On the first day of the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly, Chief Perry Bellegarde and Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Carolyn Bennett announced two changes to how federal funding will be administered to First Nations across Canada.

The first change allows First Nations to carry federal funding forward from year to year, addressing the recurring problem of what Bellegarde called “March madness,” which happens when the fiscal year ends before projects are finished or in some instances are even approved.

The move is what the chief described as low-hanging fruit that should be picked on the way to ensuring more predictable, long-term funding in the future, which for him is the ultimate goal of interactions with Canada.

AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde and Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Carolyn Bennett announced changes to the way federal funding is administered to First Nations on Tuesday, July 25, at the AFN Annual General Assembly in Regina. Communities will be able to carry funds over into the next fiscal year and will receive more support in providing essential services.

“There’s a huge socio-economic gap that exists in Canada and … we need to make strategic investments in education and training and housing and access to potable water in order to close that gap … but there are steps along the way and to me this is just one of those steps in terms of a policy change,” said Bellegarde.

Minister Bennett said dealing in annual funding cycles is a problem and that her goal is to develop multi-year funding, something that the federal government has already done with a $1.8 billion commitment over five years for water systems on reserves.

Bennett described the previous system as paternalistic, describing how some First Nations had to return money that was unspent. Funding was also received late in the fiscal year, which put pressure on communities to spend.

“It actually has made no sense,” she said.

The changes were put forward by the Canada-First Nations New Fiscal Relations Working Group, which came out of an MOU made between the AFN and INAC regarding a new fiscal relationship, based on government-to-government interaction.

The second change announced was improving the federal government’s operations and maintenance funding policy for First Nations, which only covers a portion of essential services, like emergency services and potable drinking water for communities. The Fiscal Working Group is responsible for coming up with an improved approach and will submit a report to the AFN in December.

These fiscal changes will take effect April 1, 2018.