00:00Today, across Canada, an estimated 65,000 people are without a home.
00:07People staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing, sleeping in cars and encampments
00:13and doorways.
00:15Canada's strength and our compassion must be put to work for those who need it the most,
00:22because Canada Strong starts in a warm home.
00:28And just as there's no single way into homelessness, there's no single way out.
00:34There's no simple answer.
00:37This is a hard problem.
00:39And hard problems demand the humility to learn from previous well-intentioned efforts that
00:45have fallen short.
00:46And it demands the resolve to build on what succeeded.
00:51For decades, governments and communities have tried to address this crisis.
00:56Too often, these efforts have been inadequately resourced, poorly coordinated and not sustained.
01:05We're learning from these experiences.
01:07And as we learn above all, and we learn above all from the people working on the front lines,
01:13many of whom are with us here today.
01:17And what works, what we get from those learnings, comes down to a combination of three things.
01:23First, help works.
01:26Help can start before someone ever loses their home.
01:31Covering the rent when a paycheck falls short.
01:34A call to a landlord.
01:35Support when a family is in crisis.
01:37And for someone already on the street, help is an outreach worker who knows their name
01:43and gets them to a warm bed at night.
01:46Help can be a way forward.
01:48Replacing a lost ID.
01:50Getting income support.
01:52Finding a job and a permanent home.
01:55And that's what reaching home helps do.
02:00Through this program, the Canadian government backs local organizations that do this work
02:05every day on the ground across Canada.
02:08Here in Winnipeg, that support flows through organizations such as End Homelessness Winnipeg,
02:14an Indigenous-led group that lifts people out of homelessness and maintains vital real-time data.
02:22That data tells us that four out of every five homeless Winnipeggers are Indigenous.
02:29And their work helps to reach them.
02:33As does Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, which helps families keep their homes by sitting
02:39down with a landlord, covering back rent and providing one-to-one support.
02:45And the North End Women's Centre, where women and gender-diverse people can find a safe place
02:51to stay while they get back on their feet.
02:55So help works.
02:56The second thing that works, obviously, is housing.
02:59And that means transitional homes as a safe bridge out of crisis, and deeply affordable
03:06homes so that the bridge leads somewhere permanent to live.
03:11And it means that the help continues as needed.
03:17So today, we're standing on the construction site for the Wawainane Baganagan, formerly known
03:25as the Hudson's Bay Building.
03:27When this structure opens, reopens, it will provide 373 affordable homes for First Nations
03:36families, safe homes, permanent homes.
03:39In the heart of downtown, led by the community that it serves, a landmark of the past, becoming
03:45homes for the future.
03:48And the third thing that works and is essential is health.
03:52For the most vulnerable in our society, this is a further requirement.
04:00Not everyone without a home needs health care, but most desperately do.
04:07Nine in ten people on the Winnipeg streets face a health challenge.
04:13Most often addiction, mental illness, or both.
04:18And for them, the emergency room becomes their only respite, but it's a temporary respite.
04:25They're treated, discharged, and then they go straight back onto the street, and the cycle
04:29begins again.
04:32There is, however, a better way.
04:34In Toronto, the University Health Network built Dunn House, a four-storey modular building,
04:4151 homes for the people who use the ER the most, with care right on site.
04:47It was built in partnership.
04:49The hospital, the City of Toronto, United Way, the charity Fred Victor, the province of Ontario,
04:55and the Government of Canada, all working together.
05:00The early results are striking.
05:01ER visits cut in half, days in hospital down 80%.
05:07An entire community that benefits.
05:11So when something works and the need is great, we should do more of it.
05:15And that's exactly what we're proposing to do in Budget 2026.
05:20To help set Canada on a path to end homelessness over the next decade.
05:25To get there, we are investing an unprecedented $30 billion in a coordinated national plan.
05:44Now, I want to be clear.
05:46We understand both how difficult this will be, but equally how imperative it is that we
05:53all succeed.
05:54Because in Canada, we know we're not perfect, but we always strive to be good.
05:59And we do things because they're right, not because they're easy.
06:04Ending homelessness is hard, and it's good, and it's right.
06:08And it will require more than compassion.
06:12It will require ambition, execution, and partnership amongst all levels of government, with contributions
06:18from philanthropy and business.
06:20The federal government will provide the funds that need to build homes and health facilities.
06:30The provinces and municipalities will manage these homes and these facilities.
06:36They will also provide health care services, professional training services.
06:50The government will provide proposals for the needs of the needs of the needs of the needs.
06:54And the philanthropic organizations and businesses will be able to contribute to each step.
07:03So our plan is built on what we've learned that works.
07:06Help, housing, health.
07:08Let me say a few words about each.
07:10start with help budget 2026 invests five and a half billion dollars in the Canada housing benefit
07:18and that puts money every month directly towards the rent of low-income Canadians here in Manitoba
07:26that means families can receive over three hundred dollars in monthly payments and for someone on the
07:31edge of homelessness that can be the difference between keeping a home and losing it we're also
07:37introducing and expanding automatic tax filings which will help ensure that people get all of
07:42the benefits that they deserve we know that prevention is also vital is vital in this regard
07:50in keeping people in the homes that they already have on plus de ces mesures nous allons investir
07:566,5 milliards de dollars pour renouveler le programme vers une chez soi et notre soutien aux anciens
08:06combattants en situation d'intilérance ces fonds vont directement aux personnes et organismes qui
08:13nous ont montré ce qui fonctionne ces organismes ne font pas que prévenir l'intilérance ils vont
08:24aussi à la rencontre des personnes qui vivent déjà dans la rue ils gagnent leur confiance et les aident à
08:32trouver une toit ils continuent à les accompagner à chaque étape dans les démarches administratives
08:41jusqu'à leur premier appartement et leur premier chèque de paix pour les aider à trouver un logement stable et
08:50durable
08:50next housing budget 2026 makes an investment of 10 billion dollars through build canada homes and i salute minister the
09:03minister here today
09:06the objective intent mr robertson and his team will build twenty five thousand transitional and supportive homes across canada and
09:16is more partners step up across the country we will ramp that investment up here in winnipeg what that means
09:25is eight hundred million dollars for more than two thousand new transitional and supportive homes
09:38and that's possible because we're working with the city of winnipeg and that's possible because we're working with the city
09:43of winnipeg and the province of manitoba as they choose sites on public land which will allow us to start
09:48sooner and build cheaper
09:49and it's possible because the province will step up and operate these homes and provide the supports that come with
09:55them including helping people with training finding a job income support to cover bills mental health and addictions care
10:04being close at hand and that brings me to health budget 2026 is investing two billion dollars more in the
10:13health infrastructure fund to build and upgrade mental health and addictions treatment facilities and
10:19in communities across canada and we're committing five billion dollars to a new integrated supports fund to build housing and
10:27health care together with public private and philanthropic partners
10:32and i'm proud to announce that the first investment from that fund a fund we created yesterday the first investment
10:38will be over two hundred million dollars in federal funding to build the new winnipeg center for mental health and
10:44addiction
10:54and as my colleagues know this center will bring acute and outpatient mental health and addictions care together with permanent
11:01housing and coordinated support services and it will be operational as soon as three years from today
11:08so one pathway to help housing and health and that's how we begin to break the cycle
11:16we're starting in winnipeg today because the government of canada the province of manitoba the city of winnipeg and private
11:25philanthropy in recent months have all been coming together to develop a comprehensive plan that works and with other projects
11:34already underway in winnipeg
11:36the government is working with partners to build a total of 2 500 new housing units for those most vulnerable
11:47now we can do this everywhere everywhere across canada the government of canada is willing to work with every willing
11:55partner
11:55we renewing the measures of prevention that will allow people to stay at home and we continue to finance the
12:05organizations on the terrain
12:07and we continue to finance the organizations on the terrain through a program to work with each other
12:09we provide the funds necessary to build a transition housing housing and supervised housing housing
12:17as well as the establishments that offer both a total of health and health care
12:24and we are ready to work with all the provinces and municipalities to create a global plan that will allow
12:34us to close to the entire community
12:39a few years ago let me finish a few years ago Al Weavey a man who once lived on these
12:48streets gave the alley off main street a new name
12:53hope alley and as Al put it hope is not only life changing but life sustaining hope needs something to
13:05hold on to the prospect of help when you need it most
13:09a home of your own and the health care to keep you well we have the strength in Canada to
13:17build we have the discipline to deliver
13:21and Canadians we all have the values to take care of each other to take care of every single Canadian
13:29budget 26 and today's partnership is how we can not only provide hope but how we will turn that hope
13:40into reality
13:42thank you very much
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