Métis Nation of Ontario gets $21.1M more for housing

The federal government is giving the Métis Nation of Ontario another $21.1 million for housing, announced Friday as the organization opened 14 new homes for Métis citizens and their families in Midland, Ont.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty made the announcement Oct. 23 at a ribbon-cutting for the Midland development, a set of 14 two-storey homes built with $4.2 million from the federal Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy.

The new money comes on top of $31.9 million already committed to the Métis Nation of Ontario under the same strategy, which is being delivered over seven years. The organization can use the top-up for its housing priorities, including new construction. The government said it supports the Midland homes, new units in Kenora and planning for future units in other priority regions for low- to moderate-income households.

Alty said the funding “will help expand Métis-led housing solutions across Ontario,” according to a Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada news release.

Métis Nation of Ontario President Margaret Froh said the organization led the Midland project from buying the land through construction. “This is Métis self-government in action, and it shows what we can accomplish when Canada and Métis governments work together,” she said.

The Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy is a $4-billion federal program for Indigenous people living outside reserves and settled land claim areas. About $1.7 billion of it will be delivered by Build Canada Homes, the government said.

Midland is on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, north of Barrie, and Kenora is in northwestern Ontario near the Manitoba border, both areas with long-standing Métis communities.

For more on Métis history, read how the Métis halted the Red River survey in 1869. Families looking to buy can also see our guide to first-time home buyer programs in Canada.

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Photo: Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty at a meeting in Ottawa on Nov. 24, 2025. File photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld