reserves

The British Columbia government has approved funding for housing both on and off reserve for the first time.

Shiri Pasternak, the Yellowhead Institute’s Research Director, says Bill C-69, the Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, presents problems for Indigenous people.

A class action lawsuit was filed earlier this month in Saskatchewan on behalf of thousands of Indigenous people who were subjected to medical tests without their knowledge or consent.

CBC news learned that the upcoming federal budget is expected to include $50 million to help remote communities develop renewable energy sources and eliminate their dependence on expensive and polluting diesel.

The federal government has appointed Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux as a special representative to tackle the challenge of improving the quality on-reserve child welfare services.

VICE News reports that after a year of being in power, the Federal Liberals have made little progress toward ending the drinking water crisis on First Nations reserves. According to VICE, only one boil water advisory of the 133 in place in 2015 has been removed.

Smithers-based company Net-Zero Structures builds homes that generate the same amount of energy they consume. The affordable and energy-efficient structures may be part of the solution to the on-reserve housing crisis.

A Globe and Mail investigation has found that roughly a third of First Nations people living on reserve depend on water sources that the federal government has deemed high or medium risk.