April 24, 2025
Encampments: End Homelessness Winnipeg Urges National Action Rooted in Rights, Not Criminalization
Winnipeg, MB – In response to recent comments by Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre proposing criminal sanctions and forced removals of people living in encampments, End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW) is calling for national leadership that upholds housing as a human right, not a criminal justice issue.
As an Indigenous-led organization working at the forefront of housing and homelessness solutions, EHW expresses deep concern over language that frames encampments as “illegal occupations” and those residing in them as public safety threats. Such rhetoric, while politically expedient, obscures the real crisis: the failure of systems and governments to provide adequate housing and supports.
“Encampments are not the problem, they are the result of the problem,” said Jason Whitford, CEO of End Homelessness Winnipeg. “They are visible reminders of our collective failure to ensure housing for all. Criminalizing the people most affected will not fix what’s broken. It will only cause more harm.”
Data shows that exposure to homelessness in Winnipeg reduces life expectancy by up to 20 years, a staggering and urgent reality that underscores the need for compassionate, evidence-based action.
EHW rejects any strategy that would leave people in encampments indefinitely or forcibly remove them without immediate access to transitional or permanent housing. Both approaches are equally harmful and ignore the trauma and vulnerability of those living without shelter.
EHW instead points to Your Way Home, Manitoba’s homelessness strategy, as a working alternative. Within the first two months of its launch, the strategy has helped move approximately 30 people from encampments into housing, a proof of what can be achieved through coordinated, housing-first approaches that are community and culturally grounded.
“This isn’t just about bricks and mortar,” added Whitford. “It’s about reconciliation, rights, and recognizing Indigenous leadership in shaping housing solutions that reflect cultural safety and connection to land.”
The overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples among those experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg is not a coincidence. It is the direct result of generations of colonization, displacement, systemic racism, and ongoing breaches of treaty and human rights. This crisis is not solely about housing; it is about the historic and continued denial of Indigenous peoples’ rights to land, safety, and self-determination.
Addressing homelessness, therefore, must go hand in hand with meaningful implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
UNDRIP, which Canada has committed to implementing through legislation at both the federal and provincial levels, affirms the rights of Indigenous peoples to their traditional lands, territories, and resources. It also recognizes the right to adequate housing and the right to determine and develop priorities for their own economic, social, and cultural development. Yet when Indigenous people are disproportionately forced into encampments on their own unceded territories, and then threatened with criminalization or removal, the commitments to UNDRIP ring hollow.
The TRC Calls to Action and MMIWG Calls for Justice similarly demand systemic change that centres Indigenous rights, restores land relationships, and dismantles colonial policies that have marginalized Indigenous families for generations. Any genuine effort to address homelessness in Canada must recognize these frameworks not as optional recommendations, but as the minimum standards for justice, equity, and reconciliation. It is a moral and legal obligation beyond being that of policy.
Canada enshrined housing as a human right through the National Housing Strategy Act, affirming that everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to live. This has been backed by proven approaches like Housing First and Rapid Re-Housing, which prioritize immediate access to stable housing. The Housing Accelerator Fund complements these by funding faster, smarter development of affordable homes. But these efforts must be scaled, especially in urban, rural, and northern Indigenous communities where the need is greatest.
“We do not need crackdowns or criminalization. We need commitment,” said Whitford. “We need a country where everyone, especially those most marginalized, has a safe place to call home. That’s how we measure progress, not by the number of tents cleared from parks.”
EHW urges all political leaders to avoid language and policies that further marginalize and incriminate the houseless and to commit instead to solutions rooted in dignity, justice, and evidence.