A stark reminder on how government support and relief do not follow usual conventions when applied to First Nations and their communities.

This discrepancy in available support further highlights the piecemeal, incremental and insufficient approach to First Nations issues undertaken by the Liberals, and a real disconnect within the government and bureaucracy as to the actual needs of First Nations communities.

What are the infrastructure needs on First Nations reserves?

According to the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships, the infrastructure deficit across First Nations in Canada could be between $25-30 billion. The Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples (SSCAP) released a report in which Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) calculated that the cost of meeting the immediate infrastructure needs on reserve would escalate to $9.7 billion by 2018. So, there is little consensus on what the true infrastructure deficit on-reserve may be, but one can conclude that investments outlined to date have little impact on the $8 – 30 billion shortfall.

But rather than fill this gap, instead, Canada has been sitting on its hands. The SSCAP reports shows that despite $300 million set aside by Canada in a trust fund for the First Nations Market Housing Fund in 2008—which was supposed to build 25,000 new homes in 10 years—only 99 homes were built by May 2015. In a tacit acknowledgement of this lack of infrastructure, the federal government’s initial plans for a First Nation specific response to COVID-19 was the erection of isolation tents or field hospitals in some of the most inhospitable places

If we look at progress on Boil Water Advisories, there are at least 61 that have yet to be lifted, with promises from the Trudeau government they will all be lifted by 2021. Reports by independent researchers, however, show much higher numbers, for example, 127 in BC alone.