Guest: Steve Teekens, Executive Director, Na-Me-Res, a Toronto-based Indigenous-run non-profit that provides temporary, transitional and permanent housing

Indigenous people make up less than one per cent of Toronto’s population, but about 15 percent of the city’s homeless. Nationally, they are around 5 percent of the population yet account for more than a third of those without homes. These numbers reflect the ongoing legacy of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and systems that continue to fail Indigenous communities. For Indigenous men especially, homelessness is closely tied to untreated mental illness and addiction. Advocates say ending Indigenous homelessness isn’t just policy; it’s a part of reconciliation.

Na-Me-Res, an Indigenous-led organization in Toronto, has been working on shelters, transitional programs, and affordable housing. On this National day for Truth and Reconciliation, we speak to the organization’s Executive Director Steve Teekens —to talk about the crisis — and to share his own family’s story as the grandson of residential school survivors and the son of a Sixties Scoop survivor.

The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of a residential school experience. Support is available at 1-866-925-4419.

This episode was mixed by Paulo Marques