University of Manitoba researchers are training post-secondary students to build environmentally friendly homes on their northern First Nation.
The Wikiwin Training Enterprise at York Factory First Nation received $8.4 million from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. to build a training facility in the small community. Students will be taught to build homes in a “future-proof way” that keeps climate change front of mind. Apprenticeship programs in carpentry, mechanics, culinary arts and other trades will be offered.
Chief Darryl Wastesicoot said it’s a chance for his community, which is struggling with a lack of housing and job opportunities, to take economic growth into its own hands.
“It’s going to be a huge game changer,” he said Wednesday.
“We will be able to build our own infrastructure in our community and other communities.”
About 480 of York Factory’s 1,600 members live in the community, which is 850 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
Houses in the community are few and far between, and many are in disrepair due to shoddy work from outside contractors. Some stay in overcrowded homes in the area or leave home in search of support elsewhere, Wastesicoot said.
Many live on the streets in Winnipeg as they wait for a home. The training centre will allow some community members to return, and support themselves by working in construction.
The “culture shock” of having to leave home for an education has made it difficult for some students in the past, Wastesicoot said.
“Bringing education home, where everybody can be at home with their families, and not have to struggle outside… your success rate is obviously going to be a lot higher,” he said.
He’d like to see it expand into training for other careers, such as in health care and education.
“Canada is not really looking to the First Nations to solve a lot of their work problems, and we’re trying to show them that they can look into our communities for these jobs,” he said.
The project has started remotely — around a dozen students began training through remote U of M classes on home design and environment in 2023 — supervised by associate professor Shirley Thompson through the U of M Natural Resources Institute.
Eight one-bedroom homes have been built in the community by those students using helical piles — long steel tubes fixed with blades that can’t be cracked by permafrost and extreme weather, unlike a concrete foundation — and designed to let in as much light as possible.
While more traditional methods of laying foundation for multiple homes can take months, using helical piles can take as little as one week, meaning builders can better take advantage of northern Manitoba’s short construction season.
“These kids have been trained over the last year. This is new technology, but it really works and in a zone where there is permafrost, it’s almost a necessity,” Thompson said.
“We realize this and we’re future-proofing our buildings.”
York Factory’s housing policy requires that unhoused community members are set up in a local motel. This project will also provide a dormitory for students, any other homeless people in the area, or students from other First Nations who study there.
“It’s the first of its kind… The whole idea is we need to transform the housing situation in northern Manitoba and everywhere,” Thompson said.
The project is set to be complete by March 2025.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas
Reporter
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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