Indigenous Housing Initiative
Learn about our approach to Indigenous reconciliation.
After listening to Indigenous communities about their concerns and priorities, we created our Indigenous Housing Initiative, the largest community investment in Cenovus’s history. This program helps address one of the most pressing issues facing Indigenous communities in Canada – inadequate housing that forces many families to live in overcrowded and sometimes unsafe conditions.
Announced in January 2020, this program commits $50 million over five years to build homes in the six First Nations and Métis communities closest to our Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands operations:
- Beaver Lake Cree Nation
- Chard Métis Nation
- Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation
- Cold Lake First Nations
- Conklin Métis (Local 193)
- Heart Lake First Nation
Our Indigenous Housing Initiative is helping improve housing conditions and reduce housing shortages. In addition to providing homes, we are also lending expertise when needed such as negotiating rates for housing supplies and technical expertise gained through constructing our own projects.
To further support the Indigenous Housing Initiative and foster economic reconciliation, we worked with Portage College on a 24-week Construction and Trades Readiness Program geared towards home construction and maintenance training opportunities for members of these six partner communities.