The tragedy of sub-standard housing on many First Nations is the result of doing things for the benefit of a multi-layered bureaucracy instead of for the benefit of people who need housing.
A number of decisions made by white experts years ago have become the accepted and unchallenged wisdom even though it is obvious to virtually all concerned that this way of doing things doesn’t work.
In the first place, why should Don Mills tract housing be appropriate for remote northern communities?
Why should remote reservations surrounded by trees be importing lumber?
Why should communities with eighty, ninety, or a hundred percent unemployment import labor to build houses?
Why should Southern Ontario building codes provide the template for construction in Arctic communities?
Because at every step in this process people have a vested interest in continuing the status quo.
The bureaucrats keep their jobs.
The contractors keep their huge profits.
The Chiefs keep the power that goes with deciding who gets what.
And the housing falls apart in five to ten years, ensuring that this stupid but very profitable cycle keeps spinning.
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