At a community celebration and feast on October 28 at Thunderbird House, End Homelessness Winnipeg announced it has become an Indigenous organization and launched a new 5-Year Plan.
Above all, becoming an Indigenous organization ensures that End Homelessness Winnipeg reflects and responds to the realities of those who experience homelessness in Winnipeg. Indigenous people are over-represented among those who experience homelessness in the city.
“Going back to the RCAP, up to the MMIWG inquiry, there is a common recommendation that an organization, working to address an issue predominantly impacting Indigenous people, will be more effective if it is Indigenous,” said Jason Whitford, Chair of End Homelessness Winnipeg’s Board of Directors. “We know Indigenous people are over-represented in homelessness. We know we need to change things.”
The new 5-Year Plan aligns the goals of Winnipeg’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness (2014) with the directives of Reaching Home, the Government of Canada’s homelessness strategy, and the latest data available on homelessness in Winnipeg. Most importantly, the 5-Year Plan sets ambitious yet achievable targets for reducing homelessness in Winnipeg over the next five years.
“So much has happened over the past five years,” said End Homelessness WInnipeg CEO Lucille Bruce at the event. “As we reach the halfway point of the 10-Year Plan, it is vital to reflect on our progress; to integrate and align emerging strategies and knowledge; and to set ambitious yet achievable, measurable targets that can help us chart progress toward ending homelessness in Winnipeg.”
