The province and five First Nations in the Nicola Valley have signed a “historic” agreement.
The agreement is a three-year memorandum of understanding between BC Housing and the Lower Nicola Indian Band, Upper Nicola Indian Band, Coldwater Indian Band, Nooaitch Indian Band, and Shackan Indian Band to improve housing on reserve land.
LNIB chief Aaron Sumexheltza says apart from building new housing, the agreement is also about improving existing homes on the reserves.
“For us to be self-sufficient, we need to do a better job of being able to assess what repairs need to be done, for example,” he says.
“And how we can repair the buildings that we have and also provide information to us so we can actually make decisions when it comes to building new facilities.
Coldwater band chief Lee Spahan called it a “historic day” in regards to the MOU being signed.
Vancouver-West MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, the chair of the province’s Rental Housing Task Force, says it’s historic to working with the five bands in such an agreement.
“If we as a province are united with Indigenous peoples, we’re all going to benefit and so it’s an exciting day,” he says. “I think it’ll improve people’s health, it’ll improve the community and it’ll improve our prosperity and ability to have a good life in the Upper and Lower Nicola valleys.”
BC Housing will provide training and education for the First Nations on best practices to address their housing needs.
The five bands will also work to secure third-party capital funding for on-reserve housing, and to support culturally-appropriate economic, social and environmentally sustainable housing.