Windbreaker: Housing by Indigenous, for Indigenous turns page on colonial approach

NICHI, formalized in January, is a coalition of more than 50 Indigenous-led housing, homelessness, and housing-related organizations from across Canada. The aim of the organization is to deliver on housing for those Indigenous people no longer living in Indigenous communities.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is taking credit for moving the Liberal government along on the matter.
East Vancouver NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who was also at the announcement, said the NDP had prioritized significant investments to address the housing needs of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples as part of its confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberal government. The NDP also “demanded that it be for Indigenous and by Indigenous,” she said.

The confidence-and-supply agreement was signed between the Liberals and NDP in March 2022. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was operating with a minority Liberal government after the 2021 election. The agreement with the NDP brought about stability. The NDP agreed to support the Liberals if the Liberals advanced certain NDP priorities. The agreement is set to last until 2025.

“(Indigenous-led housing) would not have happened had it not been for NICHI and the NDP in collaboration, yes, with the government. This is what cooperation looks like. This is what the confidence-and-supply agreement is meant to do. To make things happen for the people,” said Kwan

CPAC: NDP Respond to Conservatives’ Housing Plan

HEADLINE POLITICS
NDP MPs Respond to Conservatives’ Housing Plan – September 21, 2023
At a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, NDP critics Jenny Kwan (housing) and Daniel Blaikie (finance) discuss Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s recently-tabled bill to address the housing crisis.

CPAC: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on public inquiry into foreign interference

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and House leader Peter Julian hold a media availability as their party continues its pre-fall sitting caucus retreat in Ottawa. They comment on the establishment of a public inquiry into foreign interference that was announced earlier in the day by federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc. Quebec Justice Marie-Josée Hogue will chair the inquiry.

Toronto Star: As support for Liberals slides, NDP ramps up focus on housing solutions

NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan said that while she had spoken to Housing Minister Sean Fraser since he took on the role in late July, she was looking for “real bold action” and “a reality check of what’s going on” in the government.

The upcoming fall economic statement is one place where Kwan will be pushing to see some of that action, including commitments to build more social and co-operative housing.

“We have to treat housing with a rights-based approach to it. And so we’re going to drive that agenda,” she told the Star.

CBC: Singh launches broadside against Poilievre as New Democrats prepare for Parliament's return

Singh launches broadside against Poilievre as New Democrats prepare for Parliament's return

NDP caucus chair and housing critic Jenny Kwan said New Democrats will use their leverage with the Liberals to ensure the government's fall economic statement promises swift action on the housing crisis.

"We need ... real commitments in the fall economic statement for the government to understand the crisis that is there with respect to the housing situation," Kwan said.

The housing crisis will be high on the agenda when the New Democrat caucus meets in Ottawa today ahead of what's expected to be a busy parliamentary sitting.

No date has been announced for the release of the fall economic statement, which provides a snapshot of government spending and the outlook for the Canadian economy. Such statements also can contain new spending measures.

Kwan said the NDP will press the Liberals to expand the not-for-profit housing market and build more housing co-operatives. She said New Democrats also will pressure the federal government to change the initiatives that accompany the national housing strategy, which she said have not been "particularly effective."

The federal NDP currently holds the balance of power in the House of Commons. The Liberal minority government relies on New Democrats' votes to pass legislation through a formal agreement that both parties signed.

Under the terms of that confidence-and-supply agreement, the NDP agreed to support key government legislation in exchange for the Liberals advancing a number of NDP policy priorities.

CBC: MPs say democracy is fraying in Canada — but there's hope

For some MPs, the negativity of social media has crossed into both threatened and real abuse.

Jenny Kwan, NDP MP for Vancouver East, said she worries about rising extremism on the right, inspired by former U.S. president Donald Trump.

"I saw how people became very much open to the whole idea of discrimination and racism and and white supremacy openly," she said. "And I'm seeing some of that, you know, emerging in our community."

Just as she and CBC reporter Anne Penman were discussing the issue in Kwan's riding, the MP was confronted by someone who began to shout racist abuse at her, including, "You don't belong here, Jenny" and "Go home, Jenny."

"I hope that anger comes from a place of need, for people to be heard and be supported. So I work hard not to take it personally, even though it's very personal and sometimes very hurtful," Kwan said.

"I've had people say to my face, for example, with COVID-19, that it is the 'Kwan virus.'"

Kwan's caucus colleague, Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, said the wave of threats aimed at MPs last year was one of two things that made her fear for Canadian democracy — the other being the 2022 convoy protests.

"MPs as lawmakers need to know that they can do their work without fear, without knowing that their families' lives are at risk because of what other threats might be given to them," Idlout said.

While she sometimes feels down about the state of democracy, Kwan said there's often a simple fix.

"I will come back and I will walk the streets. I'll reconnect with people, talk to the people," she said. "Not as a politician, just as a human being. And [I] ground myself. Then I realize why I'm here.”

CBC: NDP MP, Beijing critics call on Ottawa to launch foreign agent registry quickly

NDP MP Jenny Kwan and vocal critics of China are calling on the federal government to swiftly introduce — and on Parliament to quickly pass — foreign agent registry legislation to safeguard the next federal election.

In a new petition, Kwan and a coalition of human rights and pro-democracy groups are urging the House of Commons to pass the yet-to-be introduced legislation as soon as possible.

Under intense scrutiny over its handling of alleged Beijing-backed interference operations in the last two federal elections, the Liberal government launched public consultations on a proposed foreign agent registry in March.

A government source told CBC News in March that a bill will be tabled in the House of Commons later this year.

"This should have been done yesterday," Kwan told CBC News. "If we head into the next election without some safeguards and measures in place, then it is us, Canadians, who will actually suffer.

"The government has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the table to try and get this work done."