Thursday, March 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
    • Women’s History Month Fundraiser
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy Program
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Annual Reports
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
    • Women’s History Month Fundraiser
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy Program
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Annual Reports
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Study: Poor approach to federal funding holds First Nations back

A new paper by Ken Coates and Gregory Finnegan proposes solutions for challenges facing First Nations financing in Canada.

October 26, 2022
in Indigenous Affairs Program, Ken Coates, Latest News, Releases
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Give us good measure: Assessing the value of federal funding for First Nations government

OTTAWA, ON (October 26, 2022): Without a fixed formula from Ottawa, funding First Nations governments is never simple.  And with each community managing its own unique problems, strengths, and needs, we need to ask what the right approach is going forward.

In this paper, titled Give us good measure: Assessing the value of federal funding for First Nations government, authors Ken Coates and Gregory Finnegan argue for a new approach that better recognizes the varying circumstances facing individual First Nations. The authors examine the finances of a sample of 12 First Nations from across Canada, using them to describe the inequality in First Nation government financing.

The authors find that, all too often, governments rely on stop-gap measures to address funding inequality between First Nations governments. Such measures do little to resolve the longstanding gaps.

“With few exceptions, these First Nations are struggling to provide adequate public goods and services for their members who suffer from low educational attainment, household dependency on government transfers, population displacement, and high unemployment rates,” write Coates and Finnegan.

Yet the authors also conclude that there is no predictable formula that can outline the appropriate level of First Nations government funding. With so much variability, a universal solution is very difficult.

“The communities with the highest annual expenditures could be the ones with the greatest entrepreneurial activity, the heaviest demand on social services, the most advanced self-government arrangements, [or] the greatest draw-down of federal and provincial responsibilities,” write Coates and Finnegan. “A community with a large budget could be running large deficits while a low-income but well-managed First Nation could have a significant surplus.”

Ottawa should instead consider the substantial variation in current arrangements and the subsequent inequality in services, programs and quality of life among First Nations across the country. As the authors argue, Ottawa needs to seek funding arrangements that raise up communities to eventually match nearby or “standard” Canadian communities when it comes to basic elements like services and infrastructure.

Other measures that could be enacted include:

  • expanding existing block pilot projects;
  • adopting a longer time horizon for First Nations funding;
  • moving to comprehensive funding packages that privilege First Nations decision-making;
  • investing in Indigenous governance and administrative capacity; and
  • supporting Indigenous controlled oversight arrangements.

Yet First Nations must themselves accept and support transparent governments, even as they invest in their community and regional administrative capacity and continue to pursue their own-source revenues.

“First Nation audits should not be seen as a Crown-imposed duty, but as a duty of First Nation governments and administration to their members,” write Coates and Finnegan. Audited financial statements give confidence to members about how the First Nation’s money was spent and are “an essential condition for First Nations well-being.

“The government of Canada needs to take systematic steps to transfer financial resources and decision-making authority to First Nations. With autonomy and stable financing, First Nations will finally have the opportunity to set their communities on a course of their choosing.

“And this, after all, is all the Indigenous peoples really ask of Canada.”

To learn more, read the full paper here:

***

Ken Coates is a Distinguished Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and the Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan.

Gregory Finnegan was appointed to manage Policy North, an applied research group associated with the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan in January 2020. He holds a doctorate in geography from York university with a specialization in regional economic development.

For further information, media are invited to contact:

Skander Belouizdad
Communications Officer
613-482-8327 x111
skander.belouizdad@macdonaldlaurier.ca

Tags: First NationsGregory Finnegan
Previous Post

Give us good measure: Assessing the value of federal funding for First Nations government

Next Post

Jagmeet Singh’s disgraceful promise to delay reckoning over Emergencies Act: Ryan Alford in the National Post

Related Posts

Getting our houses in order: How a lack of intergovernmental policy coordination undermines housing affordability in Canada
Commentary

Getting our houses in order: How a lack of intergovernmental policy coordination undermines housing affordability in Canada

March 30, 2023
Hitting the ceiling: Can Canada continue to support Ukraine militarily? Alexander Lanoszka for Inside Policy
Inside Policy

Hitting the ceiling: Can Canada continue to support Ukraine militarily? Alexander Lanoszka for Inside Policy

March 30, 2023
Ukraine war fatigue is settling in – and must be resisted: Matthew Bondy for Inside Policy
Inside Policy

Ukraine war fatigue is settling in – and must be resisted: Matthew Bondy for Inside Policy

March 30, 2023
Next Post
Jagmeet Singh’s disgraceful promise to delay reckoning over Emergencies Act: Ryan Alford in the National Post

Jagmeet Singh's disgraceful promise to delay reckoning over Emergencies Act: Ryan Alford in the National Post

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
    • Women’s History Month Fundraiser
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy Program
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Annual Reports
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Privacy Preference Center

Consent Management

Necessary

Advertising

Analytics

Other