A recent report from Canada’s Auditor-General Karen Hogan stressed that Indigenous Services Canada must keep its focus “sustained.” This much-needed focus is a requirement for successfully reaping the rewards of redelivering its entire program. The report underscores the extraordinary challenges that the department is up against. One ongoing concern continues to be the lack of access to safe drinking water and emergency services in First Nations communities.
Over the same period, Indigenous Services Canada has increased spending by 84 percent. With this increase, First Nations are failing to deliver core essential services to their communities. The Auditor-General’s findings emphasize the need for improved collaboration with Indigenous communities to enhance their capacity and advance reconciliation efforts. Even with all that increased funding, the department has fallen short on its promises time and again, putting the department’s very effectiveness at stake.
Hogan’s report indicates that Indigenous Services Canada has failed to implement approximately half of the recommendations made by the Auditor-General’s office between 2015 and 2022. Most of these recommendations are a re-statement of the TRC’s Calls to Action. They align with the recommendations of our own final report on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The lack of progress on these key recommendations illustrates systemic problems in the department that require immediate action.
The report highlights the need for a cooperative working relationship between Indigenous Services Canada and First Nations. By engaging in sustained consultation with these communities, the department can better anticipate and respond to their unique needs, and ultimately deliver programs more effectively. Greater collaboration would help build that trust, and ultimately ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent more wisely to deliver powerful results.
The fight for access to safe drinking water in First Nations communities is an ongoing, vital issue. Hundreds of thousands of residents still regularly live under boil water advisories, an inconvenience that can expose them to grave health dangers. Likewise, access to emergency services is dangerously low, stranding families during medical emergencies and natural disasters. As Hogan’s report shows, these long-standing, difficult challenges require urgent attention from the federal government.
