What was an empty plot of land on the shíshálh Nation is starting to look more like a neighbourhood, with workers busy getting 10 houses ready for families to move in as soon as March.
The houses were rescued last year from Port Moody, B.C., just east of Vancouver, where they were set to be demolished to make way for a high-rise development, and barged to the community about 50 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
“I’ve never been a part of a build like this,” said Marcus Wyse, owner of home construction company M Wyse Enterprise and a member of the shíshálh Nation.
“It’s been really, really interesting and really, really gratifying.”
They’re the first new homes to be built in shíshálh in 10 years.
“There’s a lot of people that are hopeful to move into these houses, so everyone’s really excited for it,” said Dallas Craigan, a contractor on the project and a member of the shíshálh Nation.
Craigan said about 70 per cent of the workers on the site are from shíshálh Nation.
“I’m proud of our nation members for being here,” said Rachelle Jones, an elected councillor.
“That is probably the most I take from this is having our own people working on these.”
The community has 200 people on the housing wait list. Some of those people will move off this list and into one of these units in a matter of months.
The houses were rancher style one-level homes but have been raised to build more units underneath, so generations of families could live together, said Lenora Joe, shíshálh’s elected chief.
“Maybe grandparents could move in with their [families], or aunties and uncles or siblings,” said Joe.
“We’re trying to bring family units back together again. It’s important for us that family supports each other.”
In 2021, census data indicated that over one in six Indigenous people — or 17 per cent — lived in crowded housing that was considered unsuitable for the number of people who lived there, by the National Occupancy Standard.
“We have a lot of homes that have two or three families living in one home,” said Raquel Joe, an elected councillor.
“So this is about time that we do this for our nation members.”
Another 56 homes are slated to be built in the Selma Park subdivision through the province’s Indigenous Housing Fund, in partnership with the Tsain-Ko Housing Society.