The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
May 8, 2025
Subject: Strategic Priorities for Gender Equity, Housing Justice, and a More Inclusive Canada
Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney,
On behalf of the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network and the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network, we extend our heartfelt congratulations on winning the election and becoming the 24th Prime Minister of Canada. Your leadership represents an opportunity to renew Canada’s commitment to reconciliation, equity, and social and economic justice for all.
We write to you as national networks composed of lived experts, advocates, Indigenous leaders, frontline service providers, researchers, and policy professionals working across Canada to end homelessness and housing insecurity for women, Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people. These communities are disproportionately impacted by poverty, violence, and systemic exclusion from housing and social support systems. As you begin your mandate, we urge you to take bold and immediate action across five key priority areas to build a future where all people in Canada can live in dignity and safety:
1. Uphold the right to housing for women, Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people by committing to adopt and implement the forthcoming recommendations of the Neha Review Panel on gender equity and housing. We ask you to centre the voices of lived experts in all policymaking processes that affect them, ensuring that programs reflect their lived realities and uphold human rights.
2. Increase and sustain annual funding for the Urban, Rural, and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy, with a clear commitment to funding streams specifically dedicated to Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people. We ask that the strategy includes transparent accountability mechanisms and Indigenous-led evaluation frameworks with clear, gender-disaggregated indicators of progress. This must be aligned with the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Report Recommendations.
3. Expand gender-responsive homelessness programs by establishing national targets, measurable outcomes, and dedicated funding to eliminate homelessness in all its forms. Prioritize interventions that are tailored to the specific needs of women, Two-Spirit, trans, and gender-diverse communities, including trauma-informed, culturally safe, and low-barrier housing models.
4. Raise the Canada Disability Benefit to a livable amount that reflects the real cost of living with a disability and lifts all people with disabilities out of poverty. Ensure the benefit is accessible, inclusive, and designed in consultation with disability rights advocates and organizations led by disabled people.
5. Re-establish and strengthen federal cabinets focused on Women and Gender Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with cross-ministerial mandates to ensure consistent and coordinated action across all levels of government.
We look forward to working with your government to advance gender equity and housing justice in Canada. We are ready to collaborate, share lived expertise and support the implementation of effective and equitable policies that leave no one behind.
Sincerely,
Khulud Baig, Trinity Fletcher, Arlene Hache, Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, Alina Perault, Stefania Seccia, and Aymen Sherwani
National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network &
Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network