AFN Critical of Government Report’s Findings
Monday, November 01, 2004 at 14:57
The Assembly of First Nations is disputing the federal government’s interpretation of a recent study on the well-being of First Nations communities.
On Friday, Indian Affairs reported that the gap is shrinking between First Nations communities and the rest of Canada when it comes to quality of life.
But AFN chief Phil Fontaine says the study actually found that the gap was closing up until 1996 — but has remained static ever since.
Fontaine says advances stopped happening in 1996, because that’s the year the federal government capped core program funding increases for Indian Affairs at two per cent a year.
Fontaine says the capped annual increase does not come close to keeping pace with either inflation or the growth of the First Nations population.