Indigenous Services minister says community shouldn't worry about zeros in budget

“I also want them to be encouraged by the fact that we still have more work to do to define what the future looks like in the budget for Indigenous Peoples,” Gull-Masty said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“There’s also been a lot of progress made on the amount of investment that we’ve seen in the last decade — the expenditures for First Nations have been significant. We’re not walking back from that progress, we’re maintaining it.”

Spending for Indigenous-specific programming has grown since 2015, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau made it a priority for his government to help close socioeconomic gaps in Indigenous communities as part of a broader push toward reconciliation. But Indigenous leaders and policy experts say that increase in spending is still far off from what communities need to succeed, especially for infrastructure needs.

Gull-Masty said the cuts for her department in the budget amount to two per cent cut at a time when other ministers were told to trim spending by 15 per cent. She praised Carney for giving her ministry more leeway than others, and said it shows he is taking the concerns of community seriously.

Indigenous leaders, however, worry the cuts go far beyond the advertised two per cent, with funding for Trudeau-era programs — including education and emergency management — set to expire next year.

“The zeros are there because we haven’t defined what that space looks like. There are some programs that are going to sunset. It doesn’t mean that the issues that those programs were set up to address are not going to be responded to,” Gull-Masty said.

“We have to do the work internally, and this was my mandate that I go to community and identify what those outcomes are for the next round of funding.”

This budget, unlike previous ones, has no specific chapter on Indigenous spending, with a heavy focus on how Indigenous communities can work with Ottawa to move its major projects agenda forward and build the economy.

Gull-Masty said it should not be read as an oversight or sidelining, but as a sign all ministers are incorporating Indigenous priorities into their files.

“When you compartmentalize Indigenous Peoples into one space, you’re actually putting barriers up. You’re putting barriers up when you are showcasing that you can only go here when addressing Indigenous Peoples,” Gull-Masty said.

“I’m encouraged that those barriers were not reflected in that way.”

Just after the budget’s release last week, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the freeze in funding will have serious impacts on communities with high birthrates, especially when it comes to education and infrastructure.

“This budget was a chance to build some of that trust. Sadly, it has failed, has failed to meet that moment,” she said.

A report last year by the Assembly of First Nations and the Conference Board of Canada found closing that infrastructure gap could generate $635 billion in economic output over seven years — figures Prime Minister Mark Carney said could help offset the impact of U.S. tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump.

But the budget fell far short of the $350 billion ask the Assembly of First Nations has said is needed to close that gap, and Ottawa is on track to miss its own 2030 deadline for doing such.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2025.

— With files from Dylan Robertson

Read more on the federal budget at thestar.com