Federal investment boosts Edmonton-based effort to address Indigenous homelessness

Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault, left, and Red Road Healing Society director Joanne Pompana on Friday at an announcement of $6.9-million in federal funding for the Restoring Home Fires initiative to help address issues around Indigenous homelessness. (Dave Mitchell/CTV News Edmonton)

A new effort dedicated to ending Indigenous homelessness in Edmonton has received a funding boost from the federal government.

The Red Road Healing Society, the latest Indigenous community entity brought under Ottawa's Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, delivers programs and services to Indigenous people experiencing or at risk of imminent homelessness via an initiative called Restoring Home Fires.

Randy Boissonnault, MP for the Edmonton Centre riding and the minister of employment, workforce development and official languages, announced Friday $6.9 million in federal investment for the initiative on behalf of the ministry of housing, infrastructure and communities.

"As we're seeing a rise in homelessness, an announcement like this is critical to make sure that people can get off the street," Boissonnault told reporters on Friday. "We know winter's coming. We want people to be safe, we want them to have a home and we want them to have the support."

Boissonnault made the announcement at the Red Road Healing Society's space at the city's Orange Hub alongside Joanne Pompana, director of the non-profit that provides professional social, educational, legal, and health services on Edmonton's west end. Boissonault said Red Road is working with six different organizations to help "get people off the street into housing that is culturally appropriate for them."

Pompana used the concept of a teepee village to illustrate how the coordinated effort between the organizations will function in delivering help.

"The reason I spoke about the teepee village is one phase, for grounding and for getting those needs met and for people willing to let go of their addictions to do what they need to do in order to be everything the Creator meant them to be," Pompana told media at the announcement. "If we have a well-structured teepee village, which sounds kind of colonial but at the same time, it's secure, people are safe there, they have access to elders, they have their food and needs."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha and Dave Mitchell