New report makes the case that Ottawa’s hefty annual transfers to British Columbia’s First Nations should be recognized as significantly answering the demands for reconciliation. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CALGARY – A report released today by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy reveals the high cost of federal transfers to British Columbia’s First Nations and challenges critics who claim too little is being done for the province’s indigenous peoples. 

Authored by scholars Dr. David Livingstone and Dr. Ven Venkatachalam, Federal funding to BC’s indigenous peoples over 23 years: $27.2 billion including non-treaty First Nations tallies the billions of dollars Ottawa gives to the province’s indigenous peoples and argues that this should be considered part of the country’s reconciliation efforts. 

Key Quotes 

• “Canadians by and large wish to see indigenous Canadians prosper and succeed. The disagreement centres on how best to achieve these goals and whether governments have gone far enough in their reconciliation efforts.” 

• “Between 2002 and 2025, the federal government transferred a total of $27.2 billion (inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars) to BC’s indigenous peoples. The average annual transfer during the 23-year period was nearly $1.2 billion.” 

• “Federal transfers support housing, health and social services, and other programs. It is worth noting that this is in addition to money and services provided by the BC government. In 2021, for example, the budget for BC’s Ministry of Indigenous Relations was $178 million, an increase of $60 million over base funding. The additional funding was earmarked to help First Nations implement the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.”  

• “It is worth noting that, in addition to the nearly $1.2 billion of federal support per year for BC First Nations, indigenous Canadians can also access government services provided to other citizens if they so choose.… And the 2021 census data indicate that 75 percent of people in BC who identify as indigenous live in urban areas where other services are available.”  

Commenting on the report, co-author Prof. Livingstone remarked: “If the justification for federal transfers is that BC First Nations are owed land or money as payment for past injustices, then the billions of dollars transferred federally, in addition to the millions flowing from the provincial government, should be counted toward reconciliation efforts. Canadians who pay the taxes to cover these fiscal transfers may well wonder when that debt will finally be paid, and who ultimately gets to determine that answer.” 

The full report is available at aristotlefoundation.org. 

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Media Contact 
Cathy Simpson 

Outreach & Engagement Officer, Aristotle Foundation 

cathys@aristotlefoundation.org 

905-329-3548