{"id":102263,"date":"2026-02-25T09:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102263"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:18:12","slug":"housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing is ‘not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 The ongoing housing crisis in many First Nations is depriving people of more than just shelter. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa made that point as part of his opening remarks at the 23rd First Nations Housing Conference in Thunder Bay. The annual event is organized by representatives from 10 tribal and chiefs councils and brings together community leaders, housing managers, government funding agencies, builders and maintenance people, industry representatives, and more. Mamakwa thanked the City of Thunder Bay for declaring homelessness a humanitarian crisis, and pointed out that a recent point in time count showed over 75 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in the city identify as Indigenous. \u201cWe know that some of the people who ended up homeless… <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 The ongoing housing crisis in many First Nations is depriving people of more than just shelter. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa made that point as part of his opening remarks at the 23rd First Nations Housing Conference in Thunder Bay. The annual event is organized by representatives from 10 tribal and chiefs councils and brings together community leaders, housing managers, government funding agencies, builders and maintenance people, industry representatives, and more. Mamakwa thanked the City of Thunder Bay for declaring homelessness a humanitarian crisis, and pointed out that a recent point in time count showed over 75 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in the city identify as Indigenous. \u201cWe know that some of the people who ended up homeless... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nHousing is 'not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Housing is 'not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 The ongoing housing crisis in many First Nations is depriving people of more than just shelter. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa made that point as part of his opening remarks at the 23rd First Nations Housing Conference in Thunder Bay. The annual event is organized by representatives from 10 tribal and chiefs councils and brings together community leaders, housing managers, government funding agencies, builders and maintenance people, industry representatives, and more. Mamakwa thanked the City of Thunder Bay for declaring homelessness a humanitarian crisis, and pointed out that a recent point in time count showed over 75 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in the city identify as Indigenous. \u201cWe know that some of the people who ended up homeless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T14:18:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Housing is ‘not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T14:18:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/\",\"name\":\"Housing is 'not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T14:18:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Housing is ‘not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Housing is 'not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Housing is 'not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 The ongoing housing crisis in many First Nations is depriving people of more than just shelter. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa made that point as part of his opening remarks at the 23rd First Nations Housing Conference in Thunder Bay. The annual event is organized by representatives from 10 tribal and chiefs councils and brings together community leaders, housing managers, government funding agencies, builders and maintenance people, industry representatives, and more. Mamakwa thanked the City of Thunder Bay for declaring homelessness a humanitarian crisis, and pointed out that a recent point in time count showed over 75 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in the city identify as Indigenous. \u201cWe know that some of the people who ended up homeless","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-02-25T14:18:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Housing is ‘not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says","datePublished":"2026-02-25T14:18:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/"},"wordCount":539,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/","name":"Housing is 'not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-02-25T14:18:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/housing-is-not-just-a-roof-over-someones-head-mpp-says\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Housing is ‘not just a roof over someone\u2019s head\u2019 MPP says"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102264,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102263\/revisions\/102264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}