Departmental Results Report 2021 to 2022

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ISSN: 2561-9898

Table of contents

From the Minister

The Honourable Patty Hajdu

This past year has been one of challenges and progress for Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and for Indigenous Peoples and communities. Indigenous Services Canada continues our work to improve partnerships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to make progress on shared priorities and self-determination.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders and communities have worked tirelessly to protect families and communities from COVID-19. As that work continues, recovery from the many ways the pandemic interrupted and delayed many important areas of community life is underway. Our department continues to work closely with communities and organizations to ensure they had the resources and flexibility they need.

Over this year, communities have also continued the important and heartbreaking work to identify unmarked graves at former residential school sites. These grim reminders of colonial harm should push all of us to face our shared history with a deep willingness to hear and find the truth, address the resulting intergenerational trauma, and end ongoing racism and discrimination that Indigenous Peoples continue to face today.

We must reform programs to close the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in Canada. This change must be Indigenous-led and culturally informed to be long-lasting. We must work even harder and faster to make policies more flexible, equitable and reflect the knowledge and self-determination of Indigenous Peoples.

Over the past year we've seen progress transferring service delivery to Indigenous-led partners and organizations. When communities have control over service delivery, on health, education or child and family services, they regain control to determine their futures and to shape their communities to achieve healthier and better outcomes for their members.

Several education agreements have been signed with First Nations partners with others in development. Over the last three years, we've also seen nearly 12% more students attending First Nations administered schools who were taught at least one subject in a First Nation's language.

We also continue work to address critical infrastructure gaps, including eliminating long-term drinking water advisories on reserve, and addressing the acute housing needs in Indigenous communities. And, we've invested over $5.5 billion since 2016 to improve health outcomes in Indigenous communities, in addition to working on the co-development of distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners.

In 2021-22, we also took important steps to address the harms caused by the discriminatory underfunding of First Nations child and family services. We've signed two historic agreements-in-principle to provide compensation to those harmed by discriminatory and underfunded First Nations Children and Family Services programs, and to reform the system so that injustices faced will never happen again. We continue to negotiate to reach final agreements, and we remain committed to ensuring we complete this important work.

Additionally, we signed two tripartite coordination agreements with Indigenous communities and the corresponding provinces to provide support for the implementation of their Indigenous laws in regards to child and family services.

Reconciliation based on honesty, equity and self-determination will ensure progress with our Indigenous partners. In this report, you can read details about the progress that we've made to advance health transformation, to support children and families, to build sustainable communities to support First Nations, Inuit and Métis in asserting their self-determination, advancing economic reconciliation and building community prosperity, and to the broader work of decolonization

Addressing the reality of the detrimental impact of colonization on Indigenous Peoples is critical if we are to truly prosper as a country. It is difficult work, to come to terms with the many ways Indigenous Peoples have been harmed and continue to pay the price of a system that was never designed to work for them. Our government remains committed to doing this work with Indigenous partners to that we can all see a brighter future for the generations to come. I look forward to the progress ahead.

The Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Indigenous Services

Results at a glance

In 2021-22, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) worked collaboratively with partners to improve access to high quality services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. The department addressed priority areas and core services focused on advancing the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples, supporting social programs for children and families, and advancing infrastructure projects to help build sustainable communities. This approach helped to advance self-determination and self-government of Indigenous Peoples and is threaded into ISC's mandate to transition program and service delivery to Indigenous governments and organizations.

The Government of Canada recognizes that First Nations, Inuit and Métis are among the most at risk and face unique challenges in addressing COVID-19; therefore, ISC has continued to deliver distinctions-based support in response to the pandemic and enhanced opportunities for economic recovery as needed. In addition to the various needs associated with the pandemic response, ISC's ongoing focus has included working with provinces, territories, and Indigenous and health system partners to ensure that all Indigenous Peoples have access to high quality public and primary health care services no matter where they reside, and to support further actions on social determinants of health.

ISC's efforts are guided by overarching commitments to honesty, equity and autonomy for Indigenous Peoples. In 2021-22, the department focused on four core responsibilities: Services and Benefits to Individuals, Health and Social Services, Governance and Community Development Services, and Indigenous Self-Determined Services. Within these four core responsibilities, ISC has 33 programs that are arranged based on service-delivery type.

These programs and services contributed to advancing numerous interconnected priorities in areas highlighted in the Minister's mandate including fully implementing An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children, youth and families; ensuring the long-term reform of child and family services; and providing fair and equitable compensation for those harmed by the discriminatory underfunding of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. The Act sets out national minimum standards to guide child and family services provided to Indigenous children, affirms the inherent right of self-government of section 35 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, which includes jurisdiction in relation to child and family services. Capacity building has been offered to strengthen the capacity of Indigenous groups, families and people in developing their child and family services law and models. By focusing on prevention and preserving cultural traditions, this legislation has the potential to disrupt the cycle of inequality and violence that is so prevalent across generations due to a colonial history of child removal, from residential schools to the Sixties Scoop. Implementing the Act with Indigenous partners shifts child and family services to a community-driven process that is focused on prevention, early intervention and the best interests of the child, which has the potential to significantly reduce the number of Indigenous children in care and children at risk, and to begin to undo the damage caused to generations of children removed from their families, communities and cultures. As such, it is anticipated that the long-term effects of keeping Indigenous children with their families and close to their communities will contribute to the improvement of socio-economic conditions through an expected enhancement in overall well-being at a child, guardian, and community level. This also aligns with Budget 2021 which provided $1 billion over five years, with $118.7 million ongoing for the First Nations Child and Family Services Program to support the well-being of Indigenous children and families. On January 4, 2022, agreements-in-principle were reached on a global resolution related to achieving long-term reform of the program and Jordan's Principle, to ensure that no child faces discrimination again; and to compensate those harmed by discriminatory underfunding the First Nations child and family services. These areas collectively contribute to the objective of reducing the number of Indigenous children in care, which according to the Census 2021, accounted for 53.8% of all children in foster care.

ISC is supporting the ever-evolving work to close infrastructure gaps by 2030. Since 2016 and as of March 31, 2022, ISC has invested over $7.5 billion in 7,474 community infrastructure projects, such as water and wastewater, housing, education facilities, health facilities, solid waste management and other community infrastructure (energy systems, connectivity, fire protection, roads and bridges, structural mitigation against natural disasters, cultural and recreational facilities, band administrative buildings, planning and skills development). ISC is establishing Indigenous-led institutions to deliver housing and infrastructure services in communities; and seeking to eliminate all remaining long-term drinking water advisories on reserve while taking steps to ensure that long-term investments and resources are in place to prevent new ones. Since 2016, more than $1.22 billion has been invested to support over 3,200 housing projects. As of March 31, 2022, more than $2.68 billion has supported 950 water and wastewater projects in First Nations communities. From April 2021 to March 2022, 25 long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves were lifted. The department remains committed to eliminating all remaining long-term drinking water advisories on reserve while taking steps to ensure that long-term investments and resources are in place to prevent new ones.

The department is committed to implementing Joyce's Principle and ensuring it guides work to co-develop distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation that promotes and protects access to health services for Indigenous Peoples that are safe, respectful and culturally sensitive. Budget 2021 contained specific funding allocations of $126.7 million over three years to address racism in Canada's health systems.

ISC is advancing the priorities of Indigenous communities to reclaim full jurisdiction in the areas that matter to them, such as child and family services, education, and health care. For example, more than $73 million was invested over four years to support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in exercising their inherent right over child and family services. As of March 2022, eight regional education agreements have been concluded supporting approximately 17,000 students. In addition, discussions are underway with over 60 First Nations and First Nations education organizations to advance education agreements across the country.

Focusing on these mandated commitments and priority areas has enabled ISC to work with Indigenous partners to recognize and support the needs and concerns of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis from the individual through to the family, community and nation-level.

Performance summary

In 2021–22, the total actual spending for ISC was $18,351,809,591 and total actual full-time equivalents was 6,845. ISC's mandate is reflected in the four Core Responsibilities and 11 related Departmental Results which the department sought to contribute towards or influence. The outputs of services delivered were measured using 39 performance indicators.

The department met targets related to the issuance of Secure Certificates, novel medications for diabetes, condition of health facilities, own source revenues and the distribution of the New Fiscal Relationship grant.

Targets related to the delivery of some health care services fell slightly below targets, although data sources for two are linked to Regional Health Survey results dating back to 2015-16. Environmental management targets related to solid waste and contaminated sites also fell below targets due to changes in methodology and data, and COVID-19 restrictions impacted the results for the development and approval of land-use plans. Significant environmental catastrophes that took place in 2021-22 impacted the target for the safe return of evacuees as it extended repatriation time.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the collection of data to determine results for targets related to health, economic development and infrastructure. The department continued to work with Indigenous partners to establish targets related to child and family services and education, while actively working with First Nations to address drinking water issues. In the context of self-determined services such as the grant, First Nations have the flexibility to design and deliver services based on their own plans and priorities, therefore the establishment of targets for grant recipients would not be meaningful or relevant as First Nations partners own the outcomes.

In 2021-22, the department continued to track progress against nine targets to be met in the future related to health, education, infrastructure, and economic development.

ISC will continue to work with partners and communities to improve access to high-quality services, socio-economic conditions, quality of life, and safety for Indigenous communities. The department continues to systemize Gender-Based Analysis Plus, to enhance consideration of program impacts on Indigenous communities and people as new initiatives are developed, including the use of gender-disaggregated data and other socio-economic data. Collaboration and information-sharing with Indigenous partners is also key to embedding gender and other diversity factors into program and service design. Only through collaboration can we develop distinctions-based data strategies and promote more responsive and culturally competent policies that lead to closing economic gaps and addressing inequalities.

When reviewing these results, it is important to note that ISC's current Departmental Results Framework was established in 2019-20. A thorough review of this structure, including the alignment of Programs, Departmental Results and Departmental Results Indicators is underway with the aim to bring these components into alignment with the departmental mandate and the authorities voted into the department. This process will also enable the strengthening of performance measurement and provide an opportunity to implement quality and relevant data and performance indicators and targets by service area that will be more reflective of outcomes to which ISC's Programs and services contribute. This review will be further enhanced by work underway following the Budget 2021 announcement of $81.5 million for the Transformational Approach to Indigenous Data, which supports the development and implementation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis data strategies. This investment will enhance the availability of the Indigenous-led disaggregated data required to effectively support the department's commitment to advancing substantive equality and the closure of socio-economic gaps.

For more information on ISC's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the "Results: what we achieved" section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Services and Benefits to Individuals

These services and benefits are mainly delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples by the department. They include, among other services and benefits, individual First Nations and Inuit clinical care and coverage for health-related benefits such as pharmacy, dental and vision care. The department is also responsible for determining individuals' entitlement to Indian registration and for the issuance of various proofs of registration, including the Secure Certificate of Indian Status (SCIS), which can be used to access various programs and services.

Results:

In 2021-22, ISC aimed to achieve two results in relation to the services and benefits provided to individuals:

  1. Quality and timely services are delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples
  2. Health services delivered to Indigenous Peoples contribute to health outcomes
Departmental Result 1: Quality and timely services are delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples

The growth in the Indigenous population, along with socio-economic and geographic challenges, has created an ever-increasing demand for services. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for quality and timely services in Indigenous communities. The department committed to meeting the demand and improving both the quality and timeliness of services, many of which are delivered through regional offices across the country, directly to Indigenous Peoples.

ISC continued to support to Indigenous leaders and communities in their self-determined approach to respond to and navigate the complexities of this pandemic. Budget 2021 provided $1.2 billion to support the ongoing response in Indigenous communities for critical activities such as hiring nurses, helping at-risk people to isolate, and distributing personal protective equipment, as well as ongoing support for the Indigenous Community Support Fund.

In 2021-22, nurses responding to COVID-19 in Indigenous communities were supported by the continued implementation of the Nursing Health Human Resources Framework and the Nursing Services Response Centre. The department conducted various outreach initiatives with the public and educational institutions to increase the awareness of nursing employment opportunities within First Nations communities, with concentrated efforts on increasing Indigenous representation in the delivery of healthcare services and increased culturally competent care.

The two National Dialogues held in October 2020 and January 2021 with National Indigenous Organization representatives, Indigenous health professionals, health system partners and provincial/territorial representatives were initial steps in addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health systems. While continuing to honour the legacy of Joyce Echaquan and many other Indigenous individuals who have faced traumatic experiences of racism in health systems, a third National Dialogue was held in June 2021 which focused on collective measures related to post-secondary health education, cultural safety and humility training, traditional approaches to health, and safe patient navigation. With nearly 200 participants, the National Dialogue included breakout sessions where Indigenous partners, provincial and territorial governments, and health system partners focused on concrete actions to collaboratively drive substantive and immediate change.

Since the June National Dialogue, ISC continued to take a leadership role in addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health systems by continuing to coordinate with Indigenous partners, including Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak, Native Women Association of Canada and 2 Spirits in Motion, professional bodies and provinces and territories to avoid duplication of efforts and ensure national alignment. ISC will continue to support Indigenous-led regional discussions with health system partners to develop more regionally based actions to address anti-Indigenous racism in health systems. An advisory circle was formed with representatives from National Indigenous Organizations, Indigenous health professional organizations, provincial and territorial governments, and other health systems partners, to move this important issue forward. They advise the federal government on funding allocations and other activities related to anti-Indigenous racism in health systems, including the planning of a fourth National Dialogue to be held in January 2023 that will focus on a data strategy.

To support this, Budget 2021 provided $126.7 million to begin to address anti-Indigenous racism in health systems and improve access to culturally responsive and safe health services. Budget 2021 also provided $107.1 million over three years, beginning in 2021-22, to continue efforts to transform how health care services are designed and delivered by First Nations communities.

The department worked to improve client access to another critical component of health advancement – the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program for First Nations and Inuit. The program supports medically necessary services not otherwise covered, such as mental health services, medical travel, medications and more. Budget 2021 provided $774.6 million over five years, beginning in 2021-22, to ensure the continued high-quality care through the program. In 2021-22, the department continued to engage with First Nations and Inuit representatives to ensure the program is responsive to the needs of its clients. The program continued to provide coverage for a range of medically necessary services to registered First Nations and recognized Inuit clients regardless of their sex, gender, age, income or geographic location.

In addition to health services, ISC provides quality and timely client services across the country to determine eligibility for registration under the Indian Act. In December 2021, an evaluation of the Individual Affairs Program that administers these registration services, found some concerns around barriers to accessing these client services outside of urban centres. In response, the department expanded a trusted source program to designate organizations as trusted source partners to broaden access to the Secure Certificate of Indian Status and offer support about registration. The focus is to expand the devolved service delivery model and partner with urban organizations to better serve the off-reserve population, as well as individuals experiencing difficulties in accessing services outside of the 16 urban centres. Twelve trusted source partnerships are up and running and are taking Secure Certificate applications in person, with 88 locations and 259 staff trained and accepting applications.

In 2021-22, approximately 40,000 decisions were rendered on registration. In addition, 59,388 Secure Certificate of Indian Status applications were processed. The department continued to implement improvements to issuing secure status cards by shifting the service standard from 12-to-16 weeks to an 8-to-12-week timeframe. By the end of fiscal year, the processing time for a secure status card was under 8 weeks. As a result, 95.26% of eligible applicants were issued a Secure Certificate of Indian Status within the standard time from the application date. This resulted in the highest percentage achieved in the last three years.

ISC also pursued partnerships with other government departments and Indigenous organizations, as well as provincial and territorial governments, to improve the quality and accessibility of services delivered directly to First Nations people, in the areas of child and family services, education, medical care and tax administration. In addition, the department:

  • provided funding to 18 First Nations' proposals to support estate planning and administration;
  • monitored the impacts of Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Indian Act, and the financial sustainability of potentially impacted programs and services due to an increase in the registered Indian population; and
  • engaged with First Nations to address remaining non-sex-based inequities and redress the residual effects of historic policy and law.

In order to mitigate risks related to COVID-19, traditional treaty payment events were suspended again in 2021. In lieu of holding the traditional in person events, ISC and impacted First Nations co-developed alternative payment options. The department also continued to adapt its service model by assessing best practices and implementing strategies in response to COVID-19 public health guidance, including the pre-booking of appointments at service kiosks and alternatives to in-person oath commissioning for estates.

Departmental Result 2: Health services delivered to Indigenous Peoples contribute to health outcomes

In 2021-22, ISC continued to provide COVID-19 support services for remote and isolated First Nations communities including testing, evaluation, care and vaccination. Budget 2021 provided $354 million over five years to increase the number of health professionals and strengthen programs in remote and isolated communities, including $3.9 million dedicated to supporting nurses' primary care practice in remote communities.

In addition, the Supportive Care Initiative, which received $186.8 million in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, began to flow funding to address needs and gaps in supportive care facilities and provide additional home care in Indigenous communities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding for facility-based care was based on requested self-assessments and was used to cover costs such as cleaning care and supplies, medical supplies, environmental health inspection, fixing existing stock, as well as to cover licensing, accreditation and/or certification fees or virtual care and digital health systems.

The department updated policies and resources for the health care professionals working in remote or isolated communities to better serve the residents. These included updates to patient safety protocols, policies related to travel and COVID-19, and the management of COVID-19 illness affecting healthcare professionals. Training modules were significantly updated on topics such as controlled substances as part of the mandatory training for nurses working in First Nations communities. The Clinical Care Pathways for nursing services (previously known as guidelines) were reviewed and tailored to reflect the unique and diverse needs of remote Indigenous communities. The templates and tailored guidance were based on an intersectional understanding of health inequalities and determinants of health, providing client-centered, trauma-informed, culturally safe and appropriate care.

The oral health needs and reduction of oral health disparities experienced by First Nations and Inuit were targeted through the delivery of programming aimed at improving overall health and well-being. In 2021-22, the Anti-Indigenous Racism Health Human Resources fund provided $2.1 million to establish the first and only accredited Indigenous dental therapy degree program of its kind in Canada. This proposal was put forward by the University of Saskatchewan's College of Dentistry, together with the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority, Northlands College and Saskatchewan Polytechnic. The department also launched the evaluation of the new treatment, Silver Diamine Fluoride, introduced in 2020 to determine its impact on improving the oral health status of First Nations and Inuit.

A national oral health report was completed including analysing oral health outcomes and service utilization from 2007 till 2020. Based on the results, there were no significant differences in the oral health outcomes and service utilization patterns between male and female clients over time. The report also indicated that number of decayed teeth per child decreased with age, with 12-year-old clients having the least adverse oral health outcomes in comparison to their younger counterparts. In addition, regional-level analysis revealed Alberta to have the lowest number of decayed teeth per child, while children in Saskatchewan and Manitoba were found to have the highest number of decayed teeth on an average, between 2015-2020.

Gender-based analysis (GBA) Plus

Access to health care is widely acknowledged as a social determinant of health. Research has shown that access to care in Canada is not equal, nor equitable. For Indigenous Peoples, there are several contributing factors that impact access to care, including, but not limited to, the lack of Indigenous presence in health systems, or Indigenous health human resources. ISC continues to work to ensure that quality and timely services were delivered to Indigenous Peoples, particularly in health-related services where improvements to health outcomes is critical.

Through Budget 2021 funding, the department took action to foster health systems free from racism and discrimination where Indigenous peoples are respected and safe. Work began to implement new Indigenous health system navigators, patient advocates and cultural safety training for medical professionals to improve supports for Indigenous patients to more safely navigate federal, provincial and territorial health systems. This also included improvements to increasing access to culturally-safe services, with a focus on services for Indigenous women, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups who may have experienced intersecting discrimination. This provided for the expansion of Indigenous midwives and doulas initiatives; strengthened funding for Indigenous Women's organizations and regional and grassroots organizations; and supports for youth sexual health networks. ISC's Cultural Safety Partnership Fund, in collaboration with Health Canada's Addressing Racism and Discrimination in Canada's Health Systems Program, supported the adaptation of health systems through the integration of cultural and patient safety at the local and systems levels. It also contributed to training and education programs aimed at increasing Indigenous representation in health professions.

In June 2021, Canada committed to actions that will contribute to the creation of health systems free of racism and discrimination and better health outcomes for Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. This included working to co-develop distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation with First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation to improve access to high-quality and culturally relevant services. This includes distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation and implementation co-developed with First Nations, Inuit, and the Métis Nation, backed with the investments needed to deliver high-quality health care for all Indigenous Peoples, access to high quality, timely, stable and culturally relevant distinctions-based services, including a patient-centered approach to health service delivery, and preparedness and response services enhanced to address public health emergencies in a way that aligns with Indigenous priorities, builds local capacity and is responsive and sustainable.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2021-22, ISC contributed to Canada's implementation of the 2030 Agenda – Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 – Good Health and Well-being by:

  • collaborating with partners to implement measures to address systemic discrimination. This included actions to address anti-Indigenous racism in health systems, enhancing supports for culturally sensitive policing and safety in Indigenous communities;
  • supporting the National Action Plan launched to address the Calls for Justice outlined in the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. All these initiatives reflect the broader Government of Canada commitment to implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and Canada's responsibilities under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and supporting holistic Indigenous community safety and well-being initiatives under the new Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Program that prioritizes and addresses the safety and well-being of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
Result-based Innovation Footnote 1

ISC supported projects that sought and expanded results-based innovation solutions to improve the delivery of health and registration services to Indigenous Peoples.

In 2021-22, the department continued to promote the secure web accounts functionality for the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program. Users experienced greater access to view and update their personal information, see their claims history, benefit eligibility, status of pending requests, and electronically submit prior approvals and claims.

A Safety and Security Working Group was established with ISC and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) to oversee the implementation of work plans for nurses working in northern remote and isolated facilities. The group tracked and identified barriers to achieving expected outcomes, as well as possible solutions for consideration in consultation with interested parties. For ISC employed or contracted healthcare staff working in First Nations communities, the working group established a strategy and framework to ensure consistent, scalable and reliable safety and security services and solutions. This included mechanisms to identify and address safety and security issues on an ongoing basis. In the working group's first six months of operation, it performed a needs assessment and identified gaps in security personnel working in remote and isolated nursing stations.

For registration services, ISC launched an online tool for use in its service kiosks to provide a more user-friendly experience for the Secure Certificates of Indian Status application process. Fourteen of the sixteen service kiosks began using the online tool in this fiscal year. The vision is to move towards an improved, client-focused approach by centralizing all activities and transactions associated with an individual client in one overarching online solution.

Key Risks

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to require the department to respond quickly and adapt to ensure quality and timely services were delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples.

In response to the high demand for health professionals within the pandemic context, ISC developed a Nursing Health Human Resources Framework to provide a coordinated and comprehensive approach to recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many services remained suspended including oral health services in most communities for the better part of the year. As such, ongoing engagement of oral health care providers supporting the response to the pandemic in communities was done.

In addition, traditional treaty payment events were suspended. In lieu of holding the traditional in-person events, ISC and impacted First Nations co-developed alternative payment options that included:

  • a First Nations-administered treaty payment event (i.e., payment event without the need for outsiders to enter communities);
  • a limited ceremonial payment to Chief and councillors (involving one to two ISC staff delivering an in-person payment to First Nations leadership);
  • deferral of payment event to 2022; and
  • annuitants claiming their annuity through a cheque requisition process (this option has been promoted during the pandemic).

The program also continued to adapt its service model and implement strategies in response to COVID-19 public health guidance. For example, the pre-booking of appointments at service kiosks and alternatives to in-person oath commissioning for estates.

Results achieved

The following table shows results achieved for Services and Benefits to Individuals, the performance indicators, targets, target dates for 2021–22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental Result 1: Quality and timely services are delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Percentage of First Nations adults who rate the quality of health care services delivered in their community as good or excellent 57% March 2022 55.2% 55.2% 55.2%1
Percentage of prior approval requests for medication coverage completed within 24 hours 100% March 2022 99.6% 98.4% 98%2
Percentage of eligible First Nations and Inuit population who received at least one non-insured health benefit in a year 74% March 2022 72.9% 67.1% 72.1%3
Percentage of eligible applicants issued a Secure Certificate of Indian Status within 16 weeks from the application date 90% March 2022 94.12% 92% 95.26%4
1Last available data for First Nations (on reserve) is from the 2015-16 Regional Health Survey which runs on a five-year cycle. The subsequent survey, however, has been delayed due to the pandemic.
2The Data Source is derived from the Health Information and Claims Processing Services system, which is designed to expedite the payment of pharmacy and dental claims for Non‐Insured Health Benefit (NIHB) clients. 0.02% of the requests required additional information from the prescribing physician or specialist in order to complete the request.
3In previous years, the rate was calculated based on the percentage of eligible First Nations and Inuit who received at least one Pharmacy, Dental and/or Medical Supplies and Equipment benefit in a given year. As of the 2021-22 fiscal year, it became possible to also include First Nations and Inuit who accessed NIHB Mental Health Care and Vision Care benefits in the calculation. The increase in this result between 2020-21 and 2021-22 is likely due to this change in methodology, as well as the lessening of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the year.
4Improvements were made to the public service standard in October 2021, shifting from 12 to 16 weeks to now 8 to 12 weeks to issues a Secure Certificate of Indian Status. By the end of fiscal year 2021-22, the processing time for a secure status card was under 8 weeks. An individual must be registered before a Secure Certificate of Indian Status can be issued.
Departmental Result 2: Health services delivered to Indigenous Peoples contribute to improved health
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Percentage of First Nations and Inuit adults who reported being in very good or excellent health First Nations (on reserve):
44%
March 2028 First Nations (on reserve):
37.8%
First Nations (on reserve):
37.8%
First Nations (on reserve):
37.8%1
Inuit Nunangat:
44%
March 2028 Inuit Nunangat:
36.9%
Inuit Nunangat:
36.9%
Inuit Nunangat:
36.9%2
1Last available data for First Nations (on reserve) is from the 2015-16 Regional Health Survey.
2Last available data for Inuit Nunangat is from the 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.
Performance information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.
Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows the 2021-22 budgetary spending for Services and Benefits to Individuals, as well as actual spending for that year.

2021–22
Main Estimates
2021–22
Planned spending
2021–22
Total authorities available for use
2021–22
Actual spending (authorities used)
2021–22
Difference
(Actual spending minus Planned spending)
2,006,677,872 2,006,677,872 2,502,283,192 2,256,640,551 249,962,679
Financial information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.
Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021–22.

2021–22
Planned full-time equivalents
2021–22
Actual full-time equivalents
2021–22
Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
1,553 1,818 265
Human resources information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Health and Social Services

These services are primarily delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and organizations, provinces/territories and agencies. Together, they focus on health and well-being for Indigenous Peoples. They include health services to strengthen Indigenous communities in areas such as healthy living, communicable disease control, healthy child development and community care. They also include social services with an emphasis on children and families, as well as education services from kindergarten to post-secondary.

Results:

To achieve progress in this area, the department focused on the following three Departmental Results:

  • Indigenous Peoples and communities are healthier
  • Indigenous Peoples receive social services that respond to community needs
  • Indigenous students receive an inclusive and quality education
Departmental Result 3: Indigenous Peoples and communities are healthier

In 2021-22, ISC continued to support prioritized access to vaccines for Indigenous populations through sustained COVID-19 funding, in order to assist Indigenous communities in combatting the spread of the virus. ISC coordinated efforts with communities and stakeholders to provide expertise and direction on public health issues and activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic in areas such as:

  • active involvement in Emergency Operation Centres to support the response to COVID-19;
  • outbreak management support, technical expertise and assessment regarding planning and operation of isolation centres and mobile shelters; and
  • development of and ongoing updates to public health guidance.

Budget 2021 provided $1.2 billion to continue supporting the COVID-19 response in Indigenous communities. This included funding for public health inspections of public facilities such as long term/supportive care facilities to identify and prevent public health risks, $125.2 million over four years, beginning in 2022-23, and $31.3 million ongoing thereafter to continue to support First Nations communities' reliable access to clean water and help ensure the safe delivery of health and social services on reserve.

In addition, core programming continued to identify and prevent public health risks in environments that could adversely impact the health of community residents in First Nations communities South of 60°. For example, support for clean, safe and reliable drinking water was provided to Indigenous communities through the regular monitoring of all public drinking water systems.

In 2021-22, one of ISC's key priorities was to sustain COVID-19 funding for supports in communities and prioritize access to vaccines for Indigenous populations to assist Indigenous communities in combatting the spread of the virus. Budget 2021 provided an additional $760.8 million for the Indigenous Community Support Fund to help First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, and urban and off-reserve Indigenous organizations serving Indigenous Peoples meet the unique needs of their populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Historical and structural barriers have prevented Indigenous communities from sufficiently and sustainably addressing crises within their communities. This funding was utilized to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, support elders and vulnerable community members, provide mental health assistance and emergency response services, address food insecurity, and support children.

The Environmental Public Health Services in First Nations Communities South of 60° continue to identify and prevent public health risks in environments that could adversely impact the health of community residents. The core areas of focus include drinking water, wastewater, solid waste disposal, food safety, housing, facilities inspections, environmental communicable disease control, and emergency preparedness and response. Activities include environmental public health assessment and inspections, monitoring and training and awareness. For example, support for clean, safe and reliable drinking water was provided to Indigenous communities through the regular monitoring all public drinking water systems.

While the pandemic exacerbated existing challenges in combating or tackling other communicable diseases, ISC continued to focus its efforts on tuberculosis elimination in First Nations and Inuit communities through communicable disease outbreak planning and training opportunities for community-based workers to support the elimination post–pandemic. The department also collaborated with Indigenous organizations, partners, provinces, territories and communities to support community led multidisciplinary, distinction-based approaches to sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne infections.

Looking to the future of Indigenous communities, the Healthy Child Development Program addresses the greater risks and reduced health outcomes associated with First Nations and Inuit infants, children, and families in areas of childcare programs. This is a transferred program, which means that communities are primarily in charge of handling the management and delivery of these programs. As part of the effort to transfer services to communities, flexible funding arrangements were provided to offer a stable source of funds over a long period of time. ISC continued to work with Employment and Social Development Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to support the implementation of the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care (IELCC) Framework with Indigenous partners. Budget 2021 announced $2.5 billion over five years to build on existing distinctions-based approaches to the IELCC Framework. This supports, coordinates and guides the design, delivery and governance of IELCC, which is anchored in self-determination, centred on children and grounded in culture. The IELCC is strengthened through new policies, processes, partnerships, authorities, capacities, programs and investments. In addition, Budget 2021 provided funding for culturally relevant programs and services, before- and after-school programming for First Nations students on reserve, and funding for the ongoing repair and renovations of existing IELCC centres.

ISC recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has also magnified long-standing food security issues, especially for First Nations and Inuit in Canada. This is why the department implemented various measures during the pandemic, including support for food security, via the Indigenous Community Support Fund. These investments allowed communities to quickly access funding and implement their own COVID-19 solutions to assist those most vulnerable, including children, elders, etc. when needs arose. Examples of initiatives supported include providing food hampers, on-the-land activities (e.g., harvesting and hunting), food for individuals isolating, and providing meals to youth and vulnerable populations, such as Indigenous Peoples experiencing homelessness. This fund and its supports are in line with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls' Calls to Justice 4.1, as the government has worked to ensure Indigenous communities and organizations have the necessary funding to meet their social and economic needs during pandemic. These measures were in addition to continued investments for First Nations and Inuit communities that support food security-related activities such as the promotion of healthy eating and food skills and improved access to healthy food, including store-bought and traditional food, through community-based health programs/services. For example, ISC provides ongoing funding for Nutrition North Canada nutrition education initiatives to complement the Nutrition North Canada subsidy program and Harvester's Support Grant supported through CIRNAC.

ISC continued to work with the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami to co-chair the Inuit-Crown Food Security Working Group. This working group was established in 2019 by Inuit and Federal leaders and provides a whole-of-government approach to the issue of food insecurity by leveraging the contributions of multiple federal departments and agencies, as well as Inuit organizations including Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the four regional Inuit Land Claim Organizations, Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, and the National Inuit Youth Council. ISC, along with other federal departments worked with Inuit partners to support implementation of the joint Inuit-Crown Food Security Work Plan, including developing options and costing for an Inuit Nunangat-wide school food program.

The First Nations and Inuit Home and Community Care Program was co-developed with Indigenous partners in the 1990s and is one of ISC's flagship programs. This health service delivery program is administered by First Nations bands, tribal councils and other Indigenous organizations. The essential service elements are client assessment, home care nursing, case management, home support, in-home respite, linkages and referrals, access to medical supplies and equipment, capacity, and data collection. As a First Nations governed program, recipients are administering culturally appropriate and safe care with an assessed need to anyone across the lifespan. Combining western and traditional care approaches in a way that ensures alignment with Indigenous priorities is a key component to its administration, and more than 99.6% of all the funding arrangements are in flexible funding models. This marks the final year of Budget 2017 investment rollout with ongoing increases to the program for service delivery and palliative care at approximately $68 million per year.

Departmental Result 4: Indigenous Peoples receive social services that respond to community needs

ISC places a strong emphasis on an approach to the development and delivery of social services that is based on substantive equality, co-development in partnership with Indigenous leaders, and distinctions-based recognition in a way that specifically caters those services to the needs of particular communities, both on and off reserve. Since 2016, the government has invested over $5.5 billion to improve health outcomes in Indigenous communities. These investments have increased access to timely and culturally appropriate medical care and mental health services for Indigenous Peoples and supported distinctions-based priorities. This includes dedicated funding for First Nations children through the implementation of Jordan's Principle, responding to high rates of tuberculosis in Inuit communities and supporting the Métis Nation in gathering health data and developing a health strategy to address their unique needs.

Health Legislation

The Government of Canada signaled the importance of the approach to co-developed distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation through the December 2020 mandate commitment to fully implement Joyce's Principle and to co-develop legislation to foster health systems that will respect and ensure the safety and well-being of Indigenous Peoples. Budget 2021 also invested $107.1 million over three years to continue efforts to transform health systems so that services are designed and delivered by First Nations communities, building on the government's commitment to improve access to high-quality and culturally relevant health care for Indigenous Peoples and advance self-determination.

In 2021-22, ISC provided funding to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis partners at national and regional levels to lead engagement with the people they represent to:

  • support coordination of Indigenous-led engagement, wherever needed, including facilitating information sharing with provinces and territories;
  • support the engagement of specific Indigenous groups, including women, youth, urban and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, through a targeted call for proposals; and
  • host "An Open Dialogue on Indigenous Health Legislation: Restoring the Balance to do Honour to all People" that was guided by an Elders Advisory Circle, and designed to hear from Indigenous academics, legal experts, traditional knowledge keepers and Elders, students, youth, as well as some health professionals and others who may not be captured in other engagement streams.
Mental Wellness

The COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures are still having profound impacts on mental wellness in Indigenous communities. In many regions of the country, the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding ongoing public health crises related to high rates of opioid overdoses and related deaths as well as other acute substance use harms. Recent First Nations specific data shows that the opioid crisis continued to grow in 2021, specifically in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Budget 2021 provided $597.6 million over three years for a distinctions-based mental health and wellness strategies with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. These investments were made to meet the immediate mental wellness needs of communities by supporting Indigenous-led suicide prevention, life promotion and crisis response, including through crisis line intervention services, and enhancing the delivery of culturally appropriate substance use treatment and prevention services in Indigenous communities. The investments also provided funding for mental health, cultural, and emotional support to Survivors of Indian Residential and federal Day Schools students and their families as well as those affected by the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In August 2021, in response to confirmations of unmarked burials at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools, the Government of Canada announced an additional $107.3 million in 2021-22 to expand access to trauma-informed health and cultural supports to those most impacted by the legacy of Indian Residential Schools. While reporting for 2021-22 has not yet been received, the department is aware that through Budget 2021 investments Opioid Agonist Therapy wraparound sites are under development and received additional funding in 2021-22. Additionally, 14 new Mental Wellness Teams are in development and 37 Mental Wellness Teams received funding to enhance their existing teams in 2021-22.

While the majority of federally funded treatment centers' inpatient services closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures, several centres shifted to virtual approaches, including comprehensive wellness programs offering support through virtual and telephone counselling, and ensuring medication availability for opioid agonist therapy. Additional activities supported by Indigenous Services Canada included: the coordination of bulk purchases of nasal naloxone to respond to need and gaps in access as part of the department's opioids action plan; continued engagement and support for Métis mental wellness priorities; and continuing work with partners around workforce development.

Jordan's Principle and Inuit Child First Initiative

First Nations and Inuit families living in Canada continued to receive the help they need through Jordan's Principle to support other factors that impact health (education and literacy, childhood experiences, and social supports). Provision of various products, services, and supports, funding allocated through Jordan's Principle and other related initiatives continued to play an important role in the removal of significant access barriers for children with disabilities and/or physical and mental health concerns and their families. In 2021-22, 544,953 products, services and supports were approved for First Nations and Inuit children, approximately 2,890 requests were related to COVID-19 for a total of $1.1 million. Requests included laptops, tablets or other e-learning tools if they meet an identified health, education or social need. Since 2016, 1.4 million products and services were funded through Jordan's Principle, and since 2019, 62,000 products and services provided through the Inuit Child First Initiative.

Child and Family Services

The historic chronic underfunding of services, and the continued discrimination that Indigenous Peoples face has led to multiple social and economic disadvantages, or systemic factors, which contribute to the over-representation of Indigenous children in care. These systemic factors include low levels of education, high levels of unemployment, extreme levels of poverty, inadequate housing, and health disparities. The initiatives below seek to prevent the perpetuation of historical and current disadvantages, help ensure that children and families have the support they need to stay together, foster Indigenous-led and community-driven child and family services and address some of difficulties children, youths, families and communities are facing. They also recognize that Indigenous women, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people, are at a greater risk and experience higher rates of gender-based violence, a leading cause of child apprehension, compared to non-Indigenous women.

Services that keep families together are a foundational piece to provide distinctions-based social services. Budget 2021 provided $1 billion over five years, with $118.7 million ongoing to increase funding for the First Nations Child and Family Services Program to support the well-being of Indigenous children and families. This investment helped ISC to increase support to First Nations communities not served by a delegated First Nations agency, while continuing to fund prevention and well-being initiatives through the final year of the Community Well-Being and Jurisdiction initiative to respond to community needs.

In 2021-22, ISC supported First Nations communities in providing prevention and early intervention programming, of which over three-quarters (¾) of the Budget 2021 funding ($795 million over the next five years) will be exclusively available to enhance First Nations community prevention related activities that support keeping families together. Prevention funding is an essential component in supporting First Nations families. Parenting plays a critical role in child development and providing families with prevention supports allows families to meet their basic needs that promote multiple benefits. Prevention funding of $2,500 per capita focuses on community wellbeing in an effort to address the negative impacts of historic and ongoing oppression and discrimination against First Nations Peoples. In addition, over $73 million was invested over four years, 2021-22 to 2024-25, to support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in exercising their inherent right of self-government in relation to child and family services, which includes concluding tripartite coordination agreements. For 2021-22, this included:

  • 17 ongoing coordination agreement discussions with Indigenous Governing Bodies;
  • two Indigenous governing bodies have brought their laws into force with a coordination agreement and fiscal arrangement in place (Cowessess First Nation, SK; Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, ON);
  • 58 notices of intent to exercise jurisdiction received, representing more than 100 Indigenous groups and communities;
  • over $100 million in capacity-building funding provided to 170 Indigenous Governing Bodies preparing to exercise jurisdiction over child and family services;
  • over 100 court cases referenced, interpreted and/or enforced the Act since it came into force; and
  • 34 sessions of engagement through formal bilateral governance structures through established Governance Engagement Mechanisms, which are Indigenous-led, distinctions-based engagement held at the community, regional and national levels.

In 2021-22, the department supported the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action by working directly with Indigenous partners at the community, regional and national levels to ensure a wide range of Indigenous voices are heard and taken into account on fully implementing the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families which came into force in January 2020 (Call to Action 4). In line with this, a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial Ministers and Indigenous leaders was organized in May 2021 to discuss the implementation of the Act.

ISC worked to ensure fair and equitable compensation for those harmed by the First Nations Child and Family Services Program (Call to Action 5) and continued work on the long-term reform of child and family services (Calls to Action 1 and 2).

On December 31, 2021, an agreement-in-principle on long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program was reached and included approximately $20 billion over the first 5 years that will begin April 1, 2023, to ensure that the discrimination found by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) does not happen again. As part of negotiations, Canada and the parties jointly submitted amendments to the major capital orders (2021 CHRT 41) to the CHRT on January 14, 2022. Under the amended orders, Canada will fund the full cost of purchase or construction of major capital assets supporting the delivery of child and family services, as well as Jordan's Principle on reserve and in the Yukon, and the capital needs and feasibility studies required to support such assets.

Also on December 31, 2021, a second agreement-in-principle was reached on compensation and included approximately $20 billion in compensation for First Nations children on reserve and in the Yukon, who were removed from their homes between April 1, 1991, and March 31, 2022, and for their parents and caregivers. This also includes compensation for those impacted by the government's narrow definition of Jordan's Principle between December 12, 2007, and November 2, 2017, as well as for children who did not receive or were delayed receiving an essential public service or product between April 1, 1991, and December 11, 2007.

ISC will continue to work together with the Parties of these agreements-in-principle to reach final settlement agreements on both compensation and long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program.

In February 2022, the Quebec Court of Appeal found that the inherent right of self-government of First Nations, Inuit and Métis is recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. This is the first time a court has recognized that Indigenous Peoples have a constitutionally protected right of self-government. The Quebec Court of Appeal also confirmed that the national standards established by the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families are valid.

The Government of Canada, of which ISC was a key contributing department, announced the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in June 2021. It affirmed that measures would be taken to improve and expand support and services to Indigenous children, families and communities based on their particular histories, cultures, and circumstances to keep them mentally, spiritually and physically well (Call to Action 4).

Long-Term and Continuing Care Engagement

In an effort to better address the long-term and continuing care needs in First Nations and Inuit communities, Budget 2019 provided $8.5 million for ISC to work with First Nations and Inuit communities on developing a new and more holistic long-term and continuing care framework that could cover the full spectrum of programs and services from supports for people living with disabilities and physical and mental health issues, 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples, and low income individuals; to approaches to aging in place, improvements to facility-based care, and services for those previously served under Jordan's Principle. Family members, in particular women, would benefit from this continuum of care approach, as they are responsible for the majority of unpaid care that takes place in the home. Also, enabling Indigenous seniors and elders to remain in their home communities while receiving care would have a collective benefit for the community given their fluency in Indigenous languages and their roles as cultural and traditional knowledge keepers. Findings from the engagements, including intersectional factors impacting experiences with long-term and continuing care facilities as identified by First Nations and Inuit communities, will inform the new Long-Term and Continuing Care Framework.

As part of a joint initiative between ISC's Assisted Living Program and First Nations and Inuit Home and Community Care Program, the department is supporting ongoing regional Indigenous-led engagement activities that are expected to conclude in the fall of 2022 and aim to gain input from a wide range of stakeholders, including but not limited to, clients, families, communities, health and social services directors and/or other system representatives, federal/provincial governments where appropriate, members of Academia, and Indigenous leadership to gather valuable insight on the elements of a holistic continuum of long-term and continuing care. This new, more holistic continuum of care will better respond to the needs of Indigenous First Nations and Inuit peoples and will cover the full spectrum of services from supports for people living with disabilities, to aging in place approaches, to improvements to facility-based care, and could include services for those previously served under Jordan's Principle. The engagement guide shared with regions and partners makes the recommendation to consider specific GBA Plus inclusion criteria when completing regional and national engagement activities. ISC encouraged engagement activities to include special opportunity groups like youth, 2SLGBTQQIA+, Indigenous women's groups, elders, and others, as key stakeholders to this important work, enabling communities to share their expertise and to ensure that the framework is responsive to their needs.

In 2021-22, ISC provided funding to roughly 35 participating First Nations Organizations who will be providing their regional-level reports in September 2022 that will be summarized into a single national report that will then be shared with partners for validation in early 2023. Once validated, the national report will be used to inform the new Indigenous Long-Term and Continuing Care Framework that looks beyond the design of existing programs to a systems and services perspective that puts individual needs at the center and leverages the strengths of communities.

Income Assistance

In 2021-22, ISC worked with the Assembly of First Nations and other First Nations partners to co-develop policy options; this work has led to the development of key principles, which will form the basis of future program design and service delivery. The program reform process is expected to be completed by March 2023 with options for a new needs-based Income Assistance program that incorporates greater First Nations control over social development and reduces socio-economic gaps on reserve.

Budget 2021 invested an additional $618.4 million over 2 years to continue to address essential needs, increased program demand, case management, and support to help people find work. While data compilation and reporting for this program is typically one year behind, COVID-19 has further impacted the collection of 2021-22 results and will likely delay reporting until September 2023. It is also anticipated that the pandemic has impacted the department's ability to decrease the percentage of residents living on reserve who are supported by Income Assistance.

Family Violence Prevention

Indigenous women are more likely than non-Indigenous women to experience family violence in Canada as a result of colonialism, lack of housing options, as well as residual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. ISC's goal is to help reduce instances of family violence against Indigenous women by funding the operations of its network of 46 emergency shelters as well as community-led family violence prevention projects. These measures will help reduce instances of family violence experienced by Indigenous women, children, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people by ensuring that survivors have a safe place to go to escape family violence as well as by supporting prevention activities within Indigenous communities.

In June 2021, 12 recipients were selected as part of the joint Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation – ISC Shelter Initiative for Indigenous Women and Children (launched in 2020) to create 12 new shelters in First Nations communities on-reserve across the country for those escaping family violence.

In November 2021, the Government of Canada announced an additional $724.1 million to expand supports for Indigenous women, children, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people escaping gender-based violence including the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative. The Initiative was launched by the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation and Indigenous Services Canada to support the construction and operations of an additional 38 shelters and 50 transitional homes across Canada. This additional funding, in response to Calls for Justice 4.7 and 16.19 of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, is expected to further address gaps in family violence prevention and provide culturally relevant supports to Indigenous women, children and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples. This includes new emergency shelters and transitional (second stage) housing across the country for First Nations, Inuit and Métis, including in the North and in urban centres.

Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples

ISC continued to support urban Indigenous organizational capacity and program funding to address gaps in services for Indigenous Peoples living in urban centres. The department provides funding to organizations that support the most vulnerable and at-risk urban Indigenous populations (women and girls, seniors, persons with addictions and disabilities, and youth).

Often these populations are underserved and experience barriers in accessing much needed programs and services. Providing funding to organizations to support access to culturally appropriate and safe spaces improves physical and emotional safety and increases Indigenous participation in socio-economic activities including employment or educational opportunities. While both Indigenous women and men benefit from these aspects, they benefit in distinct ways. Indigenous women and other vulnerable populations are likely to benefit from increased social participation if they have access to safe community spaces. Through this program, ISC continues to contribute to service transfer and self-determination by working with Indigenous service providers to enable greater autonomy over how they deliver their services.

In 2021-22, ISC worked closely with key partners including the National Association of Friendship Centres, the Ontario Federation of Friendship Centers, Métis organizations across Canada and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami:

  • $40.3 million in funding was provided to these organizations to support their program funding for Inuit organizations;
  • over 60 other urban Indigenous organizations received support for their organizational capacity and services for vulnerable populations including women and girls, seniors, persons with addictions and disabilities, and youth;
  • 36 coalitions across Canada were developed to build partnerships with all levels of government, Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations, and the philanthropic sector to support coordination and collaboration with a variety of agencies in order to streamline services and provide culturally safe spaces for Indigenous Peoples.

Funding from the infrastructure stream supported investments in projects in urban areas, and improved the capacity, safety, security and accessibility of facilities that offer urban programming. In 2021-22, as a result of the call for major infrastructure proposals under the infrastructure stream of Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples, 17 major and two minor infrastructure projects were approved for a total of $35.1 million.

Departmental Result 5: Indigenous students receive an inclusive and quality education

Every Indigenous child deserves the best start in life. Access to culturally relevant, high-quality, and inclusive elementary and secondary education provides a solid foundation for future success, as well as pride and confidence in cultural identity. It lays the foundation that supports Indigenous Peoples, families and communities to contribute to and fully benefit from the Canadian economy by accelerating socio-economic growth and reducing barriers to employment.

In 2021-22, over 500 First Nations that administered education programs on-reserves across the country were funded through the Elementary and Secondary Education Program, benefitting close to 109,000 First Nations students attending schools both on and off reserve.

There was an 11.82% increase over the last 3 years in the percentage of students attending First Nations administered schools who were taught at least one subject in a First Nations language (82% in 2019-20 to 91.69% in 2021-22).

In December 2021, the Minister was mandated to advance the priorities of Indigenous communities to reclaim full jurisdiction in the areas that matter to them, including education. ISC supports service transfer through Regional Education Agreements and is actively working with First Nations partners interested in developing agreements.

As of March 2022, eight regional education agreements have been concluded and signed to support approximately 17,000 students. Discussions are underway with over 60 First Nations and First Nations education organizations to advance education agreements across the country.

In 2021, First Nations developed the First Nations Post-Secondary Education Policy Proposal through the Assembly of First Nations to enable First Nations to implement their vision of post-secondary education in their community, territory, and/or region. Feedback was received for the First Nations-led engagement on regional post-secondary education models and the First Nations policy proposal is expected to contribute to co-developed program improvements that advance First Nations' goals and improve outcomes.

Building on the co-developed policy and funding approach implanted in 2019, Budget 2021 announced further investments of $1.7 billion over five years and $300 million ongoing which included:

  • $112 million to extend COVID-19 support so children on reserve can continue to attend school safely, including personal protective equipment for students and staff, laptops to support online learning, and more teachers and other critical staff;
  • $726 million over five years and $188 million ongoing to refine funding formulas in critical areas such as student transportation; provide predictable and stable funding; and increase First Nations control over First Nations education by concluding more Regional Education Agreements;
  • $350 million over five years to expand access to adult education by supporting First Nations people on reserve and in the Yukon and Northwest Territories who wish to return to high school in their communities and complete their high school education;
  • $515 million over five years and $112 million ongoing to support before and after school programming for First Nations children on reserve; and
  • implementation of the Menstrual Product program which provided funding for menstrual products to be made freely available to all First Nations students on reserve.

Further investments were also announced to support Indigenous post-secondary students to complete their studies and ensure that Indigenous-led post-secondary institutions and community-based programming can provide online services and continue to implement health and safety measures:

  • $150.6 million over two years to support Indigenous students through the Post-Secondary Student Support Program, the University and College Entrance Preparation Program, and the Inuit and Métis Nation Post-Secondary Education Strategies. This support aims to help offset lost income that many Indigenous students rely on to pay for tuition, books, housing, and other living expenses.
  • $26.4 million through the Post-Secondary Partnerships Program and the Inuit and Métis Nation Post-Secondary Education Strategies to support Indigenous post-secondary institutions and community-based programming during COVID-19.

The 2020 Fall Economic Statement also committed $80.1 million in additional funding for 2021-22 for the First Nations and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy. From this additional program investment, a one-year pilot project was created between ISC's Income Assistance and First Nations and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy programs. ISC will continue working alongside First Nations partners to advance their control of First Nations elementary, secondary and post-secondary education.

Gender-based analysis Plus

Gender-based analysis is a critical component of health programming since the health status and access to health services may vary based on gender, sex, sexual identity, orientation, age, culture, race, ethnicity, ability, among other GBA Plus indicators.

Jordan's Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative ensure that First Nations and Inuit have access to the products, services and supports they need, when they need them, regardless of where they live in Canada. They are designed to ensure First Nation and Inuit children are able to access the services they need immediately and avoid delays, disruption and denials that would be cause by jurisdictional disputes. This includes support for First Nations children living on or off-reserve and Inuit children living inside and outside Inuit Nunangat. It also supports work with organizations such as friendship centres that assist urban populations. These initiatives can help with a wide range of health, social and educational needs. In 2021-22, requests for products and services related to COVID-19 continued as communities continued to respond to the pandemic. Approximately 2,890 requests were approved for eligible individuals and groups under Jordan's Principle.

ISC's Healthy Living program continues to monitor data from Indigenous-led surveys, such as the Regional Health Survey (First Nations) to identify, when possible, gender and diversity-specific information. For example, the percentage of self-identified First Nations women with diabetes presented higher rates than self-identified First Nations men (17.1% and 14.7% respectively). Also, of the population that was surveyed, 36.2% of First Nations self-identified women were "moderately active" or "active", as opposed to 50.6% of First Nations self-identified men.

Data related to communicable diseases have been disaggregated by relevant indicators (e.g., gender, age, Indigenous community based-distinctions, remoteness) to provide a holistic analysis of factors related to health status. With this approach, daily and weekly COVID-19 case reporting focused on key trends and assisted First Nations communities to prevention and response.

Indian Residential School Survivors and intergenerational Survivors comprise a large and diverse Indigenous sub-population, including women and men in relatively equal numbers. The Survivors include individuals from all distinctions groups, all regions, and urban and rural/remote residents. Indian Residential School Survivors are also an aging population, with the majority being over the age of 65, meaning, health-related risks increase. Health, cultural supports, training and education are provided by Indigenous-led and owned organizations who are able to provide trauma-informed, culturally relevant and sensitive services that are designed and delivered with an underlying understanding of the Indian Residential Schools System and its ongoing gender-related affects on Survivors, their families, their descendants, and all First Nations, Inuit and Métis community members.

As a result of colonial practices, including Indian Residential Schools System, the Sixties Scoop, the recent use of the Pass System, among other Government processes, resulting in intergenerational trauma, self-identified women, children, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ persons who continue to remain in conditions of family violence due to ongoing socio-economic-cultural inequities, systemic barriers, and racism. Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ persons, especially those living with a disability, are at a greater risk and experience higher rates of gender-based violence, a leading cause of child apprehension as well as homelessness, compared to non-Indigenous women. According to Statistics Canada, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these reoccurring and growing gaps as additional barriers for people who experience of domestic violence. Funding from Budget 2021 supported the development, operation, and implementation of an additional 38 shelters and 50 transitional homes across Canada. In addition, approximately 30% of communities received family violence prevention programming and the results from these projects are currently being collected and will inform future initiatives that focus on family violence prevention with a culturally aware, sensitive, and appropriate approach.

ISC has been working closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada since 2020 to address the over-representation of Indigenous children and youth in care in Canada. Disaggregated data by gender will be available through the Canadian Child Welfare Information System, based on information provided by partners. Moreover, since 2021, the department has created two Child and Family Services distinctions-based national data strategies with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners to increase inter-jurisdictional data collection, sharing and reporting, to better understand the rates and reasons for apprehension, to acknowledge and narrow the data gap related to gender-diverse Indigenous children and youth in care, and to address the over-representation of Indigenous children and youth in care in Canada.

Studies have shown that greater education attainment is closely linked to improved health and social outcomes, as education is a social determinant of health. Obtaining a high school diploma results in higher rates of employment for First Nations students and opens the door to pursue post-secondary education and enable higher occupational levels of employment. ISC worked with First Nations partners to expand access to adult education for First Nations on reserve, in Yukon, and Northwest Territories who wish to return to high school and complete or upgrade their education. This will promote overall educational achievement and will contribute to increased socio-economic growth in First Nations communities, reduced poverty and improved resiliency.

Given that post-secondary education credentials reduce barriers to employment, access to higher learning is important for labour market participation and to secure higher income earning potential. In 2021-22, ISC continued to implement the distinctions-based First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Post-Secondary Education Strategies. These co-developed strategies aim to help close the post-secondary education attainment gaps between First Nations, Inuit and Métis and non-Indigenous Canadians through distinctions-based and regionally delivered strategic supports.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

The social programs delivered by ISC and its partners provide essential supports to individuals and families and work to help minimize gaps and barriers experienced in accessing services. These programs support Canada's efforts by providing these essential supports and a level of stability to participants with no other means.

SDG 1 – No poverty
Social programs such as Income Assistance and Assisted Living, continued to support individuals and families that were faced with challenging circumstances. These programs supported those experiencing poverty, as well as those fleeing violence, or living with a disability and maintaining family cohesion.
SDG 3 – Good health and well-being

Jordan's Principle and Inuit Child First Initiative approved 544,953 products, services and support for First Nations and Inuit children to respond to their unmet needs in relation to health, education and social services.

ISC continued funding and supporting a suite of community-based, culturally relevant health promotion programs and services with a focus on healthy living, healthy child development, and social and mental wellness. All of which aim to reduce disparities and improve health outcomes for First Nations and Inuit individuals, families, and communities. With this funding, communities have the flexibility to design and deliver activities based on their unique needs and priorities.

SDG 4 – Quality education

Advancements in education were achieved for First Nations elementary and secondary programming through the refinement of interim regional funding formulas to continue to meet provincial comparability. Eight regional education agreements were signed with First Nations partners to support improved student outcomes.

Budget 2021 invested in the expansion of adult education programming and before-and-after school programming for First Nations children on reserves. Support was also provided to First Nations, Inuit and Métis post-secondary students as they faced challenges during the pandemic and to offset the lost income that many Indigenous students relied on to pay for tuition, books, housing, and other living expenses.

Budget 2021 also supported Indigenous directed community-based programming during COVID-19 to meet current and ongoing needs, including supports to retain staff, automate core services such as processing student applications and registrations, continue adapting courses for online learning; and implement public health and safety measures programs or services that will continue in-person.

SDG 5 – Gender Equality
Budget 2021 provided support for Indigenous women, children, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people escaping gender-based violence through the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative, where an additional 38 shelters and 50 transitional homes were constructed across Canada. In addition, 12 recipients were selected under the Shelter Initiative for Indigenous Women and Children to build new shelters across Canada for Indigenous women, children, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people escaping violence.
SDG 10 - Reduced inequality
Budget 2021-22 announced $126.7 million, over three years, to take action to foster health systems free from racism and discrimination where Indigenous Peoples are respected and safe by continuing to address anti-Indigenous racism in the health care sector.
Result-based Innovation

Enhancements to the First Nations Child and Family Services Program were developed in 2021-22 to include funding for prevention directly to First Nations and delegated agencies. As per the needs-based funding approach recommended by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, Funding First Nations Child and Family Services: A Performance Budget Approach to Well-Being, this would provide a per capita amount of $2,500 per resident on-reserve and in the Yukon. Another enhancement is the extension of services to youth aging out of care or formerly in care up to their 26th birthday. Further, funding for First Nations Representative Services has been enhanced to include all First Nations on-Reserve at a per capita rate.

To support co-implementation of the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families and the development of distinctions-based approaches, bilateral governance structures were established with National Indigenous Organizations including the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council. These governance structures are not intended to substitute engagement directly with section 35 rights-holders, but rather complement it by providing bilateral venues for assessing gaps and recommending mechanisms to guide future funding methodologies and policy solutions to assist communities as they progress toward exercising jurisdiction over child and family services.

Engagement on new data strategies and approaches included the launch of distinctions-based working groups to co-develop multi-jurisdictional data and reporting strategies. As a result, the Inuit Data Strategy Working Group, launched in February 2021 with membership from the federal government, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Inuit land claim organizations, the territories and most provinces, are co-drafting a discussion paper flowing from the first-ever data inventory. In addition, the Métis Nation Data Strategy Working Group was launched in May 2021. Discussions continue with the Assembly of First Nations to launch a First Nations data strategy working group.

In 2021-22, ISC worked with the Assembly of First Nations and other First Nations partners to co-develop policy options for Income Assistance; this work has led to the development of key principles, which will form the basis of future programming under program reform. The program reform process is expected to be completed by March 2023 with options for a new needs-based Income Assistance program that incorporates greater First Nations control over social development and reduces socio-economic gaps on reserve.

The department developed a self-assessment template and review process for Assisted Living to allocate funds on the basis of needs for repairs to long-term care facilities and the purchase of essential equipment and supplies. This new and temporary process was part of the Supportive Care Initiative, a new initiative developed in response to COVID-19 to ensure the safety of long-term and continuing care in Indigenous communities through investments in infection prevention and control, personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, nursing supports, additional funds for home care delivery, public health inspections and repairs to long-term care facilities and equipment.

An evaluation of Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples started in 2021-22 to assess the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the program, as well as how the rights and needs of Indigenous Peoples and communities are met by the Government of Canada, while putting emphasis on the right of self-determination. The department partnered with Johnston Research, Inc., an Indigenous organization, to develop an exploratory project entitled Strengthening Indigenous Evaluation Frameworks and Practice. The key framework used, titled Awakening the Journey, was created through a series of Think Tanks with intellectual supporters, Indigenous and non-Indigenous evaluators, an Elder, and Indigenous community members.

Key Risks

COVID-19 infection risks to communities and long-term care facilities were mitigated to a degree by investments in infection prevention and control, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment and repairs to long-term care facilities on reserve in areas such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Risks related to social and medical staff retention were mitigated by providing salary top ups under the supportive care initiative. Funding for on-reserve home care programs also helped to meet additional pandemic-related pressures on these programs. These mitigation measures were made possible through the $186.6 million of Supportive Care Initiative funds issued in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement.

The COVID-19 pandemic also presented many risks to elementary and secondary education services and post-secondary supports. While emergency COVID-19 funding was provided for 2021-22 to support education programs, First Nations communities continued to signal that their needs were not fully supported by the additional funding, particularly when it came to learning recovery. ISC will continue to work with partners to identify needs and explore other possible avenues to provide support.

The pandemic also impacted the capacity of Indigenous partners to participate and engage on the reform of child and family services, resulting in frustration and engagement fatigue. This was mitigated by meeting Indigenous partners while continuing to provide support and resources to support participation in coordination agreement discussions and the co-development of distinctions-based fiscal, policy and data strategies.

Given the issue and availability of sufficient environmental public health officers available to work with First Nations communities and continuing the work undertaken in 2021, ISC is working to implement a multi-year recruitment and retention strategy for Environmental Public Health Officers who work in and with First Nations Communities. The goal of this strategy is the promotion, recruitment and retention of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples into the environmental public health profession to work with Indigenous partners and their communities, with an additional focus on women. The strategy will be multi-pronged and include increasing awareness of the profession, supporting individuals in gaining the certification/education required, and retaining officers to work with and for First Nations Communities.

Results achieved

The following table shows results achieved for Health and Social Services, the performance indicators, targets, target dates for 2021–22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental Result 3: Indigenous Peoples and communities are healthier
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Active tuberculosis incidence rate among Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat Three-year average of 0 cases per 100,000 population March 2030
  • 200.0 (2015-2017)
  • 189.9 (2014-2016)
  • 181.3 (2014-2015)
211.2 (2016-2018)
  • 190.1 (2018-2020)1
  • 247.3 (2017-2019)
Active tuberculosis incidence rate among First Nations on reserve Three-year average of 22 cases per 100,000 population March 2028
  • 26.3 (2015-2017)
  • 26.5 (2014-2016)
  • 26.7 (2013-2015)
24.3 (2016-2018)
  • 17.3
    (2018-2020)1
  • 18.0
    (2017-2019)
Rate of newly reported cases of HIV among First Nations Three-year average of 19 cases per 100,000 population March 2028
  • 14.7 (2016-2018)
  • 13.4 (2015-2017)
  • 13.1 (2014-2016)2
13.7 (2017-2019) 13.1 (2018-2020)3
Percentage of First Nations adults with diabetes accessing newer, novel medications and not on insulin 20% March 2022 24.5% 29.8% 34.5%
1Latest tuberculosis data provided by the Canadian Tuberculosis Reporting System (CTBRS), Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010-2020. Note that the 2021-22 results reflect the three-year average rates from 2016-2020. The COVID-19 pandemic response has delayed the release of more recent data and the capacity to undertake the data analysis. The CTBRS is a case-based surveillance system that maintains non-nominal data on people diagnosed with active Tuberculosis (TB) disease in Canada. Data is collected annually from the provinces and territories, analyzed by the Public Health Agency of Canada, and validated by each province and territory. Note that this data does not include British Columbia from 2016 onwards.
2Year to year changes in reported rates are expected and can occur due to updates in the number of cases reported by provinces and territories. The 2019-20 results were previously reported as 15.0 (2016-2018); 13.6 (2015-2017); 13.2 (2014-2016).
3Latest HIV data provided by the National HIV/AIDS Surveillance System (HASS), PHAC, 2011-2020. The HASS system is a passive case-based surveillance system that collates data voluntarily submitted to PHAC from all provincial and territorial public health authorities. Note that this data should be interpreted with caution as it does not include British Columbia, Quebec, or Saskatchewan. Ethnicity data is either not reported by these provinces or not disaggregated by Indigenous subgroup. For 2020, HIV diagnosis data includes only first-time diagnoses. This is the first year where previously diagnosed cases (i.e., Out of Country, Out of Province) are excluded where possible. Data for previous years may still include previously diagnosed cases.
Departmental Result 4: Indigenous Peoples receive social services that respond to community needs
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Percentage of First Nations and Inuit communities with access to mental wellness team services 50% March 2022 50% Not available1 Not available1
Percentage of First Nations communities offering family support services aimed at keeping families together To be established with partners by March 20212 To be established with partners by March 20212 51% Not available1 Not available1
Percentage of First Nations children on reserve in care To be established with partners by March 20212 To be established with partners by March 20212 5.89% Not available1 Not available1
Percentage of residents living on reserve who are supported through Income Assistance To be established with partners by March 20233 To be established with partners by March 20233 Not available1 Not available1 Not available4
Number of individuals who received services under Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples To be established by March 20222 To be established by March 20222 Not available1 Not available1 Not available1
1Data collection was delayed due to COVID-19. It is anticipated reporting results will be finalized in 2022-23.
2The work to establish the target and date to achieve has been delayed due to COVID-19 and revised to be established by March 2023, as reported in the 2022-23 Departmental Plan. Efforts are underway to establish targets in the context of co-development and engagement with Indigenous partners rather than being set unilaterally.
3A national engagement process and joint technical working group with the Assembly of First Nations is underway to co-develop recommendations for reforming the program and will lead to establishing updated indicators and targets. In the meantime, the department will aim to decrease the percentage. Target and date to achieve have been revised as reported in the 2022-23 Departmental Plan and will be defined with First Nations partners by March 2023 through the evaluation response plan since the program is expected to undergo reforms and changes to indicators may occur. COVID-19 may also impact the timelines.
4Data compilation and reporting for this program is typically one year behind the year it covers, with the results only becoming available in the following fiscal year. COVID-19 impacted the collection of 2021-22 results and will likely further delay reporting of these results until September 2023. It is also anticipated that COVID-19 has also impacted the department's ability to decrease the percentage of residents living on reserve who are supported by Income Assistance.
Departmental Result 5: Indigenous students receive an inclusive and quality education
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Number of First Nations students who are provided full-day kindergarten services in First Nations administered schools To be established with partners by March 20231 To be established by March 20231 8,089 7,859 7,5872 
Percentage of students attending First Nations administered schools who are taught at least one subject in a First Nations language To be established with partners by March 20231 To be established by March 20231 82%3  90.7% 91.69%
Percentage of First Nations on reserve students who graduate from secondary school Interim target: increase percentage over time4

Final target to be established with partners by March 2023
To be established by March 20234  39.9% 36.8% 34.19%
Number of funded First Nations, Inuit, Métis Nations students who graduate with a post-secondary degree/diploma/certificate Interim target:

  • First Nations: 4,110-4,494
  • Inuit: 50
  • Métis: to be determined6
March 2025 3,602 1,4347 
  • First Nations: 1,1488
  • Inuit: 110
  • Métis: 1,2549
1The work to establish the target and date to achieve by March 2022 was delayed due to COVID-19 and revised to be established by March 2023 as reported in the 2022-23 Departmental Plan. Efforts are underway to establish targets in the context of co-development and engagement with Indigenous partners rather than being set unilaterally. In the interim, the department will aim to achieve an increase in the number/percentage year-over-year.
2The value includes students attending full-day kindergarten programs for children aged 4 and 5 years (K4 and K5).
3As of 2019-20, this indicator is collected in aggregate form rather than individual student data. As a result, 2019-20 is the first year of baseline data for the new method of collection for this indicator.
4The work to establish the target and date to achieve was to be established with partners by March 2023. However, 2021-22 is the final year of reporting against this indicator in this form. The indicator has been reframed effective 2022-23 and replaced by two distinct graduation rate indicators reflecting students who graduate "on time" (3 years after beginning Grade 10) or over an "extended term" (5 years after beginning Grade 10). An interim target will seek to increase percentage over time.
5As graduates from secondary school are identified in the following fiscal year, reporting reflects students from the previous academic year. The department is developing a new graduation rate methodology based on true cohort in response to the 2018 audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General. Baseline data first needs to be generated using this new methodology before targets can be established. Baseline data for this new methodology is expected to be generated during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
6This indicator has been reframed in 2022-23 to disaggregate these indicators by Indigenous Distinctions Groups as distinctions-based data is available. Targets to achieve will be established with partners by March 2023. In the interim, the department will aim to achieve an increase in the number year-over-year.
7At time of reporting, 42.5% of the First Nations Annual Register of Post-Secondary Education Students Report due or submitted had been moved to the Accepted (Final) state. Only data in the Accepted (Final) state have been used for this indicator. The data also include students funded to attend a program as part of the University and College Entrance Preparation Program.
8At time of reporting, 40.39% of the First Nations Annual Register of Post-Secondary Education Students Report due or submitted had been moved to the Accepted (Final) state. Only data in the Accepted (Final) state have been used for this indicator. The data also include students funded to attend a program as part of the University and College Entrance Preparation Program.
9As of 2022-23, ISC has disaggregated these indicators by Indigenous Distinctions Groups as distinctions-based data is available.
Performance information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase
Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows the 2021-22 budgetary spending for Health and Social Services, as well as actual spending for that year.

2021–22
Main Estimates
2021–22
Planned spending
2021–22
Total authorities available for use
2021–22
Actual spending (authorities used)
2021–22
Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
5,837,808,255 5,837,808,255 11,152,576,723 8,671,955,198 2,834,146,943
Financial information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.
Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021–22.

2021–22
Planned full-time equivalents
2021–22
Actual full-time equivalents
2021–22
Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
1,538 1,800 262
Human resources information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Governance and Community Development Services

These services are commonly delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and institutions and are focused on strong community governance and physical foundations. They include supports for governance capacity in areas such as community planning and financial management. They also include support for investments in community infrastructure, land and resource management, and economic development.

Results:

To achieve progress in this area, the department focused on the following four Departmental Results:

  • Indigenous communities advance their governance capacity
  • Indigenous Peoples have reliable and sustainable infrastructure
  • Land and resources in Indigenous communities are sustainably managed
  • Indigenous communities build economic prosperity
Departmental Result 6: Indigenous communities advance their governance capacity

ISC supported Indigenous communities to implement and develop strong, effective, sustainable governments in support of Canada's constitutional and statutory obligations. Work was done to develop a more robust and integrated working relationship between Indigenous communities and provincial/territorial governments. As a basis for this relationship, principles were proposed for coordinating federal/provincial/territorial support to closing the gap and Indigenous service delivery including responsibility for service populations; sharing fiscal responsibility; federal legislation displacing provincial/territorial, organizational and governance capacity; and priorities for service transfer.

In 2021-22, ISC continued to uphold and implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action #57 through the delivery of Indigenous Community Development training to federal employees to enhance cultural competency in the federal public service. Specific to ISC's Indigenous Cultural Competency Learning Policy, employees at all levels were mandated to complete Indigenous cultural competency learning as part of their performance management.

The department supported First Nations seeking to convert from the Indian Act election regime to First Nations Elections Act or customary code regimes. In 2021-22, nine First Nations completed conversions and now conduct their elections using legal frameworks that are responsive to their communities' needs and aspirations.

Departmental Result 7: Indigenous Peoples have reliable and sustainable infrastructure

In addition to increasing governance capacity, community development requires reliable and sustainable infrastructure in order to provide a platform capable of supporting healthy communities.

Water and Wastewater

The 2021 Speech from the Throne stated that reconciliation requires a whole-of-government approach and to rethink how to accelerate our work, including eliminating all remaining long-term drinking water advisories. The commitment to taking action was further supported through the Minister's mandate in December 2021 which directed the elimination of all remaining long-term drinking water advisories on reserve and long-term investments to prevent future advisories.

In 2021-22, ISC worked in partnership with First Nations communities towards eliminating all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves. From April 2021 to March 2022, 25 long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves were lifted; 34 long-term drinking water advisories remained in effect in 29 communities.

Although COVID-19 restrictions caused supply chain delays and access issues, ISC continued to support continuity of water and wastewater services in First Nations communities throughout the pandemic, including continued work to lift additional drinking water advisories.

Budget 2021 provided $1.04 billion over two years, starting in 2022–23, for the First Nations Water and Wastewater Enhanced Program. This funding supports ongoing activities such as planning, procurement, construction, and commissioning of water and wastewater capital projects for new builds as well as system repairs and upgrades in First Nations communities. As of March 31, 2022, ISC invested more than $2.68 billion of targeted funds to support 950 water and wastewater projects, of which 464 (or 49%) are complete. These projects will benefit 586 communities serving approximately 466,000 people.

All water and wastewater assets have operations and maintenance formulas that are being funded at 100 per cent including considerations for remoteness and are scheduled for annual updates to account for factors that impact costs.

In December 2021, the Federal Court and the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba jointly approved an agreement to settle class action litigation related to safe drinking water in First Nations communities. As part of the settlement agreement, the Government of Canada committed to making all reasonable efforts to introduce legislation to repeal the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act by March 31, 2022, and to develop and introduce replacement legislation, in consultation with First Nations, by December 31, 2022. In March 2022, ISC led virtual engagement with key Indigenous groups and organizations on the proposed legislative repeal. Unanimous support was expressed by First Nations participants for the proposed repeal.

The department also signed a framework agreement with the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for water and wastewater services.

Housing

Access to adequate housing is a key social determinant of health. The safety, suitability, quality, and location of dwellings impact the wellness of individuals and families that live there. These effects, which compound on a community-wide scale, impact the socioeconomic well-being of each community.

The Assembly of First Nations projected the 2021 on reserve infrastructure gap for housing alone to be about $43.7 billion, based on robust data collection project among First Nations on reserve. The Government's commitment to close the infrastructure gap by 2030 was supported through the Minister's mandate to make immediate and long-term investments to support ongoing work, with a particular focus on expediting investments in Indigenous housing.

Since 2016, over $1.24 billion has been invested to address immediate housing needs and advance First Nations' housing priorities on reserve. With funding support from ISC and Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation, as of December 31, 2021, First Nations initiated the construction, renovation and retrofitting of 25,102 homes on reserves, of which 17,432 (or 69%) have been completed.

Health Facilities

Investments in health facility infrastructure through expansion, renovation and/or new construction on reserve increase access to health care programs and services. Across all demographics, upgraded health facilities enable First Nations communities to provide enhanced health programs and services to its members, thus reducing the necessity for individuals to leave their community in search of care. Many First Nations communities suffer from disproportionately high rates of chronic disease, and other factors, such as overcrowding, can exacerbate the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. Investments in health facility infrastructure are crucial to mitigating against the effect of chronic disease and the pandemic.

ISC worked with communities to identify priorities and allocate funding announced in Budget 2021 to capital projects related to First Nations community infrastructure, midwifery, health professional accommodations, Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care, and health infrastructure operations and maintenance funding. This included 19 major capital projects for a total of $20.1 million. These supported the planning, design, and construction of First Nations health facilities in support of First Nations' community infrastructure. This included continued funding and implementation of the Social Infrastructure Fund, substance use treatment and prevention services, Indigenous Community Infrastructure Fund, and the Ventilation Improvement Initiative in relation to COVID-19 mitigation. In supporting pandemic response efforts in First Nations communities, ISC supported more than 426 COVID-19 Surge Health Infrastructure initiatives, including: funding the acquisition of more than 183 mobile structures, identifying more than 19 existing community spaces that could be upgraded, or re-tooled to provide additional protections to clients and staff, and more than 111 smaller building repairs, upgrades and small site servicing projects to create safe and operational spaces.

ISC's support of First Nations' health infrastructure was underscored through multiyear capital projects and high priority repairs. Since 2016, ISC has supported 221 investments in health support infrastructure, addictions treatment centres, and Aboriginal Head Start on Reserve sites. A total of 204 (or 92%) of these projects were completed by March 31, 2022. This included supporting the Norway House Cree Nation to construct a Health Centre of Excellence, which is expected to be substantially completed in January 2023.

ISC established agreements with the communities and works in collaboration with the province of Ontario to strengthen tri-lateral partnerships for the construction of Mercury Treatment Centres in two First Nations communities affected by mercury contamination – Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (ANA) and Wabaseemoong First Nations (WIN). In 2021-22, the department made strides towards supporting both communities in the construction and governance of the community-led mercury treatment centres.

Additionally, a new water treatment plant will accompany the Mercury Care Home in ANA. In 2021-22, WIN began conducting their Community Health Assessment to inform the health services and supports that will be provided at the Mercury Treatment Centre. Upon the completion of ANA's Mercury Care Home and WIN's Mercury Wellness Centre, the department anticipates the socio-economic gaps caused by mercury-related needs will be reduced, allowing community members access to health services and supports for mercury-related needs. The provision of health services and programs in the mercury centres are expected to be managed by ANA and WIN respectively, aligning with the department's mandate to transfer programs and services to Indigenous partners.

Education Facilities

The pandemic emphasized the need for safe and enhanced infrastructure in schools. The Government of Canada committed to investing $2.34 billion until 2024-25 in First Nations School Facilities including $22.5 million to be delivered through ISC to improve ventilation in public buildings on reserves to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, a portion of which is reflected under School Facilities.

In 2021-22, ISC has improved educational facilities which benefit school-aged First Nations children by supporting the creation of quality learning environments that are safe and healthy, promoting better educational outcomes for students living on reserve. This can translate into future socio-economic benefits for these individuals as they enter the workforce. These investments include new constructions as well as additions, renovations and major repairs to existing schools in First Nations communities.

For example, the new Harvey Redsky Memorial School, completed in 2021-22, allows the kindergarten to grade 8 students of Shoal Lake No. 40 First Nation the opportunity to attend school in their own community. The building, which resembles an eagle in flight, was designed to be a vibrant and active community hub as well, with a large community kitchen and gymnasium.

Other examples of schools completed in 2021-22 include Mantou Sakahigan Kiskinamakewikamik in God's Lake First Nation and Manto Sipi Cree Nation School in Manto Sipi Cree Nation, Manitoba, Elsipogtog First Nation Community School in Elsipogtog, New Brunswick, and the Tus Tuk ee Skaws Junior and Senior High School in Frog Lake and Chief Aranazhi School in Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, Alberta.

Since 2016 and as of March 31, 2022, the department has invested more than $1.53 billion of targeted funds excluding operating expenses to support 247 school-related infrastructure projects (169 are complete). These projects will result in the construction or renovation of 195 schools (135 are complete). These include the construction of 68 new schools, (42 are complete); and renovations or upgrades to 127 existing schools (93 are complete).

Other Community Infrastructure and Activities

Other Community Infrastructure is central to the development, protection, and connection of the buildings, services and people that make up a community. It connects people with basic services and ensures that infrastructure such as housing, schools, water treatment, health facilities and solid waste management facilities and programs can serve the community. In 2021-22, ISC continued to invest in Other Community Infrastructure in First Nations communities including energy systems, connectivity, fire protection, roads and bridges, structural mitigation against natural disasters, cultural and recreational facilities, band administrative buildings and planning and skills development. These investments play a key role in growing strong, sustainable community economies that suit the needs of First Nations communities. Since 2016 and as of March 31, 2022, ISC has invested more than $1.61 billion of targeted funds to support 2,489 Other Community Infrastructure projects, 1,668 (or 67%) of which are complete. These projects will benefit 611 communities, serving approximately 469,000 people, with the potential to positively impact service delivery in areas such as health and education. In addition, the department:

  • Supported First Nations communities to plan and implement projects that reduce dependence on diesel-powered electricity on reserves, such as the construction of the Ahtaapq Creek Hydropower facility project to generate power for the Hesquiaht First Nations community in British Columbia. With the completion of this project, there are currently 37 remaining First Nations communities that rely on ISC-funded diesel for electricity generation.
  • Worked in partnership with 16 remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario to connect them to the provincial electricity grid. This First Nations-led and owned Northern Ontario Grid Connection Project (also known as the Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project) will provide clean, safe and reliable energy that will positively impact the health and safety of community members and expand infrastructure and economic development opportunities for the communities involved.
  • Supported Peerless Trout First Nation, Alberta, in the construction of two towers and facilities in order to expand cellular wireless mobility. Cellular mobility coverage will be available in the residential areas of Peerless Trout First Nation, Peerless Lake and Trout Lake, and on Highway 686.
  • Supported the Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation and the province of Saskatchewan to build, the first of three phases for an all-season road that provides year-round access to Hatchet Lake and the provincial hamlet of Wollaston Lake. Currently, access to the community is by ice road in winter, provincial ferry (barge) in summer, and by air year-round.
  • Supported the Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario to advance detailed relocation studies as well as interim infrastructure repairs in Kashechewan's current location, including community drainage upgrades. The community is situated 6.5 metres above the normal river level and is vulnerable to ice-jam flooding each spring when the ice breaks up, as well as to localized flooding due to poor drainage.
  • Supported Bunibonibee Cree Nation in the construction of a new band office. The First Nation's band office was torn down six years ago, as its site was contaminated, and the community has had to share office space with its health office.
  • Provided over $154 million to First Nations communities through the Response & Recovery funding stream, including 77 First Nations communities who were impacted by an unprecedented fire season with over 15,000 First Nations evacuees. Additional funds were provided to support the unprecedented flood events in 2021. ISC provided funding for 188 non-structural mitigation projects and 94 FireSmart projects. In addition, ISC worked with other departments, programs and partners to identify linkages and address gaps within emergency management planning and mitigation. The department also supported 92 emergency management coordinator notional positions for building capacity specifically through the Building-Capacity funding stream.
Departmental Result 8: Land and resources in Indigenous communities are sustainably managed

In 2021-22, ISC fulfilled an important role in protecting the environment for First Nations communities through the First Nations Waste Management Initiative. The department invested $95.5 million in strong and reliable infrastructure for on-reserve solid waste management services, resulting in 205 First Nations communities with improved waste management infrastructure (i.e., landfills and/or transfer stations upgraded or constructed) as of March 31, 2022. This includes 133 communities with completed projects, and 72 communities with ongoing projects remaining to be completed. There are now 403 First Nations communities with diversion programs, this comprised of 250 communities diverting Household Hazardous Waste and an additional 153 communities diverting other materials (e.g., paper, plastics, composting, etc.). ISC also invested $46 million through the Contaminated Sites on Reserve Program to undertake assessment activities on 63 sites and remediation activities on 173 contaminated sites situated on reserves. With the implementation of the Impact Assessment Act, ISC conducted more than 650 environmental reviews of projects on reserves and invested $4 million in continued support of the Indigenous Center for Cumulative Effects for its ongoing operations, including funding for 35 community-based projects to support the assessment, monitoring and management of cumulative effects by Indigenous communities.

In 2021-22, ISC focused its efforts on ensuring First Nations communities could more effectively manage lands and natural resources to leverage community and economic development opportunities. This was executed by supporting 16 new signatories to the Framework Agreement on First Nations Land Management and a further three communities voted to approve and became operational under their land codes. ISC provided ongoing support to 69 First Nations who continue to develop their Land Use Plans with two communities completing their Land Use Plans in 2021-22. As well, ISC provided support to train and certify five land managers through the Professional Land Management Certification Program, delivered by the National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association. ISC updated over two-thirds of policies in the Land Management Manual in collaboration with Indigenous partners to better support First Nations in the management of lands under the Indian Act. The modernization of these policies works to reduce barriers and streamline processes to enable First Nations to take greater control of the management of their lands and resources, while contributing to greater economic development and increased socio-economic outcomes on reserve. The department also supported four new communities to participate in the Reserve Land and Environment Management capacity building program to facilitate increased land governance autonomy, bringing the total to 127 program participants. ISC worked with partners to ensure the continued implementation of the matrimonial real property transition strategy, which included the integration of the Centre of Excellence for Matrimonial Real Property's activities into the National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association.

ISC completed the development of the new National Additions to Reserve Tracking System, the Integrated Environment Management System and initiated the modernization of ISC's geomatics capabilities. New innovative information management/information technology systems via a First Nations portal now supports the department's mandate of empowering Indigenous Peoples to independently deliver services and address the socio-economic conditions in their communities, improving First Nations access to high quality services, and supporting First Nations in assuming control of the delivery of services. Due to COVID-19, some First Nations chose to delay progress on Land Use Planning and training initiatives, however, further advancements and participation are expected in 2023-24.

Departmental Result 9: Indigenous communities build economic prosperity

Indigenous businesses play an important role in creating jobs and opportunities across Canada. The national network of Indigenous Financial Institutions, including Métis Capital Corporations, launches and grows these important businesses. In order to ensure that Indigenous businesses have access to financing, the government announced in Budget 2019 the development of an Indigenous Growth Fund. Through close collaboration between the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association and the Business Development Bank of Canada, an innovative, sustainable new $150 million fund has now been created. As announced on April 14, 2021, the Indigenous Growth Fund is designed to provide capital to Indigenous Financial Institutions and ultimately Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs. The unique structure leverages an initial government investment to help recruit other investors, and most importantly, to grow and sustain the fund on an ongoing basis. This will help to provide a long-term source of capital to support continued success for Indigenous businesses.

In 2021-22, ISC continued to work with Indigenous-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and the tourism sector to support long-term growth for Indigenous-led businesses. Investments made in Budget 2021 will help support this work:

  • $42 million over three years to expand the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program to support for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis entrepreneurs by creating access to affordable loans for Indigenous entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses;
  • $22 million over a three-year period to support the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association's (NACCA) Indigenous Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative by providing tools, services and resources to increase the number of Indigenous women entrepreneurs. Indigenous women entrepreneurs face more barriers including lower average financial literacy, greater family responsibilities and negative interactions with mainstream lenders and financial institutions. This funding would support NACCA's target of increasing the number of Indigenous women entrepreneurs who access financing through Indigenous Financial Institutions by 50 percent; and $2.4 million to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada to help the Indigenous tourism industry rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

In 2021-22, ISC continued to support the implementation of the mandatory requirement for federal departments and agencies to ensure a minimum of 5 % of the total value of contracts are held by Indigenous businesses. ISC is doing this through the implementation of the renewed Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, the development and implementation of guidance material on planning and reporting against the minimum 5% target, the implementation of contracting obligations within Modern Treaty Areas and through partnerships with other federal organizations and Indigenous partners to create new outreach and engagement strategies. There are ongoing efforts to co-develop a longer term more transformative Indigenous procurement strategy, in collaboration with Indigenous partners.

Gender-based analysis Plus

Work advanced under this pillar supports addressing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls' Call National Inquiry Call for Justice 4.1, which calls for governments to ensure that Indigenous Peoples have access to safe housing, clean drinking water and adequate food. It also contributes to Call to Justice 3.2 to provide funding for Indigenous-centered and community-based health and wellness services that are accessible and culturally appropriate, and meet the health and wellness needs of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

Impacts of social determinants of health are intertwined with access to reliable and sustainable infrastructure in Indigenous communities. Increasing availability of high quality, suitable housing options supports improving well-being outcomes for all community members, especially sub-populations facing the greatest barriers, including women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people; people with disabilities and/or chronic health conditions; children; and elders. This was particularly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the lack of housing led to overcrowding in homes and made the spread of illness difficult to manage. For multi-generational households, this placed them more at risk to transmission due to the lack of ability to self-isolate. This had implications for increasing the risk of vulnerable populations such as the immunocompromised, elders or young children living in overcrowded homes.

Insufficient access to adequate housing is a significant risk factor which puts Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people at a far higher risk for targeted physical, sexual and emotional violence, and domestic abuse. Lack of housing also increases these groups' risk of experiencing homelessness and exploitation, which contributes to the ongoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis.

As housing gaps are addressed, the additional demand for water and wastewater infrastructure must be considered to support growth to avoid creating a further strain on already insufficient infrastructure. The lack of access to clean water will further exacerbate the issues and impact all community members living on reserve, regardless of age, income status, or gender.

Improving access to clean water has important positive impacts in the context of social determinants of health and closing gaps for sub-populations facing the greatest barriers including individuals with disproportionate caretaking responsibilities, often women and/or single parents; low-income households; people who are pregnant or have underlying health conditions; disabled people; elders; and children. Boiling water or transporting bottled water can add hours to simple caregiving tasks, such as bathing and other personal hygiene, cleaning, cooking, preparing infant formulas, and/or doing the laundry. Additionally, boiling water or transporting bottled water requires additional labour that can be especially challenging for children, elders and persons with disabilities. Furthermore, costs associated with boiling water or purchasing bottled water disproportionately impact low-income households. Labour and resources which can be redirected away from accessing clean water to other priorities may also advance well-being, such as by pursuing education or purchasing more nutritious food.

In 2021-22, ISC and its federal partners supported and engaged Indigenous organizations to collect data on vulnerable sub-populations to understand the barriers they face, identify program and service gaps, and co-develop solutions to address them. Positive impacts on the type of housing, housing conditions, and availability of housing for all community members are influenced by increased economic self-sufficiency, self-determination and a self-reliant economic base, and is supported by programming which improves housing conditions and ultimately transfers the control and management of housing services to First Nations.

The Health Facilities Program continued to enhance its pre-capital process, including increasing direct engagement with First Nations recipients on the expected outcomes associated with new health infrastructure projects, such as how improvements are expected to address current health service needs. This will allow the program and First Nations recipients to better identify potential GBA Plus considerations related to health infrastructure projects, and which relevant data could be collected by First Nations to track performance.

The department continues its work to diversify the working landscape in water operations through engagement work with First Nations women and youth. A call for proposals launched in the spring of 2022, to identify innovative projects for 2022-23 that build capacity of water and wastewater operators, included a focus specific to diversity and cultural considerations. The call sought to support initiatives to empower women and youth, integrate and promote traditional water teachings with water science, and further safe working environments for 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

Work undertaken in collaboration with First Nations partners, as well as provinces and territories, to support effective response and recovery efforts following emergency events benefits impacted communities holistically by meeting immediate needs during an emergency event and promoting longer term recovery and resilience. These benefits are especially clear for sub-populations most at risk during emergency events, including women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, people with disabilities, children, and elders.

To the extent possible, ISC applies an intersectional, distinctions-based lens to evaluations. For example, in the case in the Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Business Development program evaluation, a distinctions-based lens was applied to the designing of the evaluation Technical Advisory Committees to ensure that representation on the committee reflects the diverse knowledge and experience of partners involved in the program.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2021-22, ISC contributed to Canada's implementation of the 2030 Agenda – Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

SDG 4 – Quality education
As of March 31, 2022, ISC has invested more than $1.53 billion to support school related infrastructure projects. These projects will result in the construction or renovation of schools, benefitting approximately 34,000 students. These projects will also be beneficial because the investments aim to upgrade existing facilities to ensure they are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.
SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation
In 2021-22, ISC worked towards availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. ISC continued work with the Assembly of First Nations to advance First Nation-led engagement on safe drinking water legislation aligns with the SDG goal. As of March 31, 2022, ISC has invested more than $2.68 billion of targeted funds (excluding operating expenses) to support 950 water and wastewater projects, of which 464 (or 48%) are complete. These projects will benefit 586 communities serving approximately 466,000 people. First Nations, with support from Indigenous Services Canada, lifted 25 long-term drinking water advisories between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.
SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy:
ISC is supporting First Nations to transition from fossil fuel to clean, reliable and affordable energy systems through a combination of alternative energy projects featuring solar, hydroelectric, wind and others. Budget 2021 committed $36 million, over three years, starting in 2021-22, through the Strategic Partnerships Initiative to build capacity for local, economically sustainable clean energy projects in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. With this funding, the Strategic Partnerships Initiative has stood up clean energy initiatives in Atlantic, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia (renewal), as well as entered into a partnership with Indigenous Clean Energy social enterprise. This investment plays a complementary and enabling role in the advancement of Canada's Strengthened Climate Plan and Indigenous Climate Leadership agenda, specifically as it relates to the co-development and co-implementation of regional and community clean energy initiatives. ISC is also supporting communities to improve and optimize energy systems through upgrades and energy efficiency projects. As of March 31, 2022, $289.5 million has been invested to support 169 Energy Systems projects, 114 (or 67%) of which are complete. These projects will benefit 177 communities serving approximately 193,000 people.
SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth:
In continuation of support to help Indigenous entrepreneurs, communities, and businesses recover from the impacts of COVID-19, starting in 2021-22 the budget announced $42 million over three years to expand the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program; $2.4 million to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada; and, $117 million to renew the Indigenous Community Business Fund.
SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
ISC collaborates with other government department s affiliated with connectivity infrastructure projects and as of March 31, 2022, will have invested over $79.6 million of targeted funds to support 41 of these projects, 26 (or 63%) of which are complete. Connectivity projects will benefit 285 communities servicing approximately 297,000 people by working to provide increased internet speeds which will provide significant improvements in how First Nations participate in the modern digital economy, allow effective operation and maintenance of vital community education, and emergency and public safety services. Sustainable and reliable broadband connectivity is the key basic element for modernizing community-level health services delivery (especially virtual care tools) in First Nations communities. The better the connectivity, the better the quality and range of virtual care services available to communities. Increased speeds will provide significant improvements in how First Nations participate in the digital economy, allow for the effective operation and maintenance of vital community infrastructure, and enhance the delivery of important socio-economic services such as healthcare.
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities:
ISC is supporting First Nations communities and organizations to build safe, inclusive housing through funding support for capacity and skills development among community residents, on-reserve housing professionals and service providers, and First Nations governance organizations, including Band and Council. Support is also provided for renovation, construction, lot servicing and development, as well as for innovation. Ensuring First Nations communities have culturally appropriate, supportive and transitional housing for elders, people fleeing violence and members of all ages returning to community from educational, health or custodial settings are all important facets of bridging the housing gap. ISC supports access to different types of housing along the continuum in communities, which increases chances for healing and rehabilitation while keeping families intact. The Other Community Infrastructure and Activities program provides funding to First Nations on reserves for infrastructure projects to improve resiliency and sustainability, such as planning and skills development, energy systems and structural mitigation, amongst others, which are tailored to the needs of the community, comparable to off reserve communities. Since 2016 and as of March 31, 2022, ISC has invested more than $1.13 billion of targeted funds to support 1,402 Other Community Infrastructure projects, 878 of which are complete.
SDG 13 – Climate action:
In 2021-22, the Emergency Management Assistance Program provided funding for 188 non-structural mitigation projects, 94 FireSmart projects, and for 92 emergency management coordinator notional positions. The Other Community Infrastructure and Activities program supports SDG 13 through target 13.1 by investing in infrastructure projects that modify hazards, including removing, reducing or eliminating them, segregating hazards by keeping them away from people and assets, and altering the design and construction of assets to make them resilient to potential hazards. Since 2016 and as of March 31, 2022, ISC has invested $121.1 million to support 102 Structural Mitigation projects, 58 (or 57%) of which are complete. These projects will benefit 106 communities serving approximately 116,000 people.
Result-based Innovation

In 2018, ISC launched a procurement pilot project in two First Nations communities: Semiahmoo, British Columbia and Shoal Lake, Ontario. As part of the project, Indigenous specific tenders were used as a procurement tool, where only Indigenous firms were permitted to bid on projects in the two participating communities. Joint ventures were permitted should participating communities wish to partner with larger construction companies to bid on projects. The Semiahmoo project concluded in 2022 and the preliminary findings found that the procurement tool not only enhanced the local employment opportunities, but also supported the advancement of self-determination. Semiahmoo also concluded that their participation in the project built on their capacity for bidding on larger projects through the joint venture approach.

To further support First Nations' control of education, ISC co-developed updates to the education infrastructure policy in partnership with the Assembly of First Nations, and in consultation with regional First Nations. The co-developed policy update addressed infrastructure issues identified by First Nations and provided policy guidance that better suits First Nations' education needs. For example, the updated policy allows for more spaces to accommodate cultural and language activities. It enables building of school facilities on reserve that are more comparable with provincial school standards.

Completed projects include the Central Urban Métis Federation's Round Prairie Lodge and the Pikangikum Community Safe Village. The Round Prairie Elders Lodge, which received $2.5 million in funding from ISC is a 3-storey complex with 26 one-bedroom units. The facility offers wrap-around health and cultural supports enabling Métis seniors to live independently in an environment that provides services to address age-related challenges. The Pikangikum Community Safe Village received $2.2 million in funding for eight residential units that provide safe, transitional, emergency housing with professional and culturally sensitive support for community members escaping violence. These facilities also include six hotel units accessible from a separate entrance for those visiting and generate revenue to support the operation and maintenance of the Community Safe Village.

Key Risks

ISC has taken all possible measures to monitor, assess, prevent, mitigate, and respond to risks as needed throughout 2021-22. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, First Nations, particularly in remote locations, faced supply issues, limited contractor availability, and market saturation which can delay funding implementation. The current global shortage for supplies, equipment, and capacity, due to the pandemic, posed a risk that could impact project schedules, and the ability to meet previously established target lift dates for the remaining long-term drinking water advisories. Compounded by the pandemic measures in place, resource shortages had the potential to delay the implementation of various infrastructure projects and significantly impact forecasted project costs.

To combat the issues of the global shortage, plans are in place to support the continuity of water and wastewater services throughout the pandemic, including work to eliminate drinking water advisories. Work is also underway to identify policy and financial reforms to improve service delivery. Funding will be managed in a way to allow for capacity building and project readiness in communities. Early work will focus on broader need assessments followed by community-specific plans.

There was also a risk that Indigenous businesses' recovery could be delayed if support funding was not allocated in a timely manner. To address this, ISC has worked towards developing innovative and alternative financing models to enable First Nations to leverage both community and federal funding through loans, co-investment and investment trusts/funds.

Results achieved

The following table shows results achieved for Governance and Community Development Services, the performance indicators, targets, target dates for 2021–22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental Result 6: Indigenous communities advance their governance capacity
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Percentage of First Nations with a completed community-led plan 48%1 March 2024 37% 37% 39%
1The program will be revising the target in the future to reflect updated projections of the effects of the pandemic, including its impacts on the community-led planning process at the community level.
Departmental Result 7: Indigenous Peoples have reliable and sustainable infrastructure
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019-20
Actual results
2020-21
Actual results
2021-22
Actual results
Number of long-term drinking water advisories affecting public water systems on reserve 0 Initiative underway1 61 53 342
Percentage of First Nations housing that is adequate as assessed and reported by First Nations 75% March 2022 72.7% 72.6%3 Not available4
Percentage of First Nations schools with a condition rating of "good" or "new" 60%5 March 2025 59% 53% 54%6
Percentage of First Nations health facilities with a condition rating of "good" 70% March 2022 87% 84% 84%7
Number of First Nations communities located on reserves that rely on ISC funded diesel for electricity generation 24 March 2025 38 38 37
Percentage of long-term evacuees who have returned home or have a scheduled date within two years after their evacuation 90% March 2022 82.7% 90% 69.5%8
1The Government of Canada continues to work in partnership with communities and remains committed to ending all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserve as soon as possible. Initiatives are underway to address all remaining long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserve. A new date to achieve the target has not been set. ISC continues to actively work with First Nations to address drinking water issues, including by assessing timelines, estimating appropriate target dates, and advancing projects in a way that respects public health measures.
2Since November 2015, and as of March 31, 2022, 131 long-term drinking water advisories for public systems on reserve have been lifted by First Nations with support from Indigenous Services Canada, and 34 long-term drinking water advisories remain in effect in 29 communities.
3The 2020-21 result was previously unavailable and has since been calculated as 72.6%. While First Nations populations grew, and new builds and repairs were completed, the overall adequacy rate, remained virtually the same as in 2019-20. The result should be considered in light of the limits placed by public health measures aimed at preventing, controlling and containing COVID-19 in First Nations communities. The percentage of First Nations housing that is assessed as adequate is below target as a result of COVID, during which First Nations housing and health teams were focused on immediate shelter-related priorities to reduce risk of transmission among vulnerable populations. Planned construction and renovation was also frequently delayed as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on the supply and costs of labor and materials, and related services.
4The result for 2021-22 will be based on finalized data from the Community Infrastructure and Housing Annual Report in December 2022. Actual results will be available in early 2023 and reported in the 2023-24 Departmental Results Report.
5The target was revised from 65% to 60% in the 2021-22 Departmental Plan to reflect a new methodology. In previous years, all schools were captured, including schools not supported by the Education Infrastructure Program. The methodology was revised to only capture ISC-supported schools. The new target also takes into account the COVID-19 impacts where construction sites have either closed or slowed down, delaying a number of projects and increasing their overall delivery costs.
6This includes all ISC-supported band-operated, federal, private, and self-governing schools. It does not include provincial schools. A large clean-up of all school asset data was completed at the beginning of 2021 to correct classifications of school assets. As a result, the baseline for 2020-21 was changed slightly. The new methodology, combined with the data cleanup, explains the apparent drop in the results from 59% to 53% in 2020-21 and 54% in 2021-22.
7The 3-year timeframe covered for this reporting period includes inspections completed between 2018-19 to 2020-21 (207) through the Asset Condition Reporting System process.
8Most of the long-term evacuees who do not yet have repatriation dates scheduled are from the British Columbia Atmospheric River event which had widespread and catastrophic impacts, extending the time necessary for repatriation. Of the 367 long-term evacuees from 2021-22, 112 have not returned home and do not have a scheduled repatriation date.
Departmental Result 8: Land and resources in Indigenous communities are sustainably managed
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Percentage of First Nations with community-led Land use plans 27% March 2022 24% 24.6% 24.7%1
Percentage of First Nations communities with adequate solid waste management systems 37% March 2022 23% 37.3% 34.6%2
Percentage of high risk contaminated sites on reserve where clean-up or containment is occurring to reduce risk 41% March 2022 41% 29% 34.9%3
1COVID-19 has delayed the development and community approval of plans over the past year. There are an additional 69 plans that are currently in development further to the 157 that have been completed.
2Through consultation with regional offices and analysis of available data, the numbers used to calculate this indicator have been adjusted. A number of communities were added to the calculation to take into account First Nations that have several sites that require separate waste management systems. This explains the apparent drop in results.
3In 2021-22, due to a recent change expanding the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan eligibility guidelines, which now supports multiple sites in a community (low, medium and high risk) being addressed, the Contaminated Sites On Reserve Program was unable to concentrate all efforts and resources towards the remediation of only high-risk contaminated sites.
Departmental Result 9: Indigenous communities build economic prosperity
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20 Actual results 2020–21 Actual results 2021–22 Actual results
Percentage increase of Indigenous businesses created and/or expanded 2% March 2022 -6.3% -6.92%1 Not available2
Percentage of First Nations communities where non-government revenues represent 25% or more of total revenues 18%3 March 2022 Not available4 67%4 68.2%4
1This indicator was reframed in 2021-22 to measure the percentage increase of businesses created and/or expanded; previously measured the number of business created and/or expanded. The demand for support for Indigenous business development fluctuates from year to year. Although there has been positive growth over several years, there may be decreases in any given year. The pandemic has impacted 2020-21 results and Indigenous businesses will likely feel ripple effects into 2022-23. It is anticipated reporting results will be finalized in 2022-23.
2Reporting is dependent on the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA), Indigenous Financial Institutions, and the Métis Capital Corporations who administer and deliver the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program, which has been devolved to NACCA since 2015. As per the AEP's recent shift to a distinctions-based approach, a portion of the AEP is now also managed by five Métis Capital Corporations. This is the first year MCCs were expected to report on results independently from NACCA. Not all MCCs have reported back for 2021-22 due to delays brought on by the pandemic. In addition, the establishment of the Association of Métis Capital Corporations, which would help report on MCC activities is not yet established.
3The target was originally published as 18% in the 2021-22 Departmental Plan, however, the program is considering a revision for 2023-24 to better reflect the level of the calculated results over the past 2 years. Starting 2023-24, this indicator will no longer be reported at the Departmental Result level. A new target will be reported at the Program level.
4Data compilation and reporting for this program is typically one year behind the year it covers, with the results only becoming available in the following fiscal year. 2020-21 was the first active year for this indicator where a 67% baseline was established using 2019-20 data. The 2021-22 result is based on data from 2020-21.
Performance information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.
Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows the 2021-22 budgetary spending for Governance and Community Development Services, as well as actual spending for that year.

2021–22 Main Estimates 2021–22 Planned spending 2021–22
Total authorities available for use
2021–22
Actual spending
(authorities used)
2021–22
Difference
(Actual spending minus Planned spending)
3,069,685,325 3,069,685,325 6,036,761,074 5,327,660,547 2,257,975,222
Financial information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.
Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021–22.


2021–22
Planned full-time equivalents
2021–22
Actual full-time equivalents
2021–22
Difference
(Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
1,410 1,658 248

Human resources information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Indigenous Self-Determined Services

These services are designed and delivered by Indigenous Peoples for Indigenous Peoples. They include services for which the control, authority and/or jurisdiction has been formally transferred to Indigenous communities or organizations, as supported through departmental funding.

Results:

To achieve progress in this area, the department focused on the following two Departmental Results:

  • Indigenous Peoples control the design, delivery and management of services
  • Indigenous self-determined services are improving outcomes for communities
Departmental Result 10: Indigenous Peoples control the design, delivery and management of services

ISC is committed to furthering the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and ensuring Indigenous communities and organizations have autonomy and jurisdiction to design and deliver services. The department aligns with the Department of Indigenous Services Act by changing how the rights and needs of the Indigenous Peoples are addressed and facilitating the gradual transfer of departmental responsibilities to Indigenous partners.

The New Fiscal Relationship Grant provides First Nations with funding stability and flexibility to design programs tailored to community needs, while significantly reducing reporting requirements. In 2021-22, six First Nations joined the Grant, totaling 117 First Nations participating. The department anticipates interest in the Grant to increase in years to come.

To ensure that funding for core programs and services provided through the Grant keeps up with key cost drivers, Budget 2021 allocated $2.7 billion over 10 years, starting in 2021-22, for funding escalation based on inflation and the population of each community, with a minimum of 2 per cent annual growth. This will strengthen communities' ability to design and deliver services in a manner that reflects community priorities. In 2021-22, the funding escalator provided an additional $13.5 million to the 111 First Nations eligible for escalation.

ISC has collaborated with partners to continue building the New Fiscal Relationship with First Nations and address the recommendations of the Assembly of First Nations-ISC Joint Advisory Committee on Fiscal Relations including co-development of options for the replacement of the Default Prevention and Management Policy. Engagement with First Nations on options to replace the policy has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, guiding principles for a new collaborative and capacity development-led approach to default management have been developed, supported by pilot projects led by the First Nations Financial Management Board.

Departmental Result 11: Indigenous self-determined services are improving outcomes for communities

In 2021–22, ISC continued to work towards increasing the transfer of self-determined services. This provides greater control over the design, delivery and management of services, increasing the flexibility for Indigenous Peoples to address specific local community needs.

Data governance and management is an important part of measuring and tracking outcomes of specific programs and initiatives in Indigenous communities. ISC continued to work closely with Indigenous partners to help build the capacity needed to build their path towards self-determination. Budget 2021 provided $81.5 million to support Indigenous-led data strategies. ISC collaborated with and supported First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners to develop plans for how those funds will be used over the next three years (2022-23 to 2024-25).

ISC also continued working with its co-development partners on the National Outcome-Based Framework. Engagements with First Nations leaders and communities were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, an alternative engagement strategy has been developed and is based largely on one-on-one or small group virtual sessions with First Nations leaders and Indigenous regional organizations. These engagements will take place over the coming year.

ISC worked to advance key Health Transformation efforts in Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. The Health Transformation investments made through Budget 2021 were directed to projects in these 4 provinces to facilitate progress towards completing signed Memoranda of Understanding and Agreements-in-Principle. These agreements will outline shared intentions, objectives and roles and responsibilities and will begin to define governance models for health service transfer aimed at transferring federally funded First Nations health services to First Nation-led organizations. In Nova Scotia, the Health Transformation project advanced to explore new models of health service delivery that will ultimately lead to the creation of a new Mi'kmaq Health and Wellness Authority (Tajikeimɨk) in the province. In Manitoba, ISC continues to work with the Southern Chiefs' Organization and the Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoyawin towards new models of health governance that will increase control over health programs and service delivery by First Nations. The implementation of Health Transformation projects in Quebec and Ontario with engagement and priority setting exercises towards defining a Health Transformation governance model are ongoing. The department also continues to work with partners in other parts of the country to identify regional and sub-regional opportunities for increasing Indigenous control over health services.

In 2013, British Columbia transferred federal operations in First Nations health programs and service delivery to a province wide First Nations Health Authority. ISC has continued to be an active partner as they support and coordinate community efforts in health service delivery (i.e., response to COVID-19, Mental Health and Wellness services, and supports for dealing with the discovery of Indian Residential Schools Mass Graves).

The finalization of a service transfer agreement with the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority is underway. The creation of this authority reflects the desire of First Nations for self–determination and control of a resource critical to public health and environmental protection. A Memorandum of Understanding with ISC and the First Nations Financial Management Board, who provide economic oversight for the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority, was approved on January 26, 2022.

In 2021-22, ISC responded to the education goals and priorities set by First Nations through co-development and implementation of regional education agreements and other Indigenous-led education models. In May 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding framing discussions for the development of a regional education agreement was signed between ISC and the Chiefs' Committee of the First Nations Education Council of Quebec. Both committed to developing a regional education agreement clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the parties. The approach includes funding for kindergarten to grade 12 education. Another three Education Partnership agreements were formally put into place during the fiscal 2021-22 year. This is a total of 46 schools with signed Education Partnership agreements.

Through the development of regional education agreements, First Nations can establish their own vision, priorities and goals for elementary and secondary education to improve student outcomes. These agreements are tailored to the particular local or regional context and needs of First Nations and formalize Canada's commitment to provide the required resources for First Nations to design, implement, and manage their own education systems. In 2021-22, a regional education agreement was completed in Saskatchewan with the Treaty Education Alliance. This brought to eight the number of regional education agreements concluded across Canada.

During the 2021-22 fiscal year, it was determined that the Self-Determined Services Program would be removed from the Program Inventory going forward. Starting in 2022-23, associated activities will be reported under the Education Program (Core Responsibility 2) as the program activities relate primarily to the Education Program Regional Education Agreements, better reflecting the resources to results story. ISC is undertaking work to renew its Departmental Results Framework and introduce service areas which will allow for a better assessment of maturity and progress towards achieving the department's mandate, as well as the required efforts relating to self-determination.

Gender-based analysis plus

Indigenous-led and defined priorities make programs and services more culturally competent and impactful, reducing negative barriers. Supporting distinctions-based self-determination results in positive impacts on inclusivity and the responsiveness of services. However, in the context of self-determination, ISC's reporting requirements for funding recipients are kept to a minimum for many programs which means GBA Plus-related data is not always available.

As part of the effort to transfer services to communities, flexible funding arrangements are promoted by the national and regional offices. These flexible funding arrangements have less stringent reporting requirements and offer a stable source of funds over a long period of time. The New Fiscal Relationship Grant helps to advance self-determination by moving toward sufficient, predictable and sustained funding for First Nations communities. The intention is to move away from contribution funding and program-based reporting for First Nations that have demonstrated sound governance and financial management. Under this model, First Nations members will assess adequacy of services and hold their leadership accountable for management of services. It will advance the priorities of Indigenous communities to reclaim full jurisdiction in the areas that matter to them and can be tailored to their unique needs, such as child and family services, education, and health care.

Indigenous Peoples self-report poorer health than non-Indigenous Canadians, and data shows that disease and co-morbidity burdens are higher among Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, there are also discrepancies in the health outcomes of Indigenous men, women, and gender-diverse people which are driven by both systemic gender and racial discrimination and how these factors impact the social determinants of health and shape individuals' experiences. For example, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found that interpersonal violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals impact health significantly, particularly the psychological impacts of violence. This can also result in many health issues including injuries, chronic pain, gastrointestinal issues, sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancies, and gynecological complications.

The First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia is responsible for the delivery of health programs and services for First Nations in British Columbia, and as a result Canada does not have service delivery responsibilities in the province or control over data collected. However, the First Nations Health Authority encourages advancement of general equality goals, including for women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals, through the administration of their health programs and services. This includes working towards disaggregated data collection that will provide a broader gender-based analysis lens.

The National Outcome-Based Framework, which is a key component of mutual accountability in the New Fiscal Relationship, will provide disaggregated information, including by gender and other factors, such as age, geography and income, on the socio-economic gaps between First Nations and non-Indigenous Canadians. The type and level of disaggregation will vary with each indicator included in the framework, depending on the availability of data. Reporting on the framework is anticipated to begin in 2023-24. As mentioned above, the development of First Nations, Inuit and Métis data strategies through the Transformational Approach to Indigenous Data will help ensure the availability of disaggregated, robust, culturally competent data to support the National Outcome-Based framework, as well as to support Indigenous Peoples to tell their own stories in the context of Canada's national statistical system.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

ISC contributed to Canada's 2021 Annual Report on the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals; it offered information on how its programmes and efforts - by providing support opportunities for service transfer, advance self-determination, co-develop programmes and agreements, close socio-economic gaps and achieve substantive equality - contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The department also provided relevant data and statistics in relation to Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

ISC contributed to SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions through continued support of the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. The department worked with Public Safety Canada to provide resources for professional accommodation for First Nations on reserve policing. It is also advanced the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act by ensuring that the departmental legislations are consistent with the UN Declaration, including in the context of its ongoing work related to the development of a new Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, in partnership with First Nations.

Result-based Innovation

Through the Strategic Policy and Partnership Fund, the department funded ten initiatives in 2021-22 to support Indigenous innovation efforts, that follow the principles of Indigenous-led design and solutions in areas of advancing the transfer of services to Indigenous-led organizations, and supporting Indigenous policy and evaluation capacities, such as self-governance capacity building, justice system legislation reviews, international Indigenous trade policy and networks development, intellectual property rights analyses; Indigenous youth employment preparation, and Indigenous evaluation capacity development.

ISC is increasingly emphasizing models of co-development and co-creation with Indigenous partners in all evaluation projects. In the short to medium term, this includes ways to integrate Indigenous evaluation expertise, knowledge, world views and/or Indigenous capacity development at key points in evaluations (planning, methodology, data collections, and development of findings and recommendations). In the long-term, the ultimate goal is to support the establishment of Indigenous evaluation functions outside of government.

In general, the evaluation innovation projects have the following objectives:

  • to support Indigenous evaluators, research institutes, think tanks, and/or organizations to advance the implementation of ISC program evaluations with a focus on service transfer;
  • to support Indigenous organizations to strengthen their capacity to implement program evaluations, enhance and coordinate Indigenous policy and evaluation networks, and organize the Indigenous policy and evaluation field (e.g., conferences, a center of excellence, etc.); and
  • to partner with Indigenous evaluators, researchers, think tanks, and/or organizations to advance evaluations tools, guides, policies, strategies.
Key Risks

Many Indigenous communities have shared concerns about the lack of appropriate capacity and infrastructure to advance self-determined services for Indigenous Peoples. The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the administrative and governance capacity of First Nations, as they focused on keeping their members safe and healthy. Thus, fewer First Nations were able to devote resources to advancing self-determination activities, such as applying for the New Fiscal Relationship Grant, reporting results information to ISC and participating in engagement activities. The department expects that as the pandemic recedes, First Nations will have greater capacity, but many will still need additional supports from the department.

As stated in the legislated mandate, the primary end goal of ISC is to transfer the control of services to Indigenous partners, organizations and communities. The overall readiness for the transfer of services between the department, Indigenous partners, organizations and communities, is a critical component in ensuring that the transfer is properly paced and leads to successful and sustainable outcomes. This is also tied to direction from the Treasury Board Secretariat to Deputy Heads which requires that departments test new approaches and measure impacts to instill a culture of measurement, evaluation and innovation in program and policy design and delivery.

Multi-year, stable and flexible funding to advance the transfer of services will improve outcomes as the current/past models have not achieved the progress hoped. However, the more transfer advances the less we will have flexibility to change policy/funding directions and the less we will access data directly without a partnership arrangement. This may constrain ISC's ability to support Indigenous partners in course-correcting on service delivery; a period of piloting and scaling up transfer could mitigate this risk.

Work is underway to better understand concepts and measurement frameworks to assess and track readiness and progress towards service transfer, including a literature review. In the meantime, ISC has integrated lines of enquiry on the state of program and service transfer to each evaluation to understand early learnings and best practices. Efforts will also be necessary to determine how best to measure how the department integrates the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into its frameworks.

Results achieved

The following table shows results achieved for Indigenous Self-Determined Services, the performance indicators, targets, target dates for 2021–22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental Result 10: Indigenous Peoples control the design, delivery and management of services
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Number of eligible First Nations communities that have opted in to a grant to support the new fiscal relationship 115 March 2022 85 1111 117
Number of First Nations communities that have opted in to a self-determined service agreement To be established by March 20212 To be established by March 20212 240 230 234
1Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many First Nations were unable to dedicate staff time and resources to seek eligibility for the 10-year grant, including developing financial administration laws and bylaws.
2The target and date to achieve were to be established by March 2021, however this is the last year for reporting. As of 2022-23, the Self-Determined Services Program has been removed from the program inventory and will be reported under the Education program as the program activities relate primarily to the Education Program Regional Education Agreements.
Departmental Result 11: Indigenous self-determined services are improving outcomes for communities
Performance indicators Target Date to achieve target 2019–20
Actual results
2020–21
Actual results
2021–22
Actual results
Average Community Well-Being index score for First Nations communities in a New Fiscal Relationship funding agreement To be established with partners1 To be established with partners1 Not applicable2 Not applicable2 Not available2
Average Community Well-Being (education score) for First Nations communities in a self-determined services agreement To be established with partners by March 20223 To be established with partners by March 20233 Not applicable 42 Not available3
Percentage of British Columbia First Nations adults reporting that their health is excellent or very good 50% March 2028 33% 33% 33%4
Percentage of First Nations communities with access to mental wellness team services Target not specified5 Date to achieve not set Not available6 Not available6 Not available6
Percentage of residents living on reserve who are supported through Income Assistance Target not specified5 Date to achieve not set Not available6 Not available6 Not available6
Percentage of First Nations on reserve students who graduate from secondary school Target not specified5 Date to achieve not set Not available6 Not available6 Not available6
Percentage of First Nations housing that is adequate as assessed and reported by First Nations Target not specified5 Date to achieve not set Not available6 Not available6 Not available6
1The target and date to achieve will be established once data from the 2021 Census of Population has been incorporated into the Community Well-Being index.
2Results will be calculated using data from the 2021 Census of Population.
3The target and date to achieve were revised to be established by March 2022 and 2023 respectively, however this is the last year for reporting. As of 2022-23, the Self-Determined Services Program has been removed from the program inventory and will be reported under the Education program as the program activities relate primarily to the Education Program Regional Education Agreements.
4Last available data for First Nations (on reserve) is from the 2015-16 Regional Health Survey.
5These indicators were introduced in 2020–21 to report on annual results of First Nations communities that have opted in to a grant to support the New Fiscal Relationship. However, in the context of self-determined services such as the grant, whereby First Nations have the flexibility to design and deliver services based on their own plans and priorities, the establishment of targets at the program level for grant recipients would not be meaningful or relevant.
6Data collection was delayed due to COVID-19 related delays. It is anticipated reporting results will be finalized in 2022-23.
Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows the 2021-22 budgetary spending for Indigenous Self-Determined Services, as well as actual spending for that year.

2021–22
Main Estimates
2021–22
Planned spending
2021–22
Total authorities available for use
2021–22
Actual spending (authorities used)
2021–22
Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
2,422,137,941 2,422,137,941 1,825,842,362 1,819,668,220 -602,469,721
Financial information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.
Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021–22.

2021–22
Planned full-time equivalents
2021–22
Actual full-time equivalents
2021–22
Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
7 9 2
Human resources information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Internal Services

Internal services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services refer to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the internal services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

  • acquisition management services
  • communication services
  • financial management services
  • human resources management services
  • information management services
  • information technology services
  • legal services
  • material management services
  • management and oversight services
  • real property management services

Results:

In 2021–22, ISC continued to support program delivery to Indigenous Peoples through its programs and planned activities.

The department progressed on strengthening its results and risk-based management approaches to inform priorities and decision-making through investments and project management capacities. Indigenous partners were engaged on a renewed approach to the Departmental Results Framework, which will inform a co-developed suite of updated indicators for the transfer of departmental responsibilities to Indigenous partners.

ISC continued to play a key role in supporting First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities with the timely and relevant information needed to access high quality services. The department worked with national Indigenous and local organizations to ensure information was delivered to communities and tailored appropriately for Indigenous audiences. This included key government-wide initiatives such as:

  • providing updates on progress related to closing infrastructure gaps, the number of short- and long-term drinking water advisories remaining on reserves, the First Nations Drinking Water Settlement Agreement, and historic agreements-in-principle such as the compensation to First Nations children and families for discriminatory underfunding of First Nations Child and Family Services and the government's definition of Jordan's Principle;
  • addressing anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare, informed by the spirit and elements of Joyce's Principle;
  • aiding with the rollout of COVID-19 supports, including #myvaxxjourney, an initiative that enabled Indigenous youth to share their vaccine stories, or the Indigenous-led Power of 100 campaign which encouraged vaccination;
  • providing on-the-ground communications support for regional emergencies related to the pandemic and outbreaks while ensuring that First Nations, Inuit and Métis were aware of the ongoing financial supports available to respond to COVID-19 for both economic recovery as well as wider economic development initiatives; and
  • the implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples along with the response to the locating of unmarked graves near former Indian Residential Schools.

ISC continued to make progress advancing the implementation of the Indigenous Cultural Competency Learning Policy as well as promoting and increasing Indigenous recruitment, development and retention in employment at all levels, with a specific focus on recruiting Indigenous students. The Corporate Indigenous Workforce Directorate was deployed and included the Departmental Indigenous Recruitment Team, who specifically focused on seeking to remove systemic barriers and identify solutions to Indigenous recruitment and employment. Additionally, the department's Indigenous ambassadors participated virtually in various public service career promotion events during 2021-22, and the Staffing Framework was revised to include a module on Indigenous Recruitment to give managers more flexibility in making Indigenous hires.

ISC continued to optimize the use of innovative digital solutions to maximize service availability, efficiency, security, and consistency with broader departmental and Government of Canada digital plans and strategies. The importance of effective digital services and solution delivery for ISC is heightened given the unique challenges that exist across remote locations in Canada. The department continued to modernize its existing IM/IT solutions, identify and mitigate risk, increase usability and maintainability, and at the same time strengthen the departments' ability to deliver on commitments. In addition, the department continued to focus on the implementation of core IM/IT components required to provide employees with the tools and technology they need to do their jobs effectively, setting the stage for a hybrid working environment. ISC's Departmental Plan on Service and Digital (2022-25) was submitted to the Treasury Board Secretariat in March 2022, providing additional detail on key ongoing and planned work in the area of IM/IT.

ISC prepared for "Welcome Forward", the gradual return of employees to the office and enabling of flexible work arrangements, where operationally possible. This initiative aimed to support a national workforce with the tools and technologies needed to be connected and equipped and enable collaboration across modernized workspaces.

In 2021-22, planning for the divestment of real property no longer used for program purposes progressed. The development of divestment strategies for former hospital sites and former residential school sites will be implemented over the next few years.

The implementation of the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business continued to be supported by proactively disclosing information on contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses set by the Directive on the Management of Procurement. ISC also worked with Economic and Business Opportunities on the preparation of reports assessing the departmental performance against the minimum target of 5% Indigenous procurement. The participation of and benefits to Indigenous Peoples, businesses and communities in procurement initiatives also continued to be promoted throughout the year via the identification of activities that may be subject to Comprehensive Land Claim Agreements or take place in the Nunavut Settlement Area to ensure that the intended outcome of a procurement includes opportunities to support the participation of Indigenous Peoples.

In 2021-22, ISC implemented a National Workplace Strategy to support workplace modernization, integrate environmental initiatives, incorporate Indigenous cultures, diversity and inclusion, and improve employee well-being and work experience. This initiative started the move to flexible and innovative working environments that emphasizes a safe return to the workplace following the pandemic. The department also started its transition to a modern workplace by considering the nationalization of talent and work and revisiting approaches to staffing and technical support.

The department redesigned the Management Response and Action Plans database to provide aggregate information and help monitor progress. This can be used to uncover hidden insights for performance issues and barriers and has become a foundational tool for the practice management function which also supports the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Capacity Survey; this has led to the creation of an interdepartmental working group that meets on an ad hoc basis.

In 2021-22, the Results Based Innovation Network held multiple meetings with presentations from internal and external innovators to raise awareness of what is taking place, to improve critical views on innovation and systems change, and to provide networking opportunities for ISC innovators. The department also continued to promote greater accountability, transparency and oversight in its operations by conducting internal audits and financial reviews.

ISC will continue to ensure that all programs and regions are supported by high quality internal services that are continually evolving to better serve clients and to align with the department al mandate, including the transfer of services to Indigenous partners.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2021–22, as well as spending for that year.

2021–22
Main Estimates
2021–22
Planned spending
2021–22
Total authorities available for use
2021–22
Actual spending (authorities used)
2021–22
Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
169,788,003 169,788,003 306,697,421 275,885,076 106,097,073
Human resources (full-time equivalents) *

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to carry out its internal services for 2021–22.

2021–22
Planned full-time equivalents
2021–22 Actual full-time equivalents 2021–22 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
1,400 1,560 160
*Includes shared services for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Spending and human resources

Spending

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory spending) over time.

Spending 2019-20 to 2023-24

Note: due to rounding, figures may not add to totals shown

Description of Spending 2019-20 to 2023-24

This stacked bar graph depicts actual spending from 2019 to 2022 and planned spending from 2022 to 2025:

  • In 2019–20, total actual spending was $13,275 million. Of this amount, $13,139 million is voted spending and $136 million is statutory spending.
  • In 2020–21, total actual spending was $16,353 million. Of this amount, $14,581 million is voted spending and $1,772 million is statutory spending.
  • In 2021–22, total actual spending was $18,352 million. Of this amount, $18,199 million is voted spending and $153 million is statutory spending.
  • In 2022–23, total planned spending is $39,602 million. Of this amount, $39,466 is voted spending and $136 million is statutory spending.
  • In 2023–24, total planned spending is $15,553 million. Of this amount, $15,417 million is voted spending and $136 million is statutory spending.
  • In 2024-25, total planned spending is $14,982 million. Of this amount, $14,884 million is voted spending and $99 million is statutory spending.

The 2020-21 actual spending was $16,353.2 million, a net increase of approximately $3,078.7 million over 2019-20. This is primarily due to:

  • an increase in funding related to COVID-19 initiatives, such as:
    • Indigenous Community Support Fund;
    • the continuation of public health responses in Indigenous communities;
    • supporting Indigenous businesses;
    • enhancing public health measures to COVID-19 in First Nations and Inuit communities;
    • Income Assistance;
    • supporting a safe restart in Indigenous communities;
    • supporting students and youth impacted by COVID-19; and
    • supporting Indigenous mental wellness.
  • a net increase in funding for infrastructure in Indigenous communities and improvements for access to safe, clean drinking water in First Nations communities.

The 2021-22 actual spending was $18,351.8 million, a net increase of approximately $1,998.6 million over 2020-21. This is primarily due to:

  • a net increase in funding for infrastructure in Indigenous communities and improvements for access to safe, clean drinking water in First Nations communities;
  • a net increase in funding related to the Income Assistance program;
  • a net increase in funding for mental health and wellness;
  • a net increase in funding for the elementary and secondary as well as post-secondary education programs;
  • a net increase in funding for Child and Family Services;
  • a net increase in funding for the non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit;
  • a net increase in funding for Indigenous early learning and child care;
  • a net increase in funding for emergency management;
  • an increase in funding for the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy;
  • a net increase in funding to support the implementation of the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families and the ongoing reform of the Indigenous Child and Family Services Program;
  • a net increase in funding for the continued implementation of Jordan's Principle and supporting the Inuit Child First Initiative; and
  • a net decrease in funding for COVID-19 initiatives, such as:
    • enhancing public health measures to COVID-19 in First Nations and Inuit communities;
    • Income Assistance;
    • Indigenous Community Support Fund;
    • supporting Indigenous businesses;
    • supporting a safe restart in Indigenous communities;
    • supporting Indigenous mental wellness;
    • urban and regional Indigenous organizations;
    • supportive care in Indigenous communities;
    • the continuation of public health responses in Indigenous communities; and
    • Indigenous communities affected by disruptions to their revenues which are necessary to support programs and services.

Spending is expected to increase by $21,249.8 million between 2021-22 actual spending and 2022-23 planned spending. This is primarily due to:

  • a net increase in funding for out-of-court settlements;
  • a net increase in funding for infrastructure in Indigenous communities and improvements for access to safe, clean drinking water in First Nations communities;
  • a net increase in funding for the non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit;
  • a net increase in funding for the continued implementation of Jordan's Principle and supporting the Inuit Child First Initiative;
  • a net increase in funding for the elementary and secondary as well as post-secondary education programs;
  • a net increase in funding for Indigenous early learning and child care;
  • a net increase in funding for Child and Family Services;
  • a sunset of funding (at the end of 2021-22) for First Nations Enhanced Education Infrastructure Fund (Budget 2014 and Budget 2016);
  • a net decrease in funding for emergency management; and
  • a decrease in funding for COVID-19 initiatives, such as:
    • Indigenous Community Support Fund;
    • the continuation of public health responses in Indigenous communities;
    • Indigenous communities affected by disruptions to their revenues which are necessary to support programs and services;
    • supporting Indigenous businesses;
    • supportive care in Indigenous communities; and
    • supporting a safe restart in Indigenous communities.

Spending is expected to decrease by $24,619.2 million between 2022-23 and 2024-25 planned spending. This is primarily due to:

  • a decrease in funding for out-of-court settlements;
  • a net decrease in funding for infrastructure in Indigenous communities and improvements for access to safe, clean drinking water in First Nations communities;
  • a sunset of funding for the continued implementation of Jordan's Principle (at the end of 2022-23) and supporting the Inuit Child First Initiative (at the end of 2023-24); and
  • a net increase in funding related to the Northern Ontario Grid Connection Project.

Decisions on the renewal of the sunset initiatives will be taken in future budgets and reflected in future estimates.

The "Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services" table presents the budgetary financial resources allocated for Indigenous Services Canada's core responsibilities and for internal services.

Budgetary performance summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)
Core responsibilities and Internal Services 2021–22
Main Estimates
2021–22
Planned spending
2022–23
Planned spending
2023–24
Planned spending
2021–22
Total authorities available for use
2019–20
Actual spending (authorities used)
2020–21
Actual spending (authorities used)
2021–22
Actual spending (authorities used)
Services and Benefits to Individuals 2,006,677,872 2,006,677,872 2,570,793,254 2,343,418,643 2,502,283,192 1,865,336,041 2,042,963,939 2,256,640,551
Health and Social Services 5,837,808,255 5,837,808,255 28,344,912,699 7,522,881,423 11,152,576,723 6,562,978,810 7,800,965,093 8,671,955,198
Governance and Community Development Services 3,069,685,325 3,069,685,325 6,277,966,237 3,908,175,613 6,036,761,074 3,328,800,660 4,637,274,340 5,327,660,547
Indigenous Self-Determined Services 2,422,137,941 2,422,137,941 2,192,779,573 1,586,180,864 1,825,842,362 1,297,567,333 1,610,912,324 1,819,668,220
Subtotal 13,336,309,393 13,336,309,393 39,386,451,763 15,360,656,543 21,517,463,351 13,054,682,844 16,092,115,696 18,075,924,516
Internal Services 169,788,003 169,788,003 215,168,480 192,803,286 306,697,421 219,866,093 261,129,820 275,885,076
Total 13,506,097,396 13,506,097,396 39,601,620,243 15,553,459,829 21,824,160,772 13,274,548,937 16,353,245,516 18,351,809,592

The $8,318.1 million difference between Planned Spending ($13,506.1 million) and Total Authorities Available for Use ($21,824.2 million) in 2021-22 primarily reflects an incremental funding provided through Supplementary Estimates for:

  • out-of-court settlements;
  • First Nations Child and Family Services, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders implementation and non-compliance motion settlement;
  • the Indigenous Community Support Fund (COVID-19);
  • the continuation of public health responses in Indigenous communities (COVID-19);
  • infrastructure in Indigenous communities (Budget 2021);
  • non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit (Budget 2021);
  • Indigenous communities affected by disruptions to their revenues which are necessary to support programs and services (COVID-19);
  • income assistance, case management, and pre-employment supports to individuals and families living on reserve (Budget 2021);
  • the continued implementation of Jordan's Principle;
  • the operations and maintenance of infrastructure in First Nations communities on reserve (Budget 2021);
  • infrastructure projects in Indigenous communities;
  • mental health and wellness (Budget 2021);
  • emergency response and recovery activities;
  • supporting Indigenous businesses (COVID-19) (Budget 2021);
  • supporting a safe restart in Indigenous communities (COVID-19) (Budget 2021);
  • the core funding refinements of elementary and secondary education (Budget 2021); and
  • Indigenous trauma-informed health and cultural supports.

The $3,472.4 million difference between Total Authorities Available for Use ($21,824.2 million) and Actual Spending ($18,351.8 million) in 2021-22 primarily reflects lower demand for child and family services and non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the deferral of funds to future years for initiatives, such as:

  • out-of-court settlements;
  • improving access to safe, clean drinking water in First Nations communities;
  • First Nations Child and Family Services, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders implementation and non-compliance motion settlement;
  • the continuation of public health responses in Indigenous communities (COVID-19);
  • the continued implementation of Jordan's Principle;
  • infrastructure in Indigenous communities (Budget 2021);
  • supporting the implementation of the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families and the ongoing reform of the Indigenous Child and Family Services Program; and
  • the Indigenous Community Support Fund (COVID-19) (Budget 2021).

Funding for these initiatives could not be spent in 2021-22 and are expected to be re-profiled to future years when it will be available for the intended purposes.

The following table reconciles gross planned spending with net spending for 2021–22.

2021–22 Budgetary actual gross spending summary (dollars)
Core responsibilities and Internal Services 2021–22
Actual gross spending
2021–22
Actual revenues netted against expenditures
2021–22
Actual net spending (authorities used)
Services and Benefits to Individuals 2,262,110,102 5,469,551 2,256,640,551
Health and Social Services 8,671,955,198 0 8,671,955,198
Governance and Community Development Services 5,327,660,547 0 5,327,660,547
Indigenous Self-Determined Services 1,819,668,220 0 1,819,668,220
Subtotal 18,081,394,067 5,469,551 18,075,924,516
Internal Services 315,263,493 39,378,417 275,885,076
Total 18,396,657,560 44,847,968 18,351,809,592
*Revenues mentioned above are for the provision of services or the sale of products related to health protection and medical services; and the provision of internal support services under section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act.

Human resources

The "Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services" table presents the full-time equivalents (FTEs) allocated to each of ISC's core responsibilities and to internal services.

Human resources summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services
Core responsibilities and Internal Services 2019–20
Actual full-time equivalents
2020–21
Actual full-time equivalents
2021–22
Planned full-time equivalents
2021–22
Actual full-time equivalents
2022–23
Planned full-time equivalents
2023–24
Planned full-time equivalents
Services and Benefits to Individuals 1,528 1,741 1,553 1,818 1,704 1,608
Health and Social Services 1,460 1,576 1,538 1,800 1,746 1,594
Governance and Community Development Services 1,476 1,609 1,410 1,658 1,649 1,613
Indigenous Self-Determined Services 0 0 7 9 0 0
Subtotal 4,464 4,926 4,508 5,285 5,099 4,815
Internal Services* 1,229 1,445 1,400 1,560 1,516 1,451
Total 5,693 6,371 5,908 6,845 6,615 6,266
*Includes shared services for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

For the period from 2019-20 to 2020-21, there is an increase in FTEs primarily due to:

  • increase in FTEs related to the transfer from CIRNAC primarily for Individuals Affairs, Lands and Economic Development programs and internal services as per Order in Council P.C. 2019-1109;
  • the department receiving additional resources throughout the year to address the Pandemic, to meet program needs and priorities, and to sustain the program's growing operations.

For the period from 2020-21 to 2021-22, there is an increase in FTEs primarily due to:

  • the department receiving additional resources throughout the year to address the pandemic, to meet program needs and priorities, and to sustain the program's growing operations.
  • additional staffing received to manage the Non-Compliance Motion and regular operations for First Nations Child and Family Services. It also factors in resources received to advance global resolution on compensation and additional resources to implement An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families.
  • funding received through supplementary estimates:
    • to improve health outcomes in Indigenous communities (Budget 2021);
    • related to Sex-Based Inequities in Indian Status Registration (S3);
    • for the continued implementation of Jordan's Principle;
    • new Off-cycle Mental Wellness funding; and
    • for infrastructure in Indigenous communities (Budget 2021), the operations and maintenance of infrastructure in First Nations communities on reserve (Budget 2021), infrastructure projects in Indigenous communities.
  • the increase is partially offset by variance in FTEs due to timelines in staffing due to turnover, due diligence in hiring, and unexpected vacancies.

Expenditures by vote

For information on Indigenous Services Canada's organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of Indigenous Services Canada's spending with the Government of Canada's spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

Indigenous Services Canada operates under the legislation set out in the Department of Indigenous Services Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29, s. 336. It reports to Parliament through the Minister of Indigenous Services.

Indigenous Services Canada works collaboratively with partners to improve access to high quality services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The vision is to support and empower Indigenous Peoples to independently deliver services and address the socio-economic conditions in their communities.

Priorities and reporting are aligned under the following core responsibilities:

  1. Services and Benefits to Individuals – Mainly delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples. They include, among other services and benefits, individual First Nations and Inuit clinical care and health-related benefits such as pharmacy, dental and vision care.
  2. Health and Social Services – Primarily delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and organizations, provinces/territories and agencies. Together, they focus on health and well-being for Indigenous Peoples.
  3. Governance and Community Development Services – Commonly delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and institutions and are focused on strong community governance and physical foundations.
  4. Indigenous Self-Determined Services – Designed and delivered by Indigenous Peoples for Indigenous Peoples. They include services for which the control, authority and/or jurisdiction has been formally transferred to Indigenous communities or organizations.
  5. Internal Services – are those groups of related activities and resources that the Federal Government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet the corporate obligations of the department.

The Indigenous Services Canada's financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022, are available on ISC's website.

Financial statement highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) – For the year ended March 31, 2022 (dollars)
Financial information* 2021–22
Planned results**
2021–22
Actual results
2020-21
Actual results
Difference
(2021–22 Actual results minus 2021–22 Planned results)
Difference
(2021–22 Actual results minus 2020-21 Actual results)
Total expenses 13,613,759,445 22,768,395,353 18,425,572,159 9,154,635,908 4,342,823,194
Total revenues 94,316,131 46,239,899 46,032,628 (48,076,232) 207,271
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers 13,519,443,314 22,722,155,454 18,379,539,531 9,202,712,140 4,342,615,923
*Totals may not match financial statements due to rounding.
**Please refer to the Future-Oriented Statement of Operations on Indigenous Services Canada's website.

Expenses by Type

Total expenses were $22.8 billion in 2021-22 representing an increase of 24% ($4.3 billion) from the previous year's expenses mainly due to the increase in transfer payments of $1.7 billion related to support in community infrastructure ($644 million) and health and social services ($800 million) and increase of $2.4 billion in contingent liabilities.

Transfer payments represents 70% ($15.8 billion) of the total expenses; the majority relate to payments to Indigenous Peoples. Other significant operating expenses included Claims and litigation totaling $4.3 billion (62%), salaries and employee future benefit totaling $797 million (12%), utilities, materials and supplies totaling $601 million (9%) and professional and special services totaling $704 million (10%).

Revenues by Type

The department's total revenues for 2021-22 amounted to $46 million representing a similar amount as previous year's revenue.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) – As of March 31, 2022 (dollars)
Financial information* 2021–22 2020–21 Difference
(2021–22 minus 2020–21)
Total net liabilities 25,590,647,396 5,006,212,835 20,584,434,561
Total net financial assets 2,345,385,999 2,005,654,162 339,731,837
Departmental net debt 23,245,261,397 3,000,558,673 20,244,702,724
Total non-financial assets 42,423,509 44,799,910 (2,376,401)
Departmental net financial position (23,202,837,888) (2,955,758,763) (20,247,079,125)
*Totals may not match financial statements due to rounding.

Liabilities by Type

Total liabilities were $25.6 billion at the end of 2021-22, representing an increase of 411% over the previous year. The provision for contingent liabilities represents the largest portion of total liabilities at $20.7 billion (81%). The increase of $18.3  billion in contingent liabilities is due to a change in estimated liabilities related to claims. Other significant liabilities include trust accounts of $567 million (2%), environmental liabilities of $447 million (1.7%) and accounts payable and accrued liabilities of $3.7 billion (15%).

Net Financial Assets by Type

Total net financial assets at the end of 2021-22 were $2.3 billion representing an increase of 17% over the previous year. The increase is mainly due to a $307 million increase in Due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and is a result of timing difference between Payables at year-end for transfer payments and other payables affecting authorities and when the payments are processed out of the CRF. The net financial assets for 2021-22 are mainly comprised of $2.3 billion in Due From the Consolidated Revenue fund (97%), and accounts receivable and advances accounting for $158 million (7%). These amounts are offset by the total financial assets held on behalf of Government of $88 million (-4%).

Non-Financial Assets by Type

Non-financial assets are composed of tangible capital assets totaling $42 million representing a decrease of $2.4 million (5%). The decrease is mainly due to $7.2 million of current year amortization of tangible assets offset by an increase of $4.8 million in net acquisition of tangible assets.

The 2021–22 planned results information is provided in Indigenous Services Canada's Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2021–22.

Corporate Information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister:

The Honourable Marc Miller (November 2019 to October 2021)

The Honourable Patty Hajdu (effective October 26, 2021)

Institutional head:

Christiane Fox (September 2020 to July 2022)

Gina Wilson (effective July 18, 2022)

Ministerial portfolio:

Department of Indigenous Services

Year of incorporation / commencement:

2019

Special operating agency:

Indian Oil and Gas Canada

Adjudicative and advisory bodies:

National Indigenous Economic Development Board

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

"Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do" is available on Indigenous Services Canada's website.

For more information on the Department's organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Minister Hajdu's mandate letter.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on Indigenous Services Canada's website.

Reporting framework

Indigenous Services Canada's Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2021–22 are shown below.

Core Responsibility 1: Services and Benefits to Individuals

These services and benefits are mainly delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples by the department. They include, among other services and benefits, individual First Nations and Inuit clinical care and health-related benefits such as pharmacy, dental and vision care. The department is also responsible for determining individuals' entitlement to Indian registration and for the issuance of various proofs of registration, including the Secure Certificate of Indian Status (SCIS), which can be used to access various programs and services.

Departmental Results Indicators Program Inventory
Quality and timely services are delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples

Percentage of First Nations adults who rate the quality of health care services delivered in their community as good or excellent

  • Supplementary Health Benefits
  • Clinical and Client Care
  • Community Oral Health Services
  • Individual Affairs
Percentage of prior approval requests for medication coverage completed within 24 hours
Percentage of eligible First Nations and Inuit who received at least one non-insured health benefit in a year
Percentage of eligible applicants issued a Secure Certificate of Indian Status within 16 weeks from the application date
Percentage of First Nations and Inuit adults who reported being in very good or excellent health
Health services delivered to Indigenous Peoples contribute to improved health outcomes

Percentage of First Nations and Inuit adults who reported being in very good or excellent health

Core Responsibility 2: Health and Social Services

These services are primarily delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and organizations, provinces/territories and agencies. Together, they focus on health and well-being for Indigenous Peoples. They include health services to strengthen Indigenous communities in areas such as healthy living, communicable disease control, healthy child development and community care. They also include social services with an emphasis on children and families, as well as education services from kindergarten to post-secondary.

Departmental Results Indicators Program Inventory
Indigenous Peoples and communities are healthier

Active tuberculosis incidence rate among Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat

  • Jordan's Principle
  • Mental Wellness
  • Healthy Living
  • Healthy Child Development
  • Home and Community Care
  • Health Human Resources
  • Environmental Public Health
  • Communicable Disease Control and Management
  • Education
  • Income Assistance
  • Assisted Living
  • First Nations Child and Family Services
  • Family Violence Prevention
  • Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples
Active tuberculosis incidence rate among First Nations on reserve
Rate of newly reported cases of HIV among First Nations
Percentage of First Nations adults with diabetes accessing newer, novel medications and not on insulin
Indigenous Peoples receive social services that respond to community needs

Percentage of First Nations and Inuit communities with access to mental wellness team services

Percentage of First Nations communities offering family support services aimed at keeping families together
Percentage of First Nations children on reserve in care
Percentage of residents living on reserve who are supported through Income Assistance
Number of individuals who received services under Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous students receive an inclusive and quality education

Number of First Nations students who are provided full-day kindergarten services in First Nations administered schools

Percentage of students attending First Nations administered schools who are taught at least one subject in a First Nations language
Percentage of First Nations on reserve students who graduate from secondary school
Number of funded First Nations, Inuit and Métis students who graduate with a post-secondary degree/diploma/certificate

Core Responsibility 3: Governance and Community Development Services

These services are commonly delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and institutions and are focused on strong community governance and physical foundations. They include supports for governance capacity in areas such as community planning and financial management. They also include support for investments in community infrastructure, land and resource management, and economic development.

Departmental Results Indicators Program Inventory
Indigenous communities advance their governance capacity

Percentage of First Nations with a completed community-led plan

  • Health Facilities
  • e-Health Infostructure
  • Health Planning, Quality Management and Systems Integration
  • Indigenous Governance and Capacity
  • Water and Wastewater
  • Education Facilities
  • Housing
  • Other Community Infrastructure and Activities
  • Emergency Management Assistance
  • Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Business Development
  • Economic Development Capacity and Readiness
  • Land, Natural Resources and Environmental Management
  • Statutory, Legislative and Policy Support to First Nations Governance
Indigenous Peoples have reliable and sustainable infrastructure

Number of long-term drinking water advisories affecting public water systems on reserve

Percentage of First Nations housing that is adequate as assessed and reported by First Nations
Percentage of First Nations schools with a condition rating of "good" or "new"
Percentage of First Nations health facilities with a condition rating of "good"
Number of First Nations communities located on reserves that rely on Indigenous Services Canada funded diesel for electricity generation
Percentage of long-term evacuees who have returned home or have a scheduled date within two years after their evacuation
Land and resources in Indigenous communities are sustainably managed

Percentage of First Nations with community-led Land Use Plans

Percentage of First Nations communities with adequate solid waste management systems
Percentage high risk contaminated sites on reserve where clean-up or containment is occurring to reduce risk
Indigenous communities build economic prosperity

Percentage increase of Indigenous businesses created and/or expanded

Percentage of First Nations communities where non-federal government revenues represent 25% or more of total revenues

Core Responsibility 4: Indigenous Self-Determined Services

These services are designed and delivered by Indigenous Peoples for Indigenous Peoples. They include services for which the control, authority and/or jurisdiction has been formally transferred to Indigenous communities or organizations, as supported through departmental funding.

Departmental Results Indicators Program Inventory
Indigenous Peoples control the design, delivery and management of services

Number of eligible First Nations communities that have opted in to a grant to support the new fiscal relationship

  • New Fiscal Relationship
  • Self-Determined Services
  • British-Columbia Tripartite Health Governance
Number of First Nations communities that have opted in to a self-determined service agreement
Indigenous self-determined services are improving outcomes for communities

Average Community Well-Being index score for First Nations communities in a New Fiscal Relationship funding agreement

Average Community Well-Being (education score) for First Nations communities in a self-determined services agreement
Percentage of British Columbia First Nations adults reporting that their health is excellent or very good
Percentage of First Nations communities with access to mental wellness team services
Percentage of residents living on reserve who are supported through Income Assistance
Percentage of First Nations on reserve students who graduate from secondary school
Percentage of First Nations housing that is adequate as assessed and reported by First Nations

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for Indigenous Services Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Indigenous Services Canada's website:

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

Indigenous Services Canada
10 Wellington Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H4
Internet: https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-services-canada.html

Public enquires
Telephone: 1-800-567-9604
Fax: 1-866-817-3977
Email: infopubs@sac-isc.gc.ca

Media enquiries
Telephone: 819-953-1160
Email: media@sac-isc.gc.ca

Statistical enquiries
Email: instat@sac-isc.gc.ca

Library
Telephone: 819-997-0811
Email: hqlibraryreference@sac-isc.gc.ca

Webmaster
Email : aadnc.webmestre-webmaster.aandc@canada.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.
Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3‑year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.
departmental priority (priorité)
A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.
departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments' immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.
departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.
departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that connects the department's core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.
Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.
experimentation (expérimentation)
The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.
full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full‑time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person's collective agreement.
gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.
government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2021–22 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we're fighting for.
horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.
performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence‑based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.
plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.
planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.
result (résultat)
A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program, or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.
statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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