housing. Housing is a human right. The federal government needs to honour this right and immediately make investments. Especially with extreme weather in Winnipeg, this is a life and death matter,” said Gazan.
Yves Giroux, Parliamentary Budget Officer, also highlighted this underfunding, “After accounting for the impact of current programs, there remains a $636 million annual gap between what Indigenous households in urban, rural and northern areas can afford to pay for adequate shelter, and the cost of obtaining it,” he said.
The report estimates 9000 Indigenous households in need of housing in Winnipeg, with Vancouver coming in second at 8000 households. According to the report, a mere 143 affordable housing units have been created in Manitoba since Canada’s National Housing Strategy was announced in 2017.
Gazan is also calling on the federal government to immediately release and implement an urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing strategy led by Indigenous peoples for the 80% of Indigenous peoples who live in urban, rural and northern communities, a promise the liberal government has been making for years without action.
MANITOBA—On Monday, MPs Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) and Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski) demanded that the federal government take action to end child poverty, citing rising rates in the recently released Manitoba Child and Family Poverty Report Card. Gazan and Ashton are calling on the government to implement a national school lunch program and a framework for a guaranteed, livable basic income (GLBI).
WINNIPEG – Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan, the NDP’s critic for Women and Gender Equality, is reiterating Jagmeet Singh’s call on the Trudeau Liberals to cover contraception costs as part of the party’s push for a universal pharmacare framework.
“Contraceptives are an essential part of reproductive health for women and gender diverse people,” said Gazan.