March 25, 2021
I rise today to honour Michelle Malette, a resident of Dartmouth North, who is a dedicated advocate for housing for all. Michelle is currently the executive director of Out of the Cold shelter, a community-based Winter shelter and an invaluable piece of the shelter system in HRM.
When COVID-19 hit last year, Michelle - not yet the ED, but a volunteer - helped to transition Out of the Cold from a community centre gym to a hotel. For this work, and her former work with women, trans folks, and their families at Adsum House, Michelle was recognized as an Invisible Champion by the Bhayana Family Foundation. As her nominator for the award wrote, “Michelle sees the resilience and dignity in everyone she works with, so she is able to help those individuals get housing and live their best lives.”
Michelle is also an amazing mother and friend, an active member of the city’s queer and trans community, and a member of Solidarity Halifax. I ask the members of this House to join me in expressing thanks to Michelle for her fierce and uncompromising advocacy for housing as a human right and for some of our community’s most vulnerable people.