Idlout warns federal budget will cut funding for Indigenous supports – Nunatsiaq News

April 16, 2024

Nunavut NDP MP says it’s ‘frustrating’ and warns it will hurt effort to provide better housing

As the federal government prepares to release its 2024 budget Tuesday, Nunavut’s NDP MP Lori Idlout is sounding the alarm over what she says will amount to billions of dollars in spending cuts to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Indigenous Services Canada.

“It is frustrating to have … successive Liberal and Conservative governments not investing enough in Indigenous Peoples,” Idlout said in an interview Monday.

“These kinds of cuts will mean that Indigenous Peoples will remain in poverty, that [they] will remain marginalized, that … most of us will continue to live in overcrowded housing conditions.”

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is scheduled to deliver the Liberal government’s budget at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the House of Commons.

Last month, the NDP called on the Liberals to reverse planned cuts to services that affect Indigenous people. New Democrats said many programs were being allowed to “sunset,” meaning existing budgets will be spent with no plan to extend or renew them.

Read More: https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/idlout-warns-federal-budget-will-cut-funding-for-indigenous-supports/