A new report by Amnesty International warns that overcrowded and unsafe housing in an Atikamekw community north of Montreal reflects a broader crisis putting Indigenous people’s health, safety and rights at risk across Canada.
In Manawan, about 250 kilometres north of Montreal, community leaders say families are regularly reaching out for emergency housing support as homes become increasingly overcrowded and conditions deteriorate.
“Every week, elected officials and community leaders receive calls, messages and urgent requests from families in search of housing who are often motivated by critical situations where the safety of women and children is at stake,” said Sipi Flamand, chief of the Atikamekw Council of Manawan, at the release of the report in Montreal.
The report is based on a two-year investigation into housing conditions in the remote Lanaudière community. It found severe overcrowding, aging infrastructure and long delays in building new homes — pressures local leaders say have pushed the system beyond its limits.
“Our housing stock is already severely overcrowded,” Flamand said.
“The needs are urgent, alarming and far exceed current capacity. It is with a deep sense of helplessness that we receive these requests, knowing that delays related to funding programs are delaying responses that are urgent and essential.”
According to Amnesty International, the housing shortage goes far beyond a lack of physical structures, with widespread consequences for fundamental human rights.
“In Indigenous communities, not only the right to housing, but also the rights to education, health, privacy, safety and life are being violated,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, director general of Amnesty International’s francophone section in Canada.
She added that many families are forced to live in unsafe and overcrowded homes, often plagued by mould and poor conditions that contribute to illness and stress.
“The cycle of violence against women, girls, children and elders continues. Also, the lack of housing often leads to homelessness,” Langlois said.
Although the report focuses on Manawan, similar conditions exist in many of the country’s more than 600 Indigenous communities.
“We live the same realities,” said Vivianne Chilton, chief of Wemotaci, an Atikamekw community in Quebec’s Mauricie region. “There can be three or four families in one house … mornings are very demanding … if there is only one toilet.”
Housing pressures are also pushing some residents to leave their communities for urban centres, she said, often because of overcrowding and lack of privacy.
Data cited by the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador suggests that $139 billion is needed to address housing needs in Indigenous communities across Canada, including roughly $8 billion in Quebec alone.
Francis Verreault-Paul, chief of the organization, said the province needs more than 10,000 new housing units, along with major repairs to thousands of existing homes.
But he expressed frustration with both the federal and provincial governments, pointing to a lack of concrete commitments in the latest federal economic update delivered by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
“There was the economic update yesterday, and no major announcement was made in that regard,” he said.
Verreault-Paul also criticized what he described as ongoing jurisdictional disputes between Quebec and Ottawa, saying they are slowing progress on housing.
He said housing shortages are also contributing to Indigenous homelessness in urban centres, and making it harder for people to return to their communities.
“I think there are much deeper questions that need to be answered about that, but certainly there is a correlation between the two. It is a phenomenon that impacts everyone,” he said.
At the same time, he said the lack of housing is preventing many from returning to their communities after pursuing education or career opportunities elsewhere.
“It is completely senseless to have this situation where people leave to acquire tools, but cannot bring them back home,” he said.
For Amnesty International, the crisis reflects deeper systemic issues that require urgent action from all levels of government.
“The situation requires immediate and significant measures so that First Nations can live in dignity,” Langlois said.
Flamand said the situation represents a deeper structural problem that goes beyond infrastructure.
“The housing crisis in Indigenous communities is a structural injustice that can no longer be tolerated or made invisible,” he said.
He said addressing it requires more than construction.
“Responding to this crisis is not only about building houses,” he said.
“It is about rebuilding the very foundations of our communities and supporting their self-determination. It is also about laying the foundations of a renewed relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canadian society.”
