Tiny homes project benefiting students and Indigenous communities
For Grade 12 Hammarskjold High School student Hunter Ritch, the program that he’s been involved with for the last couple of years hits close to home.
Ritch – who is from Eabametoong First Nation – is part of KZ Lodge, which is an Indigenous skilled trades training program that celebrated the completion of their second modular home, which is destined for a Matawa First Nations community.
“It means a lot,” Ritch said.
“I’m sure a lot of people here in Thunder Bay have it pretty good, but if you put yourself in the situation that a lot of people go through elsewhere … it’s really hard. I really hope something like this works out and it’s just the start.”
The Tiny Home pilot project sees Indigenous youth work in the build of a one-bedroom 10×30-foot modular home for donation to Matawa First Nations for use in a northern community.
The first project was completed in spring 2023. It’s currently located at Matawa Court Street and will be shipped for a Matawa First Nations community this summer.
Matawa First Nations CEO David Paul Achneepineskum says the program not only helps to deal with concerns about homelessness, but it also shows students a path they can go on once they finish high school.
“If the trades are a career that they want to pursue, we’ll be there for them,” Achneepineskum said.
“What we find is when the students learn from these kinds of experience, they go back to their communities and they become leaders in terms of getting involved and getting things done, which is what the communities need.”
During the build process, students learned how to safely operate power tools, read blueprints and identify building materials among other activities.
“I pretty much learned how to do everything except plumbing,” Ritch said. “There’s a lot of skills and a lot of teamwork that was involved.
“It was really hard that first year when I started with the project in Grade 10, but I got more and more used to everything and now because we’ve all been trained, we kind of make it look easy.”
Ritch plans to use what he learned in the project towards becoming an electrician in the future.
“I’m proud of myself for being a part of this,” Ritch added. – tbnewswatch.com
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Why was this not done when they built the houses in the reserves decades ago? I would have thought that the leaders of all levels of governments including federal, provincial and tribal would have realized that having trained people to maintain the buildings on the reserve LIVING on the reserve would be a no-brainer. Turns out it was a no-brainer, just not in the way we would have hoped. When better to learn than when the buildings were being constructed?
Think of the Cat Lake debacle with mold and leaky roofs. How were things allowed to get to the point where people’s health was at risk? Those issues should have been dealt with immediately. That is the responsibility of the elected Chief and Tribal Council. The safety and health of every person on that reserve is THEIR responsibility. Fixing a leaky roof is not rocket science. Their ancestors used to build canoes out of birch bark. They know about sealing seams.
The reserves have buildings and machinery. They have vehicles such as fire trucks. Having people that are trained to maintain and repair those structures and machinery on site is a necessity. It is now and was then.
In fact, I think a maintenance/repair plan should be in place before any new structures/machinery are sent to any reserve. There MUSY be people living in every community that have a basic knowledge of how to maintain and repair EVERY structure, machine and vehicle in that community. Government WILL train. Reserves WILL provide candidates. That needs to be part of the agreement. Part of the deal.
Yes this is a good start. Everyone is patting each other on the back. The fact that this did not happen decades ago, is a shame.