Sagkeeng First Nation says it will keep pressuring the federal government after its funding proposal to build a women’s shelter was denied.
The community submitted a proposal in March to the shelter initiative for Indigenous women and children administered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. It found out in June their application had been denied.
Chief E. J. Fontaine said they were told they had missed a few requirements and weren’t “shovel-ready,” but weren’t given the opportunity to rectify the issues.
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Sagkeeng First Nation Chief E.J. Fontaine said if the community can’t get federal funding to build a secure women’s shelter, he’ll look at other options, including teepees or a temporary facility.
Sagkeeng sought funding for a seven-suite facility staffed by 22 full- and part-time employees, with start-up costs of $390,000 and an estimated annual operating expense of $1.01 million.
Domestic violence is a dire issue in the community, and they don’t have time to wait for the next funding opportunity, Fontaine said.
“In one year, a lot of things can go wrong with women,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of time here.”
The Sagkeeng Health Centre provided domestic violence-related care to 2,280 patients in 2023-24.
Fontaine said his office has received multiple calls from women looking for shelter from domestic abuse or violent situations, and they don’t had space for them.
He said many of those women have given up and gone to Winnipeg to find shelter, and some have ended up homeless.
The First Nation sets them up in a nearby hotel, but Fontaine said their abusers are able to find them and harass them.
“We want to be able to provide a place of safety for them in the community, rather than them having to migrate to the cities or any other urban areas where they don’t know where the safety supports are, they don’t know where the culturally appropriate facilities are,” he said.
The First Nation is 120 kilometres north of Winnipeg and has more than 3,700 people. Another 4,967 members live off-reserve.
A spokesperson for CMHC declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal but noted it has provided funding to shelters and transitional housing across Manitoba in recent years, including on-reserve shelters in Keeseekoowenin, near Elphinstone, and Hollow Water First Nation, near Wanipigow.
“CMHC will always offer to work with applicants to look for other funding sources through other National Housing Strategy initiatives,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Fontaine said if they can’t get CMHC to reverse its decision, they’ll look at other options, including teepees or a temporary facility.
“We’re tired of our women being subjected to violence and this no-care attitude,” he said. “We’ll do what we have to do to keep them safe.”
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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