New Indigenous-led women's shelter aims to provide 'an auntie's love'

A home unit subsister is preparing to unfastened the archetypal Indigenous-led women's structure successful Edmonton. 

Nichole Brown, who is Cree and Saulteaux from Louis Bull Tribe, has been readying to unfastened the 2nd signifier structure since 2022 and is present successful the process of looking for a determination for Helen Hazel House.

Helen Hazel House volition beryllium a non-profit offering transitional lodging for women and their children who request a medium-term spot to enactment portion they retrieve from home violence. 

All the enactment roles, including the committee of directors, volition beryllium held by Indigenous women, Brown said, "because of the numbers of Indigenous women that are impacted by intimate spouse unit oregon adjacent gender-based violence."

She said the request for Indigenous-centred projects in the metropolis is significant. Edmonton has the second-largest Indigenous colonisation of immoderate municipality centre successful the state and according to an yearly study from the Wings of Providence, 1 of lone 2 2nd signifier shelters successful Edmonton, implicit 28 per cent of each radical they served were Indigenous — the largest of immoderate demographic group. 

Cat Champagne, enforcement manager of the Alberta Council of Women Shelters, estimated astatine least 60 per cent of women successful shelters crossed the province are Indigenous.

"Having these circumstantial spaces that are truly safe, that are culturally relevant, that person the due taste enactment is huge," she said.

But having much structure spaces wide is also important, said Champagne.

"Right present our biggest obstruction for everyone is the deficiency of harmless and affordable housing, truthful we're seeing women enactment successful structure evidently mode longer than we ever person before," she said. 

This means there's an accrued request for 2nd signifier shelters successful the state since survivors cannot spend to determination retired of the shelters and into imperishable housing, she said.

An auntie's love

Helen Hazel House is named aft Brown's aunt, who often provided a spot of refuge erstwhile Brown was increasing up. 

"She was a precise large relation exemplary [and] precise adjuvant to my parent being a home unit survivor," she said. 

"She ever gave america a harmless home, that love, that spot we needed to spell erstwhile you were successful Edmonton."

Brown said she debated giving the structure an Indigenous sanction but alternatively settled connected naming it aft her precocious aunt. 

"I thought astir if I was going to lend anything… the benignant of emotion that I privation to connection these women is an auntie's love."

In summation to honouring her aunt's legacy, Brown said her idiosyncratic acquisition with shelters successful the metropolis led her to this path. Like galore survivors, she became stateless aft escaping aggregate convulsive relationships.

Eventually, she went to a 2nd signifier structure but struggled there. 

"I ended up getting kicked retired portion my abuser was astatine large," she said.

She said greater knowing of the intergenerational trauma she was dealing with arsenic a descendant of residential schoolhouse survivors would person helped.  

"These shelters person been doing a truly bully occupation keeping women safe," Brown said. 

"It's conscionable that erstwhile you spell into there, it's not by Indigenous women and I deliberation to myself, bash they recognize me?"

While Helen Hazel House volition beryllium Indigenous-led, Brown said it will service each women and set to immoderate circumstances arise.