Good morning, Mr. Chair, committee members and fellow witnesses.
My name is Robert Bertrand, National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, CAP. I thank the committee members and staff for this invitation to share our constituents' concerns.
Mr. Chair, we appreciate this invitation to appear. We also would like to thank Jamie Schmale for his recent work in Parliament and in this committee to ensure that the urban indigenous population is heard.
Since 1971, CAP has been fighting tirelessly for the rights, interests and needs of off-reserve status and non-status Indians, Métis and southern Inuit people. In the 2016 Daniels v. Canada decision, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that non-status and Métis people are Indians under the Constitution. This decision means that our people are without question an area of federal responsibility.
In 2018, CAP signed a political accord with the Government of Canada to work towards including our people in federal policy. Sadly, there is a long way to go before our people have equitable treatment.
CAP is also the national voice for our 10 provincial and territorial affiliates, PTOs. They are advocates to provincial and territorial governments just as we are advocates to the federal government. Our PTOs are service providers. They work in areas such as housing, education, employment, health and language, but these services cannot meet demand because they are excluded from federal funding.
Our communities have been historically known as the “forgotten people”. In the past, this referred to indigenous peoples excluded from the Indian Act, treaties and land claim agreements. Today we add those excluded from the government's distinctions-based approach to the list.
Even under the COVID pandemic, federal policies continue to discriminate. In March, government announced a $305-million support package for indigenous peoples dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, with $290 million being designated for distinctions-based organizations that are focused on indigenous peoples living on reserve and in other specific communities across Canada. Of that, $215 million was designated for first nations that have historically focused very much on their on-reserve population. Less than 5%, or $15 million, was specifically designated for supporting off-reserve and urban indigenous populations, a group of hundreds of thousands of people. Fifteen dollars per capita is not enough for effective support programs for the most marginalized groups in Canada.
I don't need to reiterate the poverty, chronic health issues, over-policing and discrimination faced by our indigenous peoples. Our PTOs provide help where they can, but they are held back when they cannot access federal funding on an equal footing with distinctions-based organizations.
NunatuKavut needs funding for a medical transport program. The Native Council of Prince Edward Island's housing programs are facing funding shortfalls. The Northwest Indigenous Council in British Columbia has been working to support indigenous homelessness in the Downtown Eastside.