Despite restrictions imposed by COVID-19, the Yuneŝit'in Wildfire House project has been able to continue moving forward over the past few months, with a full-team project launch taking place virtually over Zoom on March 31st.
A collaboration between Yuneŝit'in--one of the Tŝilhqot'in Nation’s six communities--and UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), the project will result in a housing prototype for Yuneŝit'in that is affordable, culturally appropriate, and mitigates health problems associated with inferior indoor air quality and exacerbated by the smoke from climate-change-induced wildfires.
Facilitated by John Bass of UBC SALA, the March meeting was attended by 15 participants in total, including Yuneŝit'in Chief Russell Ross Myers and Tŝilhqot'in Nation’s Senior Advisor, Housing and Infrastructure Shawn Wiebe. Also in attendance were several other members of the SALA team and representatives from a number of organizations that will provide support and expertise for the project.