Rory Richards is breaking stereotypes and building Indigenous housing

Rory Richards, a Coast Salish woman of Sechelt descent in Vancouver, is the founder of NUQO, an Indigenous-owned, female-led modular construction company. In this cost-effective construction method, most building work happens in a factory, then parts are assembled on-site. Richards’ goal is to help build affordable Indigenous housing — and she already has several projects in the Squamish Nation. As a mother of three, she also advocates for and builds quality public childcare.

Motivation Part of my motivation was to increase the quality of products we’re building in Indigenous communities. The other was to diversify the construction sector and create a safe space for women in construction. Women are underrepresented in the construction workforce in Canada. So to have female Indigenous leadership, and the majority of the company being female, is extraordinary.

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Sustainability Building sustainably is the right thing to do from a climate perspective. But in Indigenous communities, there’s also another layer of energy poverty, where many people have to choose between heating their houses in the winter and buying food. This is because of how inefficiently the homes are built from an energy perspective.

Passion I was recruited into modular construction several years ago and I fell in love. I saw how it could be used to solve various crises that we’re contending with — whether that is the childcare crisis or the housing crisis. It was a strong fit for my social justice sensibilities, which is a really important part of anything I do. I have to be motivated from a soul level. And I certainly was, with modular, I could see the future of it.

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Challenges Childcare is quite personal to me and many of the women that I work with. We are in a crisis of lack of physical spaces for childcare, and the cost of the spaces that do exist. We identified several pain points that are challenging the creation of quality child care spaces. One of them was the lack of qualified architects who knew the nuances of childcare. So, we worked with a respected childcare architect, Peter Turje, and with childcare experts to create a design that was sector-leading and holistic.

Impact The work we’re doing is important because there’s an immense need. The most rewarding part for us is when residents or visitors come into our buildings and say, “I feel safe here.” For me, that shows all of the love and respect that we have put into our projects is being translated. We want to continue to build quality, healthy, respectful home and childcare spaces for the people who need them.

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This story first appeared in Broadview’s October/November 2024 issue with the title “Rory Richards.”

Negin Nia is a journalist in Vancouver, B.C.