Perry Bellegarde, national chief, calls on government to meet obligations to First Nations
'We still have boil-water advisories, we still have huge housing needs,' says Assembly of First Nations head
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the government needs to meet its financial obligations to First Nations people after CBC News learned of a $1 billion spending shortfall in Aboriginal Affairs over five years.
"I think it shows that the Crown is failing to meet its fiduciary obligations to First Nations people, and basically, fundamental human rights needs are not being met," Perry Bellegarde told CBC on Saturday.
"We still have boil-water advisories, we still have huge housing needs, and so if the money was there it should be allocated and spent...to close the gap that exists."
A heavily-censored analysis of the department's funds and allocations was obtained by CBC from the Privy Council Office, the prime minister's department, under the Access to Information Act.
It shows that the department delivering programs for Canada's indigenous people has held back more than $1 billion in promised spending for social services over the last five years.
That significant level of so-called lapsed spending — money promised but never spent — places Aboriginal Affairs among the largest serial offenders, that is, key departments that regularly spend less than budgeted in big dollar amounts year after year.
'If we can close [the gap], that's going to be good for this entire country'
Bellegarde said Saturday that the government should focus on improving the quality of life on the country's reserves.
"The overall message I think we have to get out to not only to [Aboriginal] Affairs, but to Canadians in general, is that there's got to be greater investments in education and training and housing and water, and in focusing on the youth, because there's a high social gap that exists in Canada," he said.
"But to have a billion dollars lapse, that's not acceptable. They've got Crown, fiduciary ... treaty obligations. They've got to honour them and meet them. It's just really disheartening to hear that a billion dollars has been lapsed," said Bellegarde. "It's not acceptable....There's a huge social cost to that gap, and that's not good for this country, it's not good for our people. So if we can close it, that's going to be good for this entire country."
A spokeswoman for Aboriginal Affairs said most of the lapsed funds are "carried forward" to be used in coming years.
"From 2009-10 until 2013-14, 97.2 per cent of what was marked as lapsed funding in the public accounts has actually been carried forward to future years and spent on a wide range of programs," Valerie Hache said in an email, which did not include any accounting of the rollovers.
"The reprofiling is simply due to timing issues that are common in complex negotiations where a number of parties are involved."
The planned budget for Aboriginal Affairs is to shrink by $1 billion by 2017-18 from current levels, to $7 billion, according to the department's fiscal blueprint tabled earlier in the spring.