Speaking to reporters after an announcement of a new Indigenous-led emergency shelter, Natoaganeg (Eel Ground) First Nation Chief George Ginnish was clear: “It’s something that we wish wasn’t necessary, but it is.”
“There is a real need,” he says.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller visited the community Friday, detailing the federal government’s plan to help create this, and 11 other similar shelters across the country for Indigenous women, children and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
The investment is part of Ottawa’s response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Chief Ginnish said the community is “honoured” to have been selected for one of the shelters, which will serve all 15 Mi’kmaw and Maliseet nations across New Brunswick.
“This helps us provide a number of services in-community to help,” Ginnish says. “Today’s announcement, it fits with much of the work that we do here, addictions treatment, men’s wellness, all the good work that’s happening at the health centre.”
“As the chief and council have rightly pointed out, poverty and adequate housing, systemic racism, systemic discrimination are among the multiple factors that increase the risk of Indigenous women and children being harmed by sexual exploitation or become more vulnerable, for example to sex trafficking,” Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says.
Financial details of Ottawa’s contribution to this specific shelter aren’t clear, but it’s part of an $85-million investment for the 12 shelters across the country over five years.
“Indigenous women and girls represented 28 per cent of the homicides against women in 2019,” he says, “and they’re 12 times more likely to be missing or murdered than non-Indigenous women in Canada.”
Ginnish says work on the proposal started last fall. When completed, the shelter will offer 12 beds.
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“If we had our way, it would be ready this time next year,” Ginnish says. “That’s hopefully the plan.”
He says work to hire an executive director begins immediately.
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