Embedding Indigenous Knowledge into Housing Design with the Homebuilding Students in Wasagamack and Garden Hill First Nations, Manitoba, Canada

Abstract

Wasagamack and Garden Hill First Nations in Island Lake, Manitoba, are experiencing a housing crisis, with severe overcrowding. This article describes a research analysis of local materials, building skill levels, environment, demographics, and cultural aspects completed by graduate students in interior design as part of collaborative design/build activities, training programs, and community workshops. This study is part of a First Nation community/university partnership. Healthy, culturally appropriate, resilient single- and extended-family homes were designed using local materials and labour. This pilot project offers a pathway to build capacity to fill the gap of 150,000 homes in a way that advances cultural, health, social, and economic development. Further, a decolonizing policy and the provision of adequate infrastructure, such as access roads, in Indigenous reserves are needed to create a sustainable home-building ecosystem.

Keywords

• housing, Indigenous, Northern, remote, inadequate housing