Government Commitments

Government Commitments to Truth and Reconciliation

A Fair Future for Indigenous Peoples

April 16, 2024

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From: Department of Finance Canada

Backgrounder

A fair Canada is one where the government continues making meaningful progress in the journey of reconciliation by working in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. The federal government continues to prioritize its responsibility to help ensure First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities have what they need to grow and succeed on their own terms. Budget 2024 invests in the next steps on the path of reconciliation.

  • Delivering on Indigenous Priorities, since 2015, by investing approximately $200 billion, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, to deliver better access to health care, education, child and family services, housing, and infrastructure.
  • Healing and Addressing Past Harms to support Indigenous people and communities to pursue new opportunities to rebuild from the harmful legacies of colonialism, since 2015, the federal government has agreed to settlements totaling well over $57 billion.
  • To address on-reserve housing needs, Indigenous Services Canada is working with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to support projects in First Nations communities, including new builds, retrofits, and renovations. These include:
    • 4,982 housing-related infrastructure projects (2,550 completed), benefitting 611 First Nations communities;
    • Building 5,875 new homes across 1,308 projects;
    • Renovating and upgrading 12,793 homes across 1,502 projects; and,
    • Acquiring 3,324 lots for Indigenous people to develop across 393 projects.
  • Lifting Drinking Water Advisories in First Nations Communities because everyone in Canada should have access to safe and clean drinking water. Since 2015, 144 long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted across the country. And a further 271 short-term drinking water advisories have been addressed before becoming long-term advisories. This has resulted in 94 per cent of First Nations communities now having clean water.
Key Measures in Budget 2024 
  • Unlocking pathways to post-secondary education by investing nearly $243 million for the next generation of First Nations university, college, and post-secondary students, building on the $487.5  million over ten years invested in Inuit and Métis post-secondary education strategies through Budget 2019.
  • On-Reserve Income Assistance funding of $927 million to help on-reserve residents and eligible First Nations people in Yukon cover daily living costs. Budget 2024 invests in income support programs across the country for First Nations persons with disabilities for the first time in Canadian history to make disability supports on reserve, and for eligible First Nations persons with disabilities in Yukon, comparable to supports off reserve.
  • Investing $1.8 billion to support Indigenous communities in exercising their jurisdiction under An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, including the first Inuit agreement to support community-led, prevention-based solutions to reduce the number of children in care.
  • Supporting Indigenous Cultures by investing over $290 million in Indigenous-led efforts to reclaim, revitalize, and strengthen Indigenous cultures and languages. Restoring and promoting language and culture is an important part of healing, reconciliation, and fostering a strong sense of identity and community. 
  • Fair Tax Jurisdiction for Indigenous Communities by expanding opt-in Indigenous tax jurisdiction frameworks that advance self-determination and build strong fiscal relationships while generating important revenues for community priorities.
  • Addressing the Legacy of Residential Schools by investing an additional $96 million to support Survivors, their families, and their communities, along with educating all people about these truths, to ensure that these wrongs are recognized and never happen again. 
  • Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, which will offer up to $5 billion in loan guarantees to unlock access to capital for Indigenous communities, enabling them to share in the benefits of natural resource and energy projects in their territories and on their own terms. 
  • Boosting Indigenous Economic Opportunity with $388 million to support Indigenous entrepreneurship, Indigenous tourism, unlock new clean energy opportunities, and the Strategic Partnerships Initiative.
  • Indigenous Housing and Community Infrastructure investments of $918 million beyond the $5 billion already available for communities in 2024-25, to accelerate work to narrow housing and infrastructure gaps in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities as follows:
    • $426 million for First Nations on reserve;
    • $62 million for Self-Governing and Modern Treaty First Nations;
    • $370 million for Inuit communities; and,
    • $60 million for Métis communities.
  • Winter Roads for Remote First Nations Communities investments of $89 million to support the Hatchet Lake All-seasons Road Project in Saskatchewan and the Berens River Bridge and Road Project in Ontario to provide safe, reliable road access.
  • First Nations and Inuit Health investments of $1.1 billion to ensure Indigenous people have fair and equal access to health care, where they feel safe and heard, no matter where they live. 
  • Supporting Indigenous Mental Health with an investment of over $630 million for improving Indigenous people’s access to mental health services, including through distinctions-based mental wellness strategies.
  • Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in Health Care with $168 million by fulfilling Joyce’s Principle and combatting anti-Indigenous racism in health care, helping to ensure Indigenous Peoples are treated with the respect and safety they deserve.
  • Northern Food Security program enhancements worth $124 million, to ensure Nutrition North Canada can continue to make nutritious foods more accessible and affordable in Northern communities, and to support the InuitNunangat Food Security Strategy, which prioritizes local food production and community food programs. 
  • Strengthening Access to Culturally Important Foods with investments of over $40 million to support Indigenous Peoples’ access to traditional foods and help eradicate food insecurity.
  • First Nations Emergency Management and Preparedness to equip communities with the tools they need to combat increasingly frequent climate disasters, particularly wildfires. Budget 2024 provides an investment of $175 million, in addition to $260 million provided in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement.
  • Advancing Red Dress Alert by investing $1.3 million to co-develop with Indigenous partners, on a priority first phase, a regional Red Dress Alert system. 
  • Support for Indigenous Justice Programming to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the justice system and discrimination within the justice system, including with $87 million to support programming and advance the Indigenous Justice Strategy.
  • First Nations and Inuit-led Policing to address policing needs identified by Indigenous communities, supported by an investment of more than $467 million. 
  • Searching the Prairie Green Landfill, in partnership with the Government of Manitoba, Indigenous partners, and impacted families, to bring closure to Indigenous families who lost loved ones in Winnipeg. Budget 2024 provides $20 million for the search effort.