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Exploring Theme: "Federal Budgets"
Updates on this page: 33
November 4, 2024
Indigenous Friendship Centres Call for Long-Term Funding
NationTalk: Ottawa, ON — The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) is urging the federal government to commit to long-term, sustainable funding for over 100 Friendship Centres (FCs) and Provincial/Territorial Associations (PTAs) across Canada. “As of March 31, 2025, Friendship Centres fall off a funding cliff and there is currently no indication from the federal...
August 14, 2024
Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory calls on federal government to prevent imminent displacement of Elders
Nation Talk: Anishinabeknews.ca – WIIKWEMKOONG UNCEDED TERRITORY – Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory is urgently calling on the federal government to provide the remaining funds needed to construct a new Elders’ home, crucial for preventing the displacement of its senior residents, many of whom are Indian Residential School Survivors. “Our Elders, many of whom are Survivors of...
August 8, 2024
As Canada Modernizes Research Funding, Is It Neglecting Indigenous Priorities?
Nisga’a professor Amy Parent says the government should scrap its current report and start over. Katie Hyslop YesterdayThe Tyee Katie Hyslop is a reporter with The Tyee The Tyee: Before the federal government announced “a new capstone research funding organization” as part of its 2024 budget, Amy Parent, an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in...
May 27, 2024
Extremely disappointing’: Minister slams Ottawa over funding cuts
Family Services Minister Margaret Nakashuk asks for restoration of $625M fund Family Services Minister Margaret Nakashuk says she and other territorial and provincial ministers are calling for a meeting with the federal government to discuss the possibility of restoring a $625-million fund to support job training. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier) NationTalk: Nunatsiaq News: Family Services...
April 19, 2024
The Five Canada-wide Cultural Heritage Organizations Are Disappointed by Federal Budget 2024
NationTalk: In a federal budget appropriately focused on creating new housing, advancing Indigenous self-determination, combatting hate, and creating a clean economy, there is an unfortunate lack of recognition of the role cultural heritage places and existing buildings play in creating housing, wellbeing, and supporting a green economy. The five Canada-wide cultural heritage organizations – Canadian...
April 19, 2024
O’Chiese First Nation disappointed federal budget didn’t come with cash for roads
‘This should be about economic reconciliation’ says councillor Bernadine Coleman Bernadine Coleman from O’Chiese First Nation and Alberta Minister Devin Dreeshan/ Photo: Supplied APTN News: Bernadine Coleman travelled from her home in O’Chiese First Nation to Ottawa last week, a trip that is about 3,500 km if you were to drive, to ask the federal...
April 18, 2024
‘We get pennies’: NDP Idlout denounces federal budget for lack of commitment to Indigenous Peoples
APTN News: Indigenous leaders responded to Tuesday’s federal budget with frustration and disappointment. According to NDP MP Lori Idlout it doesn’t come close to erasing the inequities for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. “We know that for too many decades there’s not been enough investments to improve the lives of Indigenous peoples,” Idlout, the...
April 17, 2024
First Nations chiefs alarmed, disappointed by Canada’s 2024 budget
“We were told yesterday that there would be good news and there will be bad news. Good news for Canada and bad news for First Nations.” —Grand Chief Abram Benedict of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Assembly of First National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak speaks to reporters in Ottawa April 17. From left to right...
April 17, 2024
Economic reconciliation means no green strings attached
Grand Chief Abram Benedict addressing reporters at the Chiefs of Ontario First Nations Community Wellness Conference, March 19, 2024. Photo courtesy of Declan Keogh / Chiefs of Ontario Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: The Indigenous loan guarantee program will have no green strings attached, opening opportunities for controversial development like oil, gas and nuclear projects....
April 17, 2024
Omission of reconciliation ‘glaring’ and ‘alarming’ in budget speech, First Nations leaders say
Assembly of First Nations to renew calls for a first ministers meeting this year CBC Indigenous: First Nations leaders are panning this year’s federal budget and demanding a renewed commitment from the Liberal government, after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland failed to mention reconciliation in Tuesday’s budget speech. “It’s alarming,” said National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, head...
April 16, 2024
Idlout warns federal budget will cut funding for Indigenous supports
Nunavut NDP MP says it’s ‘frustrating’ and warns it will hurt effort to provide better housing Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, seen earlier this month at a government announcement in Iqaluit, is calling on the federal government to reverse planned spending cuts to Indigenous services in 2024’s federal budget. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier) NationTalk: Nunatsiaq...
April 16, 2024
Federal budget’s $918M for Indigenous housing and infrastructure falls far short of what advocates say is needed
Tuesday’s federal budget committed more than $9 billion in new funding for Indigenous initiatives, focusing on education and youth, on-reserve supports and economic opportunities. Toronto Star: OTTAWA — Tuesday’s federal budget committed more than $9 billion in new funding for Indigenous initiatives, focusing on education and youth, on-reserve supports and economic opportunities. Of the funding...
April 16, 2024
Small businesses will get a carbon levy rebate, federal budget announces — but nothing yet for Indigenous groups who were promised the same
The federal government will create a new carbon price rebate for small businesses, using $2.5 billion in revenues that have built up in recent years to funnel money through a new tax credit for roughly 600,000 companies, Tuesday’s budget announced. Toronto Star: OTTAWA — The federal government will create a new carbon price rebate for...
April 11, 2024
MP rebukes top housing official for chronic underfunding of Prairie First Nations
‘That is one of the most nefarious and deceitful things a bureaucracy could do,’ says NDP’s Blake Desjarlais CBC Indigenous: A New Democrat member of Parliament rebuked a federal housing executive on Thursday, after an audit found his organization shortchanged Prairie First Nations out of more than a quarter-billion dollars in housing cash. Alberta MP Blake...
April 10, 2024
Alternative financing solutions needed to close infrastructure gap, say First Nations leaders and advocates
‘We would be foolish if we didn’t look at other options,’ says Kebaowek Chief Lance Haymond CBC Indigenous: Some First Nations leaders and advocates are saying alternative financing solutions need to be explored to help close the infrastructure gap on-reserve, especially when it comes to housing. “We’re really going to be pressing the government to come...
April 9, 2024
Assembly of First Nations says $350B needed for housing, infrastructure
APTN News: A new report from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) says $349.2 billion is needed to fix housing and other infrastructure after decades of “underfunding, failed fiduciary duties, and unfair distribution of Canada’s wealth as a country.” The report, prepared with the federal government department of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), was released Tuesday...
April 4, 2024
PM won’t say if First Nations on Prairies will be compensated for housing shortfall
AFN regional chief hoping to make headway at meetings in Ottawa. APTN News: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won’t say whether First Nations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba will be compensated after the Auditor General found they’ve been shortchanged for years on federal housing funds. Trudeau was in Winnipeg Wednesday to announce $1.5. billion for a...
March 26, 2024
CMHC won’t say whether Prairie nations will get compensation after being shortchanged $274M for housing
‘Confirms what we know’: Treaty 6 grand chief says he wasn’t surprised by AG report on housing The Assembly of First Nations estimates it would take about $40 billion to close the housing gap on reserves. Photo: APTN file APTN News: The grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations says the auditor...
March 13, 2024
AMC looking for answers on cuts ahead of federal budget in April
Groups are asking whether budget cuts ordered across all departments will affect First Nations, Inuit and Métis programming. Photo: APTN. APTN News: The head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says she is looking for answers and guarantees from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown Indigenous Relations (CIR) ahead of the federal budget on April...
February 27, 2024
‘Our guys don’t have somewhere to go’: Trudeau government criticized for taking too long to fund Indigenous housing
Housing organizations supporting Indigenous people say they are desperate for the money Ottawa’s new housing strategy is preparing to distribute. NationTalk: OTTAWA — Karl Cousineau has been living in shelters for half of his life. Raised in foster care from age nine after losing his father, Cousineau moved from Ottawa to Toronto when he was 20,...
January 17, 2024
Nunavut needs more housing, but in the capital, that can’t happen without more water
The mayor of Iqaluit says water infrastructure must go alongside any new housing developments. Photo: Danielle Paradis/APTN. APTN News: The Canadian Press – The mayor of Nunavut’s capital says the city’s housing crisis cannot be solved unless another crisis is dealt with first. Iqaluit doesn’t have access to the water it needs to support a...
November 23, 2023
Assembly of First Nations Responds to Federal Government’s Fall Economic Statement
First Peoples Law Report: Assembly of First Nations – (Ottawa, Unceded Algonquin Territory, Ontario) – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) responded today to the Federal Government’s release of its Fall Economic Statement, which included new spending for First Nations priorities in infrastructure, safe drinking water, and social development. The AFN concluded that the commitments...
November 22, 2023
National Association of Friendship Centres Responds to Federal Economic Statement: An Economy that Works for Everyone must include Urban Indigenous People
NationTalk: OTTAWA — The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) is encouraged by the federal government’s goal to build an “economy that works for everyone” but fears the current plan still leaves out and leaves behind most Indigenous people due to lack of urban-specific Indigenous economic or social strategies and mechanisms. However, Friendship Centres stand...
August 25, 2023
Proposed Indigenous Services spending cuts spark concern
‘The status quo … is discrimination in a lot of cases,’ says Cindy Blackstock CBC News: Advocates are concerned after the Indigenous Services minister confirmed her department is eyeing spending cuts, telling reporters in Charlottetown she plans to target bureaucratic bloat, not direct service delivery. Minister Patty Hajdu was initially vague when asked at a cabinet retreat in P.E.I. earlier...
August 24, 2023
Some Indigenous leaders reject PM’s ‘out of touch’ housing comments
‘I can’t believe he said that,’ responds Native Women’s Association of Canada head Carol McBride CBC News: Don’t tell Carol McBride housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility. As a former chief, McBride remembers being in a housing crisis when she led the Timiskaming First Nation in northwestern Quebec — and that was in the 1990s....
August 22, 2023
Hajdu pledges to maintain Indigenous Services programs despite requested cuts
Minister says she will recommend no cuts that impact the quality of life for First Nations people Patty Hajdu is the minister of Indigenous Services and Liberal MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North (TBnewswatch file) NationTalk: TBnewswatch.com – CHARLOTTETOWN — Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu plans to ensure programs directly impacting First Nations people are unaffected by spending...
August 19, 2023
Federal underfunding of Indigenous housing leads to years-long wait-lists, frustration
Assembly of First Nations said last year $44B needed for current on-reserve housing requirements Nojoud Al Mallees, Alessia Passafiume · The Canadian Press · Posted: Aug 19, 2023 12:34 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 19 CBC News: The Canadian Press – Stefania Giesbrecht was hoping that by the time she finished her studies, she could move back to her...
June 12, 2023
Canada’s continued ‘failure’ to provide adequate housing led to lawsuit says chief
First Nation in Manitoba proposes class action against Ottawa for housing conditions. APTN News: The chief of a remote First Nation in northern Manitoba is proposing a national class action lawsuit against the federal government for failing to address the housing crisis in Indigenous communities. Chief Elvin Flett of St. Theresa Point First Nation is seeking $5...
March 28, 2023
Budget 2023 Includes Some Investment but Must Fully Address Urban Indigenous Realities in the Near Future
MEDIA RELEASE Budget 2023 Includes Some Investment but Must Fully Address Urban Indigenous Realities in the Near Future FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 28, 2023 OTTAWA, ON – The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) receives this 2023 federal budget with measured acknowledgement and urges future engagement. While the NAFC believes that Friendship Centres and urban Indigenous people will...
February 16, 2023
Liberals on pace to miss First Nations housing targets by ‘between 58 and 141 years,’ NDP says
First Nations built 4,200 new homes through federal program since Trudeau won power, documents show CBC News: Liberal government spending for on-reserve housing is on pace to leave First Nations out in the cold for decades, if not more than a century, two New Democrat MPs charged on Thursday in Ottawa. Newly released figures obtained...
January 9, 2023
Indigenous group seeks control of $300M housing fund
Funds are part of a new federal $4.3 billion Indigenous Housing strategy to support improvements to First Nation and Metis housing By Frank O’Brien | January 9, 2023, 10:40am NationTalk: BIV – A new Indigenous group is seeking control of $300 million in federal government funds meant to deliver housing to remote and rural Aboriginals across Canada....
December 4, 2022
Investments in Inuit housing inadequate, federal watchdog says
Toronto Star: From a family living for seven years in a condemned home that was meant to be temporary to people with disabilities having to be carried in and out of their bathrooms, Canada’s housing advocate says during a tour this fall of several Inuit communities she got a glimpse into the dire living conditions...
March 20, 2019
Budget 2019 investments ignores housing crisis in Nunavut
Nationally, Budget 2019 makes major investments in housing. However, the Inuit housing crisis in Nunavut remains largely unaddressed. Housing is a social determinant of health and linked to the on-going tuberculosis epidemic, mental illness, educational outcomes and violence. https://www.tunngavik.com/2019/03/20/nunavut-inuit-left-out-of-the-canadian-middle-class/...