REPORT: Ethics First: Action-Based Recommendations to Counter Indigenous Homelessness in Hastings County

In 2022, Waaseyaa Consulting published the Ethics First: Action-Based Recommendations to Counter Indigenous Homelessness in Hastings County report for Bridge Street United Church on behalf of Hastings County. This report was written with the intention that it is always available for community use, that it will only be used for the benefit of the community - never to cause harm, and that all intellectual property remains that of the contributors.

About the Report:

Ethics First: Action-Based Recommendations to Address Indigenous Homelessness in Hastings County, Ontario is organized into two sections, including contextual information followed by recommendations.

The contextual section of this report includes a brief introduction to Indigenous territories – Algonquin, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, and Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg territories – and the settlement of what is now also known as Hastings County. This section also discusses colonialism as the cause of Indigenous homelessness on Indigenous territories.  

This report also provides a snapshot into Indigenous homelessness throughout Hastings County, with a specific focus on rural homelessness in the northern stretches of Hastings County and the impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous wellbeing. This report advocates for the inclusion of Indigenous understanding in approaches to Integrated Coordinated Access.

As this report seeks to honour the knowledge shared by contributors to this report, information regarding the application of community-based knowledge in this report is laid out in the project scope and methodology sections.

The recommendations offered in this report are intended to be used in ways that will reorient system design, service delivery efforts, and the availability of resources and supports for those experiencing homelessness or the threat of homelessness. These recommendations cover a wide range of themes including being good relations, affordable and accessible housing, warming centers and emergency shelters, the integration of Indigenous knowledges and ways of being, the removal of barriers for support, healthcare, and required systemic changes.

As stated in the Sharing Guidelines section of the report:

All information offered by report authors and contributors, including all knowledge shared in interviews, remains the property of each individual contributor for perpetuity. This report and all information shared by contributors is protected under Indigenous data sovereignty practice.

This report is intended to set into motion substantial action-based change in what is now known as Hastings County to meaningfully address homelessness, including homelessness experienced by Indigenous peoples within our unceded and ancestral territories.

It is the hope of the authors and all contributors to this project that this report is widely shared and that all recommendations in this report inform change. Systemic and social change influenced by and inclusive of those with lived experience will create a system that exists to truly support all who need it most.

To receive a copy of this report, please contact Waaseyaa Consulting directly.