Ottawa’s annual spending on indigenous issues has increased by more than $20 billion over the past decade, yet living standards on reserves have seen minimal improvement as a result, according to a newly released report.
Federal indigenous spending has nearly tripled since 2015 from $11 billion to an estimated $32 billion by 2025, the study from the Fraser Institute found.
The Canadian government now spends more on indigenous affairs than it does on national defence, said Fraser Institute senior fellow and study author Tom Flanagan, but that spending has failed to translate into improvements for First Nations communities such as ending drinking water advisories on reserves….