Mushkegowuk Council Deputy Grand Chief Natasha Martin is raising concerns over the City of Timmins’ plan to build transitional housing near the Deloro landfill site, calling the location remote and unsafe for homeless residents.
Indigenous people make up more than half of Timmins’ homeless population, according to city data. In a letter to Mayor Michelle Boileau last week, Martin argued the proposed site – far from downtown services and lacking sidewalks or streetlights – poses risks to vulnerable residents.
Indigenous opposition to the location
The director of Ontario Works for Cochrane District Services Board, Christine Heavens, told CTV News last month that an Indigenous service provider and Indigenous staff members from another service provider for the board had voiced concerns with the proposed site.
Timmins city councillor Kristin Murray had also previously gone on record to say that Indigenous people wouldn’t support an encampment near a landfill because that’s where the remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls are sometimes found.
The letter
“The proposed location is highly problematic because of its inaccessibility,” Martin wrote in her letter, citing garbage trucks, toxic contaminants, and poor lighting as hazards. She also criticized the city for relying on public feedback rather than expert consultation, stating that decisions should prioritize “the best location and model to effectively serve the needs of the people involved.”
Martin said Indigenous organizations like the Mushkegowuk Council were not consulted, despite the disproportionate impact on First Nations individuals. She warned the mining-camp-style housing model contradicts recommendations from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The letter concluded with a call for collaboration: “By working together, we can build better solutions for the betterment of all citizens.”
The City of Timmins or its mayor and council have not yet publicly responded to the letter.
With files from CTVNorthernOntario.ca journalist Lydia Chubak
