VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 29, 2026 /CNW/ -- From 2014/15 to 2024/25, inflation-adjusted federal Indigenous spending jumped from $10.3 billion to $40.8 billion (not including substantial spending on lawsuits and court settlement payouts), which was seven times faster growth than overall federal spending, according to a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

"Ottawa's Indigenous spending has skyrocketed in recent years, even more so than general federal spending which itself has increased substantially," said Tom Flanagan, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of The Cost of Federal Spending for Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia.

The study finds that from 1969/70 to 2014/15, inflation-adjusted federal Indigenous spending increased, on average, 4.3 per cent per year. However, from 2015/16 to 2024/25, average annual Indigenous spending increased 17.1 per cent.

The study also apportions federal spending by province based on the provincial share of the total Indigenous population. In 2024/25, federal spending allocated by the provinces (not to the provincial government but to Indigenous People and First Nations) ranged from a low of $73 million in Prince Edward Island to a high of $8.8 billion in Ontario.

"Canadians need to understand the magnitude of Ottawa's Indigenous spending in recent years if they're ever to properly assess what that additional spending is achieving in terms of results for Indigenous people," Flanagan said.

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

SOURCE The Fraser Institute