Programs rooted in heritage helping Indigenous men succeed

A third of people experiencing homelessness who sleep on the streets are Indigenous, as per the 2018 Toronto street needs assessment.

The situation across the rest of the country is just as dire.

“A lot of Indigenous people, throughout their life, deal with issues around homelessness. It’s not across the board, but it does affect a disproportionate number of Indigenous people across Canada,” says Steve Teekens, executive director of Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence).

Na-Me-Res has been offering emergency shelter to Indigenous men experiencing homelessness or addiction since 1985. Over the course of 35 years, they’ve added transitional housing to their services and launched several programs rooted in Indigenous heritage to help men in the vulnerable community get back on their feet through reconnecting with their culture.

The transitional housing building, called Sagatay, runs a unique program titled Apaenmowineen.

“Apaenmowineen means ‘having confidence in myself’ and that’s exactly what that program helps to create for the men,” says Teekens.

The course is a three to six month life skills program that includes several culturally specific modules like Cree or Ojibwe language classes, sharing circles, community gardening, drumming and traditional teachings alongside literacy, creative writing, photography, employability workshops and financial literacy.

Teekens says this approach was developed because it is vital for Indigenous people to unlearn the internalized negative feelings about their culture brought about by colonization and years of state policies that reinforced them.

“Unlike other cultures in Canada, the state did a lot of things that were not so good for Indigenous people,” says Teekens. “There was attempts to try to eradicate Indigenous culture, to eradicate our languages and as a result of that, [for] a lot of people, there’s shame in relation to learning our culture. What other culture in the world is taught to be ashamed of their culture? It’s ridiculous.”

Teekens says they’re trying to build pride and resilience in the community through learning cultural ways of healing and coping with stress.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, teachings were delivered in person to 25 men living at Sagatay. Once the pandemic hit, social distancing measures made it necessary to reduce that number to 20.

Initially, all programming came to a halt — which felt like a blow to the progress some residents were making, says Teekens. But soon, many of the classes were moved online.

“The guys were really pleased…they were engaged back in the programming. You could really feel the mood in that house change after that happened,” he says.

Na-Me-Res purchased 20 computers — one for each resident — and Teekens says they are all able to access classes and workshops from anywhere in the building.

“We were able to get a zoom account and provide instruction over zoom,” he says, adding that there was a bit of a learning curve for the residents.

“It’s really neat seeing the guys work with the laptops. Not everybody was computer savvy at the beginning. I wasn’t computer savvy either when I had to go to zoom meetings and I had to learn. So they’re able to learn and as a result of that, our life skills program adapted really well to COVID.”

One of the programs offered over Zoom are literacy classes, for those who may want to upgrade their academic credentials. Some residents have progressed enough to gain admission into university or college and even fulfill requirements to enter a trade.

“It’s been a real boost for the guys. It’s helped them with their confidence and creates a really good pathway to something good, towards goals they were hoping to achieve,” says Teekens.

Other online classes include creative writing and financial literacy, but some programs are still conducted in-person, following all COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Cree and Ojibwe language classes are delivered in-person with the men separated into cohorts of 10.

“No other shelters in Canada, or at least in Toronto offer native language instruction. The really good thing with our languages is that’s the key to our culture and the ways of understanding the world around us,” says Teekens.

Another program that is a favourite among the residents is community gardening. They learn how to grow and use medicinal as well as sacred plants for Indigenous ceremonies.

Teekens says there is an element of healing to working with plants and watching them grow from seed to harvest. Once the plants are ready to be harvested, an herbalist teaches the men how to properly prepare them for medicinal use.

The community garden also has a space for a sacred fire — a safe space for the men to discuss difficult topics in their lives.

“It really promotes healing. It’s a very positive space,” says Teekens.

Na-Me-Res’ mission is to provide a safe place for vulnerable Indigenous men to “focus and look inwards and deal with the things they need to deal with,” without having to worry about their next meal or a roof over their heads, he says.

“Programs that [promote] pride in culture, pride in themselves and that instill healing really go a long ways to help people get back up on their feet and succeed in their life,” says Teekens. “If there was more programs like this to help Indigenous people, [it would] go a long ways to try to change those disproportionate numbers of Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in Canada.”