Indigenous leaders are concerned after this year’s federal budget left key reconciliation programs without guaranteed money beyond spring 2026, raising fears they could be canceled or face massive cuts.
After Premier Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government released its first budget on Tuesday, an annex graphic titled “Indigenous Reconciliation” began circulating on social media, listing federal actions since the 2024 fall economic statement.
It shows the government has bolstered several critical programs, such as on-reserve education, First Nations and Inuit child welfare, emergency management and urban programming, for this year alone. However, the numerous columns for future years showed zero after zero after zero.
“I’m absolutely concerned,” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said when asked in an interview about the future of those programs.
Woodhouse Nepinak said he was told these are so-called “sunset programs” — temporary initiatives with fixed funding or predetermined end dates — that still need to be discussed. But the national leader promised to seek answers immediately.
“Today I’m going to ask the Prime Minister’s Office: What exactly is being cut?” said Woodhouse Nepinak, who advocates for more than 600 First Nations chiefs across the country.
Meanwhile, President Natan Obed of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national representative organization for Inuit in Canada, was weighing similar concerns.
The Inuit Child First Initiative, which ensures Inuit children get equal access to essential services without delay, is scheduled to end in March and was not promised any new money in the budget. That has Inuit considering legal options.
“If we know that Inuit are not receiving equal care and opportunities, there are legal ramifications that we can pursue,” Obed said in a phone interview.
“We’ve been trying to do it out of court and in good faith with this government, and we hope to get to that point. But I hope everyone understands that we will fight for our children.”
In an interview, Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said the government wants to modernize the delivery of extinction programs and align intended outcomes with community wishes, not end them.
“I want to be clear: There are some things in this budget that were misinterpreted as zero. That’s not the case. This is about us identifying those outcomes,” he told CBC Indigenous.
Another program set to expire in spring 2026 that received no new money in the budget is Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples, which provides core operating cash for friendship centers in cities.
Friendship centers help Indigenous people in areas such as employment, housing, food security, child care, youth programming and mental health, the National Association of Friendship Centers said in a post-budget news release.
“These critical services are at risk,” the statement warns.
“The federal government is breaking its promise to Indigenous people, to Indigenous communities, by cutting funding for the program,” added Sean Longboat, executive director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres.
Mixed reviews
For its part, the Métis Federation of Manitoba welcomed the budget and the federation’s finance minister, Anita Campbell, dismissed concerns about the future of these reconciliation programs.
The budget lays out a plan for this fiscal year, and the chart in question shows those programs continued this fiscal year, he said, adding that things can change quickly.
“When we look at this, it really aligns with our priorities,” Campbell said of the budget overall.
“We have products ready to go… This plays to the strengths we have as a government.”
Others had mixed feelings or a lukewarm reaction to the budget in general. If passed in Parliament, the budget would limit spending cuts in Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to two per cent.
At ISC, that would translate into a cut of about $500 million a year. The two departments would have to cut about $2.3 billion by spring 2030 under that plan.
In new money, the top pledges were $2.3 billion for First Nations drinking water and $10.1 million for Indigenous consultation on major projects being fast-tracked through the regulatory process.
Obed welcomed the limit on budget cuts and expressed cautious optimism about the new $1 billion Arctic Infrastructure Fund and the Carney government’s stated support for Inuit Nunangat University. But he also expressed deep concern about the lack of money for tuberculosis elimination and the Inuit Child First Initiative.
“We’ve been told we can expect those items to be considered in the spring update, but that’s not the way the federal government has deliberated in the past on these essential, equity- and rights-based initiatives, so those are really concerning trends.”
President Victoria Pruden of the Métis National Council, which represents Métis governments in Alberta and Ontario, said her organization is in “wait-and-see mode” on Carney’s infrastructure development-driven agenda and major projects.
She also expressed cautious optimism about the limit on budget cuts in Indigenous departments, tempered by some major concerns about Carney’s commitment to reconciliation.
“The budget does not reflect the depth of commitment that we have heard at certain times over the last six to nine months,” he said.
“And yes, it is deeply worrying.”
