As the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation approaches, the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) is warning that government cuts affecting Indigenous programs and services could have severe consequences for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities across the country.
One glaring example is the funding and staffing reductions within the Nokwewashk sector, a banner initiative at Natural Resources Canada focusing on how to respectfully engage with and include First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in natural resources projects. At a time when major projects are a huge priority for Carney’s government, cutting programs aimed at meaningfully engaging Indigenous communities is a significant step in the wrong direction. It seems that Carney wants to undercut relationships with Indigenous governments in his flagship “nation-building” efforts, while paying lip service to reconciliation.
Carney's federal cuts have also limited the ability of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to implement its existing modern treaties and self-government agreements and to negotiate new ones in good faith. This means the government is actively hindering its own preferred path to establishing self-determination for Indigenous nations. When an existing agreement is affected, it can also increase financial and social hardships on Indigenous governments.
“I’m sure Canadians have been hearing from Mark Carney’s government about all the good work they’re doing on reconciliation and engaging nation-to-nation with various Indigenous governments,” said CAPE President Nathan Prier. “What you won’t hear them talk about are the cuts they’ve made to critical reconciliation programs, or the declining conditions for Indigenous workers within the federal public service. These are all areas that the government should be pouring more resources into. Instead, they’re making it crystal clear that reconciliation is something they only think about one day a year.”
The Carney government is leaning into the language of reconciliation while withdrawing the resources required to implement it. Survivors of residential schools are still waiting for tens of millions of government records to be transferred. The federal public servants who process Jordan's Principle requests, negotiate treaty rights, support Indigenous-led health services, investigate unmarked burial sites, and support MMIWG survivors are seeing their teams – and therefore their ability to deliver – hollowed out through workforce reductions.
Barrier-free telework options would ensure that Indigenous employees who live in their communities are not mandated back to unnecessary and expensive offices or forced to choose between their home and career advancement, just to commute to a building where they spend all day taking virtual calls.
There are more effective alternatives to save money that would protect the safety and rights of Indigenous workers. By its own projection, the government could save up to $40 billion over the next decade by continuing its office reduction plans and going back to more flexible work for the federal public service. This would also mean that Indigenous public servants would not have to choose between their careers, their safety, or their communities, and that those savings could be reinvested in advancing reconciliation through stronger programs and services.
CAPE is calling on the public to tell the government that reconciliation needs commitment and investment – not arbitrary cuts – with a petition launch. By signing the petition, Canadians are telling the Carney government they demand real progress.
Indigenous communities will continue to be impacted due to some of the biggest government spending cuts. CAPE has also introduced Stop the Cuts petitions in the areas of healthcare and the environment, which have also been affected severely by Carney’s cuts, and which also have wide impacts on all Canadians.
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About the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE):
With more than 27,000 members, the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) is one of the largest federal public service unions in Canada — dedicated to advocating on behalf of federal employees in the Economics and Social Science Services (EC) and Translation (TR) groups, as well as employees of the Library of Parliament (LoP), the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (OPBO) and civilian members of the RCMP (ESS and TRL). For more information: www.acep-cape.ca
For questions or interviews, please contact:
media@acep-cape.ca
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