Northern Housing Rights (NHR) was a legal education, research and capacity-building initiative
directed at Métis, First Nations and Inuit (FNMI) people living in Northwestern Ontario, funded
by the Law Foundation of Ontario and undertaken by the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and
the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights – when we were called the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA).
The objectives of the NHR initiative were to investigate the experiences of housing discrimination among FNMI people in Northwestern Ontario, provide legal education on human rights in housing, produce human rights resources, and provide recommendations to improve access to supports in these
communities.
The NHR project built upon the call for a renewed commitment to coordination and
communication to overcome barriers faced by FNMI communities as outlined in the 2013
Ontario Urban and Rural First Nations, Métis and Inuit Housing Policy Framework (OUR
Framework) produced by MNO, the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Centres (OFIFC) and the
Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA.) NHR was designed to target the systemic
barriers faced by FNMI individuals in their attempts to access and retain stable housing, a key
issue identified in OUR Framework.