PROGRAM WILL TRAIN 40 STUDENTS TO BUILD HOMES FROM GROUND UP
An innovative new training program aims to address the housing crisis in remote First Nations by using materials and residents who are already in the communities.
A group of 20 students from Garden Hill First Nation and another 20 from Wasagamack First Nation will learn how to build homes in their communities as part of Boreal Homebuilders, a partnership of the University of Manitoba, the two communities and the Anokiiwin Training Institute.
Over the course of 15 months, the students will receive vocational training on how to build houses from start — cutting the preparing the timber themselves — to finish, with each community ultimately getting two new houses.
U of M Prof. Shirley Thompson visited the communities with architects and architecture students last week to start developing the houses and designing them in culturally appropriate ways.
“It’s not uncommon for people to sleep in shifts, because there aren’t enough beds,” Thompson said.
The hope is that if the program is successful in Garden Hill and Wasagmack, it can be duplicated in other First Nations, Thompson said.
“If we can do it in these fly-in remote communities that are very economically poor, we can take it anywhere,” she said.
