Budget 2010 Highlights - Aboriginal and Northern Investments

In Budget 2010   the Government of Canada is investing an additional $1.1 billion over two years on Aboriginal peoples and the North.  The government will continue to work towards a future in which First Nations, Inuit, Métis and people living in northern communities are healthy, safe, self-sufficient and prosperous.

Strengthening Partnerships With Aboriginal Canadians

Budget 2010 provides $908 million over the next two years to assist Aboriginal Canadians and their communities. This includes:

• $30 million to support an implementation-ready tripartite K-12 education agreement that will ensure that education outcomes for First Nations students are comparable whether the classroom is located on or off reserve.
  
  
• $10 million to address the disturbingly high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women through concrete actions in law enforcement and in the justice system.
  
  
• $53 million to further progress on developing partnerships with First Nation organizations and provincial and territorial governments for the delivery of child and family services.
  
  
• Almost $200 million to support implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and help former students, their families, and Aboriginal communities embark on the path of healing and reconciliation by ensuring timely payments and health supports.
  
  
• $285 million to improve Aboriginal health outcomes by renewing investments in the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative, maternal and child health programs, Aboriginal Health Human Resource Initiative and the Aboriginal Health Transition Fund.
  
  
• $330 million to continue the First Nations Water and Wastewater Action Plan to improve access to safe drinking water on reserve.

Implementing the Northern Vision

Budget 2010 provides $145 million dollars to continue the implementation of the Government's vision for a new North with new measures that will improve the business climate, provide opportunities for people living in the North, and ultimately help unlock the region's vast potential. For instance, Budget 2010 provides:

• $11 million over two years to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to support regulatory regimes in the north and accelerate the review of resource projects. These reforms will provide clarity and certainty for investors while respecting environmental considerations and land claims obligations.
  
  
• Almost $3 million over two years to support consultations with Aboriginal Canadians related to projects that are assessed by a review panel under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
  
  
• $18 million will be committed over five years to begin the pre-construction design phase for the Canadian High Arctic Research Station to strengthen our science and technology capacity in the North.
  
  
• $8 million to support community-based environmental monitoring, reporting and baseline data collection through the Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program and the Nunavut General Monitoring Program

In addition, Budget 2010 makes strategic investments that will address key health care challenges for Northerners. Budget 2010 provides:

• $45 million over two years to fund a successor program to the Food Mail program to help alleviate the costs of shipping healthy foods by air to isolated northern communities, as well as introduce Northern-specific health promotion activities to encourage nutritious eating; and,
  
  
• $60 million over two years to extend supplementary Health Canada funding in order to consolidate the progress made in reducing the reliance on outside health care and medical travel.

Aboriginal peoples and northerners will also benefit from other broader initiatives in Budget 2010 including: the Skills Links component of the Youth Employment Strategy; the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit: and, the Pathways to Education program.

With these investments, the Government remains determined to make tangible, practical progress in the quality of life experienced by Aboriginal and Northern peoples in this country.