Funding outcome

In Edmonton, there are roughly 100 homeless women each year who are pregnant and/or parenting. Over 80% of these women are Indigenous. Many Indigenous women living in urban settings lack access to Indigenous ancestral knowledge and practices because of their own or their families' experiences with Canada's colonial history. Their experiences are further complicated by the hostile conditions faced by women who are precariously housed or homeless. Housing, along with supports that help people remaining housed, have been identified in many studies as foundational to meeting women's and their children's needs. There is almost no research on the development and implementation of indigenous housing programs for women who are pregnant or early parenting, homeless, and use substances. There is an urgent need to attend to practices in the development of housing models that serve primarily Indigenous women. In particular, there is a need for housing models that are Indigenous specific. In order to explore alternative models it is necessary to work in close relationship with Indigenous elders. The primary objective of this study is to create new and richly textured accounts of the experiences and insights of Indigenous elders in relation to working with vulnerable indigenous women who are precariously housed.