Federal Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs Rebecca Chartrand recently travelled to Garden Hill First Nation to meet with Chief Dino Flett and Council to discuss the community’s ongoing housing crisis. The visit highlights the urgent need for improvements in a community that has faced significant challenges, including severe overcrowding and substandard living conditions.
Garden Hill, a remote fly-in community located about 610 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, is home to approximately 4,570 residents. For years, the community has grappled with a housing shortage that Chief Dino Flett says has reached an unprecedented and devastating level. Over 1,500 people are currently on waiting lists for housing across the four nations in the Island Lake region, a situation that has been linked to health issues, including outbreaks of hepatitis A.
The lack of adequate housing has led many families to live in overcrowded homes, often plagued by mould. Chief Flett has been a vocal advocate for government action to address these conditions, which he says have forced families to deal with unacceptable health risks. The broader housing crisis in the region is also the subject of a federal class action lawsuit involving over 100 First Nations, which challenges the federal government’s responsibility to provide and maintain housing on reserve land.
While provincial efforts are underway, with the Manitoba government under Premier Wab Kinew committing funding for 1,640 social and affordable housing units since 2023, the scale of the need in remote communities remains immense. Minister Rebecca Chartrand, who serves as the Member of Parliament for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, visited the community to address these pressing infrastructure and emergency management concerns directly with local leadership.
As the community continues to work with all levels of government, residents remain focused on the need for long-term solutions to ensure safe and reliable housing for all families.
