The Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux reported that the federal government spent billions more on indigenous affairs. However, the actual improvement in services did not match the significant increase in spending..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau created two separate departments for indigenous affairs, which caused the expenses to more than double, as reported in the Public Accounts..“Increased spending did not result in a commensurate improvement in the ability of these organizations to achieve the goals they set for themselves,” Giroux testified at the Commons Indigenous committee..There “seems to be an outcome problem.”.“Most of the increase in funding relates to the agenda of the current government, which has made a point of increasing funding for services and programs,” said Giroux..However, it was uncommon to spend so much and get so little..“It’s not common to see a level of increase of that magnitude that is not accompanied by a significant improvement of performance indicators,” said Giroux..In 2015, the Public Accounts showed that the department of Indian Affairs and the department of Health Services for First Nations and Inuit together cost $10.3 billion..In 2017, the federal government reorganized these services and created two new departments, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Indigenous Services. The total spending on these two departments last year amounted to $23.3 billion..“The outcomes for this government are a problem,” said Conservative MP Bob Zimmer (Prince George-Peace River, BC). .“We see it as money thrown at things that don’t necessarily land. Outcomes aren’t measured. There isn’t even a dartboard to throw the dart at. There’s no target to even hit.”.Conservative MP Gary Vidal (Desnethé-Missinippi, SK) calculated the number of federal employees working on indigenous matters grew from 4,500 to “about 9,200 for the coming fiscal year” with little evidence that federal services were twice as effective..“These are really big numbers,” said Vidal..“They’re not working on the ground to improve the lives of people. We need to find a way to fix that, yet when we get the ministers and departmental officials here, they don’t take responsibility for this lack of accountability and instead, they doubled down.”.“Everybody sees there is a problem here, but we won’t acknowledge it. We won’t take responsibility for it,” said Vidal..“I would suggest truth and reconciliation begins with accepting the truth.”.“It’s hard to disagree with that,” replied Giroux..“Who suffers the most?” asked New Democrat MP Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, AB). .“Obviously, the recipients of these services,” replied Giroux..Liberal MP John Aldag (Cloverdale-Langley City, BC) defended the spending..“Our government came in with very ambitious goals,” said Aldag..“When I go out and meet with indigenous communities, they say this Liberal government has actually been the most progressive in helping to advance issues that have been there since the beginning of our country. Yes, we’re seeing increased investments to try to make progress on these things.”
