Indigenous Services deemed unsatisfactory

A new report from the federal auditor general has found massive shortcomings from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), identifying several weak areas that result in communities facing inadequate access to services and programs.

The report examines ISC’s progress in implementing recommendations made in six previous audits carried out between 2015 and 2022, which had identified the need for programs providing access to primary healthcare, emergency management services, and safe drinking water.

Despite a more than 80 percent increase in ISC’s spending on programs since the 2019-2020 fiscal year, auditor general Karen Hogan found that they had made “unsatisfactory progress” in implementing the actions to address more than half of the recommendations made in past audits.

Unless changes are made, Hogan said, the services needed for First Nations to thrive will continue to be limited, and the federal government will be unable to advance reconciliation.

Derek Montour, executive director of Kahnawà:ke Shakotiia’takéhnhas Community Services (KSCS), said the contents of the report are not unexpected, though he noted that many of the identified issues are not ones experienced in Kahnawake.

“I’m not surprised, because the recommendations take time, they take money, they take effort, and now when you look at the potential austerity budget that the administration might put in place, you have to ask what impact that would have with achieving results,” he said. “If the government of Canada sees issues in Canadian citizens’ priorities, then First Nations priorities often get shelved, or at least put on the back burner.”

Montour refers to Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s comments that the upcoming federal budget, set to be released in early November, will see extreme cost-cutting measures put into place after asking government departments to find 15 percent savings in their departments over the next three years.

Montour said it’s hard to be optimistic that the government can make the necessary changes outlined in the report with that in mind, meaning it’s more important than ever for the community to rely on itself.

“We exercise self-determination in many ways, and sometimes (ISC) is supportive of listening to how we’d like to do things, but they still have their guidelines and requirements and criteria that we have to stick to,” he said. “Some of my consistent arguments are that it should be our community that should be deciding how to allocate the funding that we have, as long as it’s in the interest of wellness and we’re achieving the objectives that are set out in the program guidelines.”

The auditor general’s report identifies key barriers to success within ISC’s programming, including a lack of sustained management attention. The auditor found that often the department would start a project but not finish it, such as when it took initial actions to address previous recommendations about increasing access to primary health care services by completing studies and assessments, but failed to follow through on taking concrete steps to improve services.

The report also underscored concerns raised over the past two decades about access to safe drinking water, flagging that a report from the auditor general’s office in 2005 first raised the issue, and yet 35 long-term drinking water advisories remain. The auditor found that about a quarter of those advisories had been in effect for a decade or longer - progress deemed to be “unsatisfactory” by the auditor general.

A few areas were found to be undergoing satisfactory progress, including the recommendation to ensure nurses working in remote First Nations communities successfully complete mandatory training courses, that nursing stations be built according to applicable building codes, and that ISC should review its management of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be able to respond to health emergencies effectively.

A response from ISC was included within the audit.

“ISC views this audit as an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to transformative change in partnership with First Nations,” the department wrote. “While operating within a defined mandate and set of responsibilities, ISC remains committed to advocating for whole-of-government approaches that support Indigenous self-determination and long-term community well-being.”

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