Manitoba chiefs angry over Ottawa’s steep funding cuts
Renewable energy projects, food security research among proposals denied grants
WINNIPEG— The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has received a jolt from the federal government, securing no more than 4 per cent of its usual allocation in federal funding this year.
The axe fell on grants for research and related community projects — Aboriginal Affairs approved $106,000 from a total grant request of $2.6 million.
Grand Chief Derek Nepinak decried the steep cuts, saying Ottawa was failing to act in good faith and introducing “political” changes in procedures to secure funding.
Prior to 2012, AMC received a budget, including core expenses and projects, of $10 million to $15 million through Aboriginal Affairs and Health Canada.
Aboriginal Affairs has imposed the latest budget cuts, $2 million last year and roughly another $2 million this year.
The department said in an email that the focus is to “ensure that funding for organizations is directed at the delivery of essential services and programs for Aboriginal Peoples.”
Nepinak said the cuts came without warning, with the AMC only learning of them three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year, well after projects were underway.
“I feel that we have been misled to think that the Government of Canada, under the Harper regime, would act in good faith and support policy development from local and community-based initiatives,” Nepinak said in a statement.
“Instead we have been forced to jump through hoops, expending our limited resources in order to meet February deadlines for proposals that didn’t get final evaluation until November, which is the end of the third quarter of the fiscal year.”
Proposals that were denied funding include renewable energy solutions for northern communities, policy frameworks on resource equity, environmental research and food security in Manitoba First Nations and proposals for helping First Nations residents make successful transitions to urban living from life on often remote rural reserves.
In addition to acting as a political lobby, the assembly conducts federally sponsored research into health and aboriginal development.