Atikameksheng Anishnawbek energy-efficient four-plex featured at housing conference

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY – A four-plex housing complex built to Atikameksheng Anishnawbek’s recently developed First Nations Sustainable Development Standards was featured at the First Nations Northern Housing Conference.

“It was an Atikameksheng Anishnawbek vision to develop the standards from the perspective of energy efficiency and also reducing their carbon footprint,” says Deborah Taylor, executive director of the First Nations Market Housing Fund, which provided financial support for the First Nations Sustainable Development Standards. “They put a lot of themselves into the standards, making sure they did community consultations with the leadership having led the way.”

The First Nations Market Housing Fund is a national fund that supports financing arrangements for housing on reserve and settlement lands while also respecting communal ownership of reserve land.

Taylor says the community embedded a number of initiatives into the First Nations Sustainable Development Standards, such as their community-based land use plan, their community comprehensive plan and their spousal real property law.

“Those things help to make the community stronger for the safety and security of the membership,” Taylor says. “Some of the design features have been built into the housing that was most recently built in Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. We expect it will have a much broader impact, both within Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and across Canada when (the First Nations Sustainable Development Standards are) released next month.”

The four-plex was built through the G’WIIGWAAMNAANIIN (Building Homes and Building Skills) pilot project partnership between the Assembly of First Nations and The Holmes Group. The four one-bedroom units were constructed with Durisol, a proprietary wood fibre and cement material that is super energy efficient, toxin free, mould and sound proof and fire resistant.

“From the comprehensive community (planning study), we noticed that we had a lot of single members who didn’t have housing and were overcrowding existing family units,” says Joanna Recollet, director of community assistance for Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. “So from that we identified that we needed to make sure there were bachelor apartments or single homes available.” Atikameksheng Anishnawbek developed the First Nation Sustainable Development Standards to create safer, healthier and durable homes and communities for First Nations.

“It has been really beneficial to the community just being aware of design considerations and the needs of the community,” Recollet says. “We are in the process of completing seven units with CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation).”

Mike Holmes, president of The Holmes Group, is proud of the work that has been accomplished on the pilot project.

“This project was about making better choices, doing what makes sense, building smart and teaching the First Nations how to do it — like using products that will not mould and that help keep a home safe and healthy, not to mention the families living in them, too,” Holmes says.

Recollet says a number of homes in Atikameksheng Anishnawbek have also been renovated according to the standards.

“There has been an impact with respect to renovations,” Recollet says. “For example, some people (are) taking out carpets based on the chemicals that are exuded by carpeting.”

Taylor says the First Nations Sustainable Development Standards have been a topic of interest in First Nations across the country.

“Many of the First Nations have been asking about the standards,” Taylor says. “And some of them have built those principles within the houses that they have either built or renovated.”