Living in a dilapidated home, this Musqueam elder asked his First Nation leaders for help. He's still waiting

It's been almost four weeks since 76-year-old Musqueam band member Dunstan Campbell officially asked his First Nation to help him secure safe housing.

Campbell turned to the band about a year ago, when his rental home in Sunset, the southern Vancouver neighbourhood, was sold and he had to move out.

He had hoped the band would temporarily put him up in a trailer or hotel, but they didn't. So in November 2022, he was forced to return to his old home — which he thought by then was condemned. This also forced him to move in with his tenant as a roommate.

Last week, the CBC met Campbell at his home in Musqueam — in southwest Vancouver, near the Fraser River — to find parts of the ceiling collapsed, mould infestation, exposed rafters and various leaks. 

"It breaks me up that someone could do this to an older man," Campbell said through tears in his makeshift bedroom, once his office.

The situation points to a larger problem of housing conditions on reserves in Canada, and what Campbell sees as a lack of action to address the poor conditions.

Campbell says a man who saw him on the news sent him an air purifier to help him cope with the mould, and that he spends his days on the beach or in his car.

"I wake up sometimes at three o'clock in the morning and before I open my eyes, I think, oh God, I just had this repeating nightmare," he said. 

"Then I open my eyes and say, 'Oh no, I am living this.'"

First Nations generally responsible for housing: ISC

Campbell helped build the house in 1981 and raised his kids there, before moving away in 1992 for work in Kelowna, about 390 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, and renting out the home to non-Musqueam members.

But about three years ago, he found the house and yard severely damaged. The last tenant moved out in February this year.

"I asked the band to help me but they said that I was responsible for the home," Campbell said during a phone call with the CBC this week.

Although Campbell has a certificate of possession (CP) on the house, the property is still the band's responsibility as it's on reserve land. This means Campbell owns the property, but not the land. 

Campbell says the band hired a private contractor about a month ago, and environmental health officers at the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) inspected the house two weeks ago.

He was told their reports showed the home is not condemned.

The FNHA told the CBC it conducts housing inspections and sometimes evaluate a home as being fit for occupancy, but would not comment on this specific case. 

In an email to the CBC, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) said "it is disheartening to hear about the housing conditions where this Elder lives."

According to the government department, the band is generally responsible for managing housing on reserve and Ottawa "provides funding to First Nations to support on-reserve housing solutions." 

ISC said over the last four years, it provided $1.4 million in funding for housing projects to the Musqueam Band, which has approximately 700 members living on reserve, according to the B.C. Treaty Commission. 

UN finds Indigenous people 'most disadvatanged' in housing

Reports show federal government funding for housing on reserve has been inadequate, however.

In 2019, the UN reported that Indigenous communities lag behind when it comes to housing conditions, and their communities tend to be "most disadvantaged in terms of access to infrastructure."

The report found that more than 25 per cent of those residing on reserves live in overcrowded conditions, and that "more than 10,000 on-reserve homes in Canada are without indoor plumbing, and 25 per cent of reserves in Canada have substandard water or sewage systems."

In 2021, ISC estimated an immediate need for 21,000 new homes on First Nations, with another 50,000 houses requiring major repairs.

That same year, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) predicted a backlog of 130,000 housing units between 2010 and 2031, according to their national First Nations housing strategy. 

ISC told the CBC that their officials are in contact with the Musqueam Band "to identify and deliver support that may be needed to ensure the well-being of the community members," but did not specify if that support was for Campbell. 

ISC also stated that it supports the submission of a housing renovation application, but have not received one as of May 4. 

Matter resolved, says chief, but move-in date unknown

Musqueam Band Chief Wayne Sparrow would not speak to the CBC on record, including for comment on the inspection of Campbell's house.

This was despite three phone calls — some over an hour long — and multiple text messages, with Sparrow citing privacy concerns and saying the information was a community concern, not a media one.

But in a text on Wednesday, Sparrow told the CBC the matter is resolved, and the band is in consultation with Campbell.

Campbell — a residential school survivor, who for 12 years attended St. Paul's Indian Residential School in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast, about 67 kilometres northwest of Vancouver — notes he met with band members on Monday, but became uncomfortable when he was told he would be meeting the band's newly appointed interim chief administrative officer, Ed John, because of recent controversies.

The meeting went ahead without John as a result.

Days later, on Thursday, Campbell says the band social worker provided him two options for a home off-reserve and asked for his preference, but did not provide a timeline for when he could move.

The CBC has reached out multiple times to the Musqueam Band for comment, including emailing several members and their communications representative, but did not hear back by publication. 

'I've never seen an Elder treated like this'

Gail Sparrow, an Elder and chief of the Musqueam Band from 1997-1999, says it it's upsetting to see an Elder treated this way.

"When [the band] has a philosophy that we take care of our Elders, they are important, we value them, they are our knowledge-keepers ... that is our cultural and traditional ways," said Gail, who also happens to be the sister of the Wayne Sparrow.

ISC says they can provide financial assistance for those who face unexpected emergency needs, and there is an Income Assistance Program for costs such as utilities, maintenance and loan payments.

However, it's unclear if the current band council applied for emergency funds for Campbell.

"I've never ever seen an Elder treated like this, I've never seen anyone live in this condition ever in my life in Musqueam," Gail Sparrow said. 

She added the band has invested in land holdings across Metro Vancouver with profits that could be put back into the community.

According to the band's website, it has developed land with the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, and the "three nation's development corporation oversees ... prime developable lands throughout Metro Vancouver, valued at over $1 billion."

The website also says the band's economic arm, the Musqueam Capital Corporation (MCC), has a development project called leləm̓ village, a mix-use multi-family development, and manages five assets including the University Golf Club and the Milltown Marina in Richmond, south of Vancouver.

"With the state we are in right now, we could build in an emergency fund with the financial resources we have," she said.

"We have a philosophy here — one heart, one mind, one spirit, we look after every woman, man and child here in Musqueam," Sparrow added.

"[The band leaders] have lost sight of that."