Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Derek Nepinak disappointed with approval

of less than 4% of Federal Proposal Driven Project Funding Applications from AMC
January 8, 2015. Treaty One Territory. Derek Nepinak, the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
(AMC) expressed today his extreme disappointment with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern
Development Canada (AANDC) continued refusal to fund proposal driven project funding to the AMC for the
current 2014-2015 fiscal year.
Each year the AMC implements mandates received from the Manitoba Chiefs on a combination of core annual
funding, supplemented by proposal driven project funding which is a combination of policy development from
local and community-based initiatives. This historically has added upwards of $5-6 million in annual funding to
the overall budget of AMC. With a historical core budget of $2.7 million, combined core and project funding
flowing through the AMC has historically been in the range of $10-$15 million annually from AANDC and the
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada (FNIHB). This year, proposal driven and core funding
combined at AMC are approximately 10% of previous years funding arrangements.
Grand Chief Nepinak stated: I feel that we have been misled to think that the Government of Canada, under
the Harper regime, would act in good faith and support policy development from local and community based
initiatives. Instead we have been forced to jump through hoops, expending our limited resources in order to
meet February deadlines for proposals that didnt get final evaluation until November, which is the end of the
3rd quarter of the fiscal year.
In September 2012, when funding cuts to core operations of Aboriginal Representative Organizations (AROs)
were announced nationally, AMCs core operating budget was reduced to $500,000 annually. The AANDC stated
that AROs would still receive proposal driven project funding as in past years, as long as they were within the
firm February 2014 deadline. Based on those representations made by AANDC, the AMC submitted eight
proposals totaling $2,621,000.00 for the current fiscal year.
As of November 15, 2014 3/4 into this fiscal year AANDC responded with approval of $102,000.00, which is
only half of one of the submitted proposals. The funds are projected to flow from this proposal with less than 3
months left in the fiscal year. This reflects approvals of less than 4% of the applications for funding that the AMC
submitted for the fiscal year 2014-2015. Unlike previous years, the current process has turned purely political
with proposals vetted through the Ministers office directly. This means that proposals are no longer evaluated
on their merit and their relevance to community needs, but rather at the sole discretion of the Minister of the
AANDC bureaucracy.
Despite firm deadlines with cumbersome and redundant application processes that cost time and money for
AMC, the AANDC took nearly 9 months of the fiscal year to respond, making 12 month project timelines
undertaken by the AMC impossible to complete. In addition, in past years, the AMC was expected to cash
manage projects that require a 12 month workplan but are not funded until late in the fiscal year.

Grand Chief Nepinak further stated: Despite the fact that the Harper regime is passing accountability
legislation on First Nations communities (ie. First Nations Financial Transparency Act), the very Department
tasked with overseeing administration of programs and services for First Nations people takes 8 or 9 months to
make decisions on thoroughly completed proposals from our organizations. Although this government has
undertaken a clear agenda to highlight spending in our impoverished communities, the AANDC bureaucracy can
act with impunity and not be held accountable for sitting on millions of dollars of proposals meant to advance
community well-being and initiatives for First Nations people through our political organizations.
Some of the proposals being denied this year include valuable initiatives that are of the highest priority for
Manitoba First Nation communities. For example, proposals for implementing renewable energy solutions for
northern communities, testing frameworks on resource equity, building environmental research and food
security capacity in Manitoba First Nations and proposals for helping our community members make successful
transitions to urban living amongst others are being denied by the department.
If the AANDC headquarters is not actively and diligently supervising successful completion of projects because
it is not funding projects, then what are the regional offices of AANDC engaged in to justify the hundreds of jobs
and billions of dollars in expenses it consumes annually? Grand Chief Nepinak asked, adding: In addition to
withholding funding for AMC driven initiatives, I am also aware that critical funding needed to promote
equitable educational opportunities and instructional services for our children serviced by our Manitoba First
Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC) is being withheld for no good reason. This means that our
children, who are the fastest growing demographic in the Canada, are being denied equitable opportunity in
education. Manitoba citizens, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, should be outraged that the Harper
Conservative government is denying opportunity to our children by denying equitable opportunity to children.

-30For more information, contact:

Kayla Frank
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
204-296-3601
kfrank@manitobachiefs.com