ʔaq̓am Nasuʔkin (Chief) Joe Pierre Jr. hopes Cranbrook’s Human Rights Brief will help leverage further progress for Cranbrook and the Ktunaxa Nation.
Pierre said the Ktunaxa Nation has been on the front lines of providing social services in Cranbrook.
“Street Angels has been supported by the Nation for a long time, so the Ktunaxa Nation has been involved with our homeless population in Cranbrook for a very long time,” said Pierre.
“I think the Nation has been kind of on the leading edge of that with Street Angels and the offering of those services to all who need it, not just Indigenous people.”
According to Cranbrook’s Human Rights Brief, Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by homelessness, making up 36 per cent of Cranbrook’s homeless residents, while Indigenous people account for 10 per cent of Cranbrook’s total population.
Pierre said ʔaq̓am has a good working relationship with Cranbrook, but hopes to be more involved.
“We want to be part of the Mayor’s Taskforce on Homelessness and we’ve been in conversations about that,” said Pierre.
Like Cranbrook, ʔaq̓am is also facing a housing shortage.
“We have a very limited number of homes in our community (ʔaq̓am) and not a lot of homes are built in my community on a very regular basis,” said Pierre.
“We know Cranbrook is a destination for a lot of our community members. We know we have a lot of ʔaq̓am members who live in Cranbrook, so we are a part of that conversation.”
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