James Bay homelessness project on display

Ongoing research projects on homelessness in James Bay coast communities are being brought back to the communities for input next week.
Community forums in Moosonee, Kashechewan and Fort Albany will provide researchers from Laurentian University the chance to present their findings and recommendations and get feedback from the communities.
“The projects are really focused on the goals of each community, and the needs they have decided are most pressing,” said Mandy Scott of Fort Albany, the project’s First Nations communications coordinator.
While each community’s project is different, all tie into the issue of poverty, homelessness and migration.
In Moosonee, a door-to-door poverty survey was conducted to determine the extent of poverty and homelessness in the community and possible solutions.
Scott noted the survey confirmed how widespread the issue of poverty is in the community.
“Seventy-one per cent of people said poverty is a problem in Moosonee, and 90 per cent of people said homelessness is a problem,” Scott said, adding that over 50 per cent of respondents said they know a family member or friend experiencing homelessness.
In Fort Albany, a photovoice project was conducted where participants from the community were given cameras to document their community and lives. The photos were then used to spark discussions on the effect of poverty and homelessness in the community.
Scott said the photos provide a form of storytelling, giving participants the chance to share their voice on the issues they face and raise awareness of the challenges in the community.
In Kashechewan, a study of the effects of flooding on the community was done. The study looked at responses to flooding from other places in Canada, to put Kashechewan’s options for what to do about flooding, and the homelessness it causes, into a national context.
“The project looked at the research done and the techniques applied in other places, and why they were or were not applied in Kash,” Scott said. “It is exploring the policies and procedures used in other flood prone communities.”
All three projects started with the community identifying a problem to be examined.
Now the researchers want to take the findings back to the communities to determine next steps.
In Kashechewan on March 5 and Fort Albany on March 6, community members will be presented with the outcomes of the projects and asked for feedback.
In Moosonee on March 7, a list of recommendations that came out of the survey will be presented to community members. The public will be asked to rank the recommendations in terms of their priorities, and from the rankings a list of next steps will be created.
The work on the James Bay coast is part of Laurentian University’s Poverty, Homelessness and Migration project. In total, 11 community-based projects are underway, including projects on homelessness in Sudbury and North Bay.