Brandon homelessness research project bringing 7 initiatives to southwestern Manitoba

Michelle Klyne wiped tears from her eyes as she talked about how chronic homelessness left her feeling unintelligent, unloved and forgotten.

She doesn't want anyone else to feel this way.

"There's so many people right now that are experiencing homelessness and really struggling with … addictions or struggling with finding a place to work," she said.

Klyne, an Indigenous two-spirit knowledge keeper, shared her story of living unhoused in Dauphin, Winnipeg and Brandon at Street Stories — an Indigenous storytelling event centred on sharing stories of homelessness and potential solutions hosted on Wednesday by Action Research on Chronic Homelessness Project Brandon, also known as ARCH. 

ARCH is a project under the umbrella of the Brandon Neighborhood Renewal Corporation.

Brandon is seeing some of its highest homeless numbers ever, Klyne said. This makes talking to people with lived experiences essential, because they know first-hand what does and doesn't work to help them.  

One of Klyne's biggest concerns is creating safe spaces for women in the community.

"There's so many Indigenous people that are going missing and killed," Klyne said. "We got to definitely take care of our own and share knowledge about how we can make things safer for individuals like even myself, even the trans community and the LGBTQIA community. It's gotta be done."

A women's safe house is among the initiatives the ARCH Project Brandon will be piloting in the coming months, said Megan McKenzie, the project's lead researcher. On Wednesday they invited the general public to come listen to the stories and solutions about homelessness at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium.

Community based-solutions

ARCH started in October, and its first round of research included 102 interviews with people experiencing homelessness. The interviews aimed at finding out two things— Indigenous people's stories about their experience with homelessness and their ideas or solutions to ensure Indigenous people in Canada can live safely wherever they choose, McKenzie said.

"In general the people who are most impacted by a situation are the ones who know best how to address a situation," McKenzie said. "One of the challenges … with homelessness is that often solutions are coming from outside the community or from people who are not homeless or from people who are not Indigenous."

Based on ARCH's research, seven initiatives will be piloted in Brandon.

The Chelsea Safe House — a place for Indigenous women centred on cultural teachings, life skills, community building and other positive activities — is a main initiative. The primary goal of the house is to find ways to ensure Indigenous women have a safe place to go in Brandon.

ARCH has partnered with the Manitoba Métis Federation for the six-month project. There's already a group of older women ready to use the house when it opens, McKenzie said.

A men's group through the John Howard Society's Men's Resource Centre, where people can connect through cultural activities and land-based teachings as a group or individually, is also planned, she said.

As a form of harm reduction, a legal marijuana initiative will be tested to see if it can help people stay safe and get housed, she said. Several research participants said they do less opiates and less meth when they have access to marijuana.

Many participants had negative experiences in foster care, so ARCH has created "a shoulder tapping card" to encourage Indigenous people in the community to consider becoming a foster carer, a customary carer or a respite carer, McKenzie said. This will help keep children in communities and connected to their culture.

Other parts of the project include providing basic cellphones so people can contact support services, landlords and resources more easily; a six-week video project called "Word on the Street" with information like drug alerts and weather forecasts; and a fire safety initiative, because research found that that 13 out of 102 interviewees experienced a house fire that led to becoming homeless.

Community reactions

Frederick Wood shared his experience of addiction and homelessness at Street Stories. He said it's important to tell these stories about homelessness because something needs to change.

"It's just sad to see and it's heartbreaking."

He hopes the stories shared touched hearts while opening eyes and minds about how serious homelessness and addiction are in the community.

The ARCH initiatives give him hope there could be positive changes in the community.

"Get them properly sheltered or properly homed or housed and … back on their feet to get them off the streets," Wood said.

The stories shared are felt deeply by Klyne — inspiring her to fight harder for change in the community, she said. It's good the women's safe house is opening and research is focused on Indigenous-based solutions, said Klyne.

"Society right now does not cater to Indigenous healing, culture, language, you know, it doesn't focus on any of that, and we need more Indigenous-led solutions," she said. "I feel really excited for that because it's really needed out here, especially in Brandon."