Housing and Infrastructure
A key goal for Sylvia Olsen was to establish a national First Nations Building Inspector program in education, an accredited course in housing management, and Olsen was involved with Nancy Hamilton at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in developing the curriculum for housing managers to become certified First Nation housing inspectors. Olsen knows there is a patchwork of regulations in First Nation housing. There is no national building code on-reserve. READ IT HERE
Copyright 2018
FNNBOA Guide to Establish a Housing Authority
Developing Expertise in Aboriginal Housing in Canada
She sleeps on the streets, her head resting on a worn out cream leather handbag, its contents spill from the broken zip, an array of dirty clothing. What do you do when you cannot look at a face? There is a homelessness of soul in the ungodly manner of those who walk past her, striving only to see a glimpse of her bare bony arched feet that bleed into the blisters and callouses of a life barely lived. In the background street music fills a silence, drumming like a hammer to the nails of a coffin READ IT HERE
The Girl With No Shoes
For most of Canada, conducting Building inspections is not a challenge. However, conducting inspections for new homes in many First Nations is not always possible. When this happens, homes are not constructed to national building code requirements and will need major repairs in a few years. This is especially a problem in First Nations remote communities. READ IT HERE
A tribute to my buddy, Bud
Richard “Bud” Jobin passed away on December 10, 2015, at the young age of 61, after a short illness. We’ve lost a friend and close colleague who was a strong voice for First Nations building inspectors. He was passionate about trying to make change, and ultimately improving living conditions for all First Nations communities. Back in 2001, I met Bud at a meeting in Ottawa. There he was, along with other leaders from the First Nations housing-inspection sector, meeting to talk about how to improve capacity for inspectors. READ IT HERE
We believe it fitting to share this tribute by John Kiedrowski
Teleinspections for Remote First Nations Communities
DisconTent City Calls for Housing Solutions in Nanaimo
Indigenous Peoples' Housing Crisis in Manitoba
Developing an Effective Drainage System
Despite its name, the French drain may not have come from France. In his 1859 book, Farm Drainage, Henry Flagg French popularized the use of trenches filled with gravel or roofing tile to drain surface water off farm buildings, while protecting the surrounding soils from erosion. READ IT HERE
Wood said at the time they needed 30,000 houses in the province. In addition, “Major renovations are required and we identified a cost of about $40,000 per unit in repairs. We have 1,300 condemned units still occupied.” Housing costs present AMC with daunting figures, READ IT HERE