Question Period Note: Comprehensive Expenditure Review

N.A.

• The Government of Canada is focused on ensuring that funding for critical services in Indigenous communities is sustainable and accessible for the long-term.

• The effective delivery of essential services to Indigenous communities remains central to Indigenous Services Canada’s mandate.

• We are committed to supporting Indigenous communities – from advancing health care, education, and child and family services, to ensuring access to safe drinking water, quality housing and land management.

• Indigenous Services Canada will continue to effectively serve Indigenous clients and communities in this time of fiscal constraint.

The Public Service is undertaking a Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER) to balance the government’s operating budget over the next three years. The goal is to make the public service more efficient and effective, so that it can better serve Canadians.

All Deputy Ministers have been asked to bring forward ambitious savings proposals to spend less on everyday government spending by targeting programs and activities that are underperforming, not core to the federal mandate, duplicative, or misaligned with government priorities.

As part of this exercise, ISC was tasked to identify proposals for savings of up to 15% of the department’s assigned spending base over the next three years, starting in FY 2026-2027.

If pressed on levels of cuts and impacts on Indigenous communities

• Indigenous Services Canada is focused on continuous improvement as an organization – that means making strategic choices about reallocating resources while continuing to serve Indigenous communities in alignment with Indigenous Services Canada’s core objectives.

• Indigenous Services Canada is among the many federal organizations undertaking the Comprehensive Expenditure Review exercise.

• As we examine ways to operate more efficiently to ensure long-term sustainability, we remain committed to serving Indigenous Peoples and communities with excellence.