Nishnawbe Aski Nation is a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nations within northern Ontario with the total population (on and off reserve) estimated around 45,000 people. The NAN Territory covers over 249,000 sq.m. more than half of the province of Ontario total land area. Over such a large territory NAN is home to diverse populations across cultural and linguistic as well as climatic and geographic regions. 

In 2014, the NAN Chiefs in Assembly collectively declared a NAN-wide Housing State of Emergency. This declaration came as a result of decades of inappropriate intervention and led the chiefs to describe the conditions being faced in their communities as “deplorable” and leading to “extensive health issues, short housing life, overcrowding and extreme mold”.

Four years later, in 2018, facing continued widespread housing insecurity the NAN Chiefs in Assembly reasserted the emergency adding, “the existing standard housing solutions have not met immediate need, have not addressed future need, and have not promoted or created wellness in the communities” and mandated the creation of the NAN Housing Strategy which was to focus on community-based understandings of housing need and be rooted in local solutions.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and Together Design Lab (TDL) have been working in partnership since 2017 and have been partners with NAN in the creation of their strategy since 2018.

Together they will speak about the systems that have led to these conditions, housing as central to community health, and our vision for Indigenous housing and for indigenous resurgence in the housing.