about acehs
our mission:
To lovingly provide culturally supportive, affordable housing and services that end Aboriginal homelessness on Vancouver Island.
The Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness Society (ACEH) is a non-profit and registered charitable organization with a sole focus on supporting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples experiencing homelessness. The work of the ACEH is guided by the voices of Indigenous Street Family who share their immediate needs, lived experiences, and perspectives on solutions. Through building partnerships locally and island-wide, the ACEH works to identify and address systemic and structural barriers, share information, resources, and lessons learned, while also providing cultural supports, connections, and housing stability. The role of the ACEH is critical as the only Indigenous-led organization on Vancouver Island that has ending Indigenous homelessness as its sole focus. The ACEH has a vision to lead long-term systemic change to better meet the needs of our people living away from home and experiencing homelessness.
our vision:
Our way is to care for all our people, from the youngest to the oldest. We are all one. Some of our people living away from home are suffering, isolated, and homeless. We stand together to end homelessness.
“The water,
I left it all out on the water, I didn’t bring anything back with me”
staff family
we are all one.
Our Way is to care for all our people, from the youngest to the oldest. We are all one. Some of our people living away from home are suffering, isolated and homeless. We stand together to end homelessness.
four pillars.
The Coast Salish Big House, supported by its four pillars, provides the framework for the ACEH’s strategic approach. In the ACEH’s work, each pillar represents a component of the organization, all which are of equal urgency. Together, they provide the structure for fulfilling our mission to end Indigenous homelessness across Vancouver Island.
The values and vision for the strategy is at the center of the House, providing the warmth, the fire that unites us in this work.
Directors
FRANT HUNT-JINNOUCHI
Executive Director
JULIA O’QUINN
Director of Community Programs & Impact
WADE HUNT
Director of Housing Operations & Support Services
BRIELYN RAMSEY
Director of Operations
ELMER EASHAPPIE
Director of Integrated Indigenous Health Programs
Managers
JENNIFER DUCHESNE
Executive Assistant
AMALIA PATERSON-ANDINO
SPAKEN House Manager
JENINE NICHOLAS
House of Courage House Manager
JIM LESCHUK
Financial Controller
KATE MITCHELL
Human Resources Manager
ZAHRA REZAI
Project & Administration Manager
JUDY PETERSON
Culturally Aligned Integrated Support Manager
NATHAN WARNER
Outreach Coordinator
SHANNON CAMPBELL
Housing Transitions Manager
KATIE DEKKAR
Youth Programs & Services Manager
NIKKI WILKINSON
Land Based Healing Manager
ASHLEY YOUNG
Perinatal Transitions Coordinator
governance
governance
The ACEHS is governed by Indigenous peoples with representation from each of the three Tribal Groups on the Island: Coast Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, and Kwakwakw’wakw as well as Metis Nation. The Board of Directors provide leadership and strategic direction necessary to end homelessness within the Aboriginal population on Vancouver Island: to ensure that adequate resources are in place to achieve the strategy; to ensure that operational plans and budgets are implemented that achieve the strategy; and to provide timely communications to the community on progress in ending Aboriginal homelessness.
we gratefully acknowledge our funders and partners
we also gratefully acknowledge our past funders
With gratitude the ACEHS acknowledges the Lekwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia’new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples on whose ancestral homelands and unceded territories we gather, live, and work.