This article’s focus is on a study done by officials in the Assembly of First Nations in the Quebec region that showed housing shortages were worse than stated by Shelia Fraser’s April 2003 report and the national chief’s Getting Results Strategy. The article discusses the 8,500 house shortfall, budget proposals, and different chiefs’ perspectives on the housing crisis. The study found more than half of the homes on reserve need something renovated and that on-reserve homes are twice as crowded as the national average. Chief Wilfred King suggested that the money budgeted to housing would only be able to fix up “inferior” housing (his reserve has a huge mold problem) rather than fixing the problem by creating better quality homes. Although the information in this article is outdated it is useful to compare to budget proposals today. It includes different opinions on how to address the issues that helps shed light on the ideas presented at different levels. The data was an analysis of the Assembly of First Nation’s study, quotes taken from political discussions, and interviews done with the Gulf Bay First Nation’s chief Wilfred King, and grand chief Fountaine. The article exposed the underestimations done by the federal government, and new data on the housing crisis. The article seemed consistent with the information on housing presented in the First Nations studies class I took in, therefore all though the facts were not all that new, the data was presented well and the accompanying interviews provided an interesting perspective. If I decided to go with this topic in my thesis, I think this could provide great perspectives to include in my research.
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