Click on any numbered step in Halifax’s PATH Pilot Timeline to view documentation from each step along their journey.
An Eastern PATH: Kjipuktuk/Halifax Pilot Site
Rooted in story, trust, and relationship, the PATH Process is a community-driven way to better support our people, especially those navigating housing challenges.
The PATH Process is currently being piloted in four locations across Canada. Kjipuktuk/Halifax is the Eastern pilot site, located on the traditional, unceded homeland of the Mi’kmaq Nation. This territory is covered by the Treaties of Peace and Friendship, first signed with the British Crown in 1726 by the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy peoples.
While PATH is a national, Indigenous-led framework, each community brings it to life in its own way. In Kjipuktuk/Halifax, the PATH Process is guided by local knowledge through the PATH Working Group, led by the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre (MNFC).
MNFC serves as the Community Entity for the Indigenous stream of Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, and works in partnership with the Indigenous Community Advisory Board to allocate funding that reduces chronic homelessness among urban Indigenous peoples. MNFC’s mission is to provide structured, social-based programming for Urban Indigenous People while also serving as a central hub for community connection, events, and cultural revitalization.
This pilot is about more than testing a new tool. It is about reclaiming how we listen, support, and walk alongside one another in ways that reflect our people, our stories, our strengths, and our communities.
Why It Matters
We’re excited to switch to PATH to talk with, not at people.
Mainstream tools (e.g., VI-SPDAT) often ask the wrong questions in ways that feel disconnected from real housing needs.
The PATH Process was co-created by Indigenous communities coast-to-coast-to-coast, alongside the National Indigenous Homelessness Council, in response to a national call for change. Through the PATH Process, we:
- Honour stories and strengths
- Build relationships, not reports
- Make housing decisions with heart, not just data
Kjipuktuk/Halifax Pathfinder
Vivian McDonald
Community-Based Pathfinder, Kjipuktuk/Halifax
📧 vivian.mcdonald@mymnfc.com
🔗 Visit: mymnfc.com
Local Support Partners
- Mi’kmaw LE Knowledge Keeper
- Community-based PATH Working Group members
- Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre
- Diamond Bailey Healing Centre
- Membertou Geomatic Solutions, Development/Technical Consultant
- Nova Scotia Indigenous Community Advisory Board