Indigenous Funding and Finance (Part Two): Have Funding and Resources Kept Pace With Population Growth?

By Terence Ho | Foundation of HKPLTW

Terence is a Research Coordinator for the Foundation of HKPLTW with interests in history & traditions, social organization & inter-group relations, culture & religion, and economics & politics of Canadian Indigenous People and Visible Minorities. Follow him on Twitter: @hkpltw

Terence is a Research Coordinator for the Foundation of HKPLTW with interests in history & traditions, social organization & inter-group relations, culture & religion, and economics & politics of Canadian Indigenous People and Visible Minorities. Follow him on Twitter: @hkpltw

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In the previous article (Part One), I presented a brief description of “How does the Canadian federal government fund Canadian Indigenous Communities?” and I ended my writing with a personal opinion of Canada’s Indigenous funding and financial program. I wrote that a lack of clarity about the overall objectives and a lack of coherence among funding arrangements prevent the federal government from providing its services to all communities across the nation.

The aim of this article (Part Two) is for me to expand on my opinion, discussing whether federal funding and resources have kept pace with the growing Canadian Indigenous population. 

Deficient Funding and Services

While the federal government of Canada state the Aboriginal funding and resources to be provided, they do not always focus on standards or result to be achieved. When it comes to keeping pace with needs, the current federal funding and resources have trouble dealing with everyday problems such as inadequate education and housing that prevented them from succeeding in the contemporary world. The issue is most grim in the context of the education gap between Indigenous peoples living on reserves and non-Indigenous Canadians. Compared to the 90 % of non-Indigenous Canadian aged 20-24 who received a high school diploma, the rate is 42 % of Indigenous people. Not surprisingly, the unemployment rate is also bleak. The unemployment rate on reserves is 25 %, with 54 % dependent on government transfers as a primary source of income. Furthermore, 40 % of Indigenous children are living in poverty—the total rises to 50 % on First Nations reserves—while the child poverty in the rest of Canada is 15 %. This is ridiculous!

One can go on. The current funding has not kept pace with the increasing shortage of adequate housing problems on some Indigenous reserves. Often, reality confronts the general public when reports show the desperate conditions some First Nation people endure. For instance, a CBC news article reported houses unfit for human habitation on the Sandy Bay Reserve in Manitoba. According to the chief of that reserve, 60 % of the residents live in sub-standard housing, in many cases with no proper sewage, clean insulation, and overcrowded household. Furthermore, as one might expect, native health care is similarly deficient. One example from a Globe and Mail article, the suicide rate for Canadian Indigenous people is six times higher than for other Canadians, and their life expectancy is a decade less than for other Canadians. 

Conclusion: What Do I Think?

All in all, funding and resources have not kept pace with Canadian Indigenous populations because there have not been any additional funding to reflect the increasing population. By every measure, Indigenous peoples across Canada face dramatically disproportionate levels of access to government resources and services like housing, education, and health care. The outcomes of federal funding and resources might have outraged the general public when the media reported them. However, for many Indigenous people, it is not impossible to dispute. Yes, there has been progress in cases where the federal government issued an official apology and created Truth Reconciliation Commission for the residential school tragedy. However, viewed over this nation’s history in any meaningful and long-term sense, the results have been largely negative. In the next part of the three-part series, I will conclude with what I think would be the much-needed improvements. 

This is an opinion article; the views expressed by me.

Bibliography

“How does native funding work?”. CBC News Canada. 2013. Accessed 25 September 2021.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/how-does-native-funding-work-1.1301120.

MacDonald, David, Macdonald, and desLibris – Documents. Poverty Or Prosperity: Indigenous Children in Canada. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2013.

Board, National Aboriginal Economic Development, and desLibris – Documents. Aboriginal Economic Progress Report 2015. National Aboriginal Economic Development Board, Place of publication not identified, 2015.

“Rat-infested home underscores housing issues on First Nations, chief says”. CBC News Canada. 2016. Accessed 27 September 2021.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sandy-bay-first-nation-housing-1.3836216.

PICARD, ANDRE. “Native Health Care is a Sickening Disgrace: Second Opinion.” The Globe and Mail. 2005. Accessed 27 September 2021. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/native-health-care-is-a-sickening-disgrace/article739904/.