OTTAWA – On Thursday, NDP Critic for Housing, Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and NDP Critic for Indigenous Services, MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut) secured $287.1 million for National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated (NICHI) to address the housing crisis for Urban Rural and Northern Indigenous, Metis and Inuit people leaving away from their home community. Under the Liberal government, Indigenous people are now 11 times more likely to use a shelter or live in inadequate homes than non-Indigenous people.
New Democrats have been relentlessly pushing for the government to close the funding gap. Today's announcement wouldn’t have been possible without New Democrats who forced the government to act by including support for Indigenous housing in their Confidence and Supply agreement with the Liberals.
“In my riding of Vancouver East, we have the third largest urban Indigenous population in the country and we have had multiple homeless encampments. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately represented among the unhoused population, yet this government has dragged its feet in providing a For Indigenous By Indigenous housing,” said Kwan. “While this is the step in the right direction, there’s more work to do.”
This announcement, pushed by New Democrats, delivers on one of the NDP’s key promises on a For-Indigenous, By-Indigenous Housing Strategy. NICHI brings together Indigenous-led housing, homelessness, and housing-related organizations to provide long-term solutions.
When the federal government launched the permanent residence pathways for Hong Kong residents, it was described as a faster route for eligible Hong Kong nationals already in Canada to become permanent residents.
Five years later, the Hong Kong pathway is set to close Aug. 31, while tens of thousands of applicants are still waiting.
For applicants like Roger Yeung, the wait is no longer just about immigration paperwork. It is affecting careers, education, and the ability to plan a future in Canada.
Roger Yeung has been living in Vancouver since April 2023. He applied for permanent residence under the Hong Kong pathway in October 2024, but says there has been no progress.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan says the wait is unacceptable.
Kwan says the federal government originally promised expedited processing for Hong Kongers under the lifeboat program, and that the process appeared to work in the first year.
“The government, in this first year of implementation of the Lifeboat Stream A, Stream B program, they did expedite the process,” Kwan said.
“But then, over the years, we started to notice that the government was slowing down in the processing.”
Kwan says the problem grew after Hong Kong pathway applications were grouped under the Humanitarian and Compassionate and Other category.
She said that category also includes other urgent commitments, including Ukraine and Sudan, leaving Hong Kong applicants competing for limited space.
“For Hong Kongers, there are over 33,000 applications waiting in the backlog, and that’s just for Hong Kongers,” Kwan said.
“If you add in Ukraine and Sudan, you can just imagine how lengthy the wait is.”
To clear the backlog, Kwan says the federal government should change the Immigration Levels Plan quota and allocate enough spaces to process existing applications. She also called on Ottawa to restore immigration staffing levels.
“Rebuild the trust. Honour what you promised Hong Kongers, and deliver on the program. Change the quota now,” Kwan said.
