Hamilton Indigenous Housing

I wrote this blog on Good Friday, saved it and today I’m going to post what happened last Thursday at KMHC.   Former UNH’s head office location on Albert St. is a spacious building when I use to drop by to pay the rent I'd notice water damage on the entrance walls and the creaky wooden floors.  It reminded me of an old warehouse/studio.  Now things have changed UNH’s head office staff is transitioning to KMHC.   Not all tenants share my greeting but let’s start off with a welcome to the KMHC building.  In the morning UNH’s staff showed up all bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to move the rest of the office furniture and equipment to their new home the KMHC basement center core which is also surrounded by occupied rental units.  There is nothing like listening to the chitter-chatter of young adults roaming the hall exploring their new surroundings.   I’m sure they were blown away with the newly renovated office space, I mean if sardines can exist in...

Mickey Mouse Organization On February 29, 2016 tenants received two notices one was announcing the installation of new FOB locks scheduled for March 3/4 th 2016. This never happened.   The second notice was a fire alarm inspection scheduled for March 2, 2016 that also never happened because it snowed that morning and it was too cold for the KMHC staff to show up for work. “Aww poor babies!”   You should have seen the contractors impatiently waiting outside the building so they could do their work. Talk about a Mickey Mouse organization.  Sheesh! Last Thursday was chaotic at KMHC, first off a group of young people were called in to do menial tasks and secondly UNH’s finally activated the new locks on the interior hallway doors, now we have to use our FOB key twice before we can enter our units. Ugh!   Here’s an idea install steel bars on the windows plus a high voltage chain link fence with razor wire around the building perimeter and call it UNH’s resi...

Last week an open invitation was posted on Facebook in regard to aboriginal issues in Hamilton.   See the poster above.   As I read the invitation I noticed the former UNH’s Director Janice Lewis is now employed at H.E.D.A.C.  Anyway with an open mind I decided to attend the meeting in hope of learning about the aboriginal issues in this city.   When I arrived at the Native Centre I was escorted to the meeting room, there was a smudge ceremony taking place so I quietly stood in the background until it was finished then the guests were invited to the food table.   I didn’t know anybody in the room except Janice Lewis.  I got a kick out of a few older woman being flirtatious at the the social.  :)  Eventually I found a seat in the back of the room that’s when Janice Lewis greeted me with a hello.   In the past when she was the UNH’s Director we were basically adversaries but today no more.  She wasn’t rude/standoff-ish by ignoring me n...

Post funeral foods UNH’s staff has made it clear there will not be a post funeral reception for the late Sidney Peter Pappin aka Big Pete they claim he didn’t want one.   Previous tenants who passed on always had some sort of gathering in the community room hosted by UNH’s.   Their decision upset a lot of Native Elders especially little Debbie.  :( To give closure it’s the Native way by having a big feast when one passes on.   Today @ noon little Debbie and a group of her tenant friends arranged on their own to have a luncheon in her unit in honor of Sidney (Big Pete).   All tenants that knew Big Pete were invited and I’m glad to say 15+ tenants were in attendance.   I was the second to arrive then the rest showed up.   Little Debbie was a perfect hostess she offered refreshments and later invited us to the buffet.   OMG!  Allow me to talk about the buffet there was a large amount of fresh sandwiches, salads, cold cuts, fruit platte...