Federal government failing Indigenous communities on housing, policing: AG report

The federal government is failing to meet its housing and policing commitments to Indigenous People across the country, leaving many Indigenous people in Canada under-housed and inadequately policed, according to a new report from the Auditor General released on Tuesday.

Karen Hogan's spring reports said that despite multiple warnings, the underfunding of housing means that the number of First Nations homes that need repair or replacement is essentially the same in 2022 as it was in 2015.

«Adequate housing is a basic human need,» Hogan said in a statement. «After four audit reports, I can honestly say that I am completely discouraged that so little has changed and that so many First Nations individuals and families continue to live in substandard homes.»

Hogan delivered three reports Tuesday focusing on First Nations housing, First Nations policing and the federal government's management of the $4.6-billion National Trade Corridors Fund.

Under federal law, Indigenous Services Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation are the primary government organizations responsible for housing on First Nations communities.

The report says both organizations have made little progress in supporting First Nations to improve housing conditions in their communities.

Over the last five fiscal years, the federal government spent $3.86 billion building new homes and repairing existing homes in First Nations communities, far short of the $44 billion an Assembly of First Nations report said was needed in 2021.

Hogan's report said Tuesday that the number of housing units located on First Nations communities across the country stands at just under 120,000.

In 2015-2016, 20.8 per cent of those homes were in need of major repairs and 5.6