Strait Talk Ep. 64

The Co-Lead Negotiator for Ta'n Etli-tpi'tmk, James Michael, spoke with Civic Journalist Jake Boudrot after Mi’kmaq Chiefs in Nova Scotia and Canadian Senator Paul Prosper warned that poverty on reserves in the province must be addressed.

While Canada’s new government is moving ahead with major projects under the Building Canada Act, Ta'n Etli-tpi'tmk argues that Ottawa has yet to act on its own 2019 Poverty Reduction Act—legislation designed to meet Canada’s international human rights obligations.

According to the organization, Indigenous Services Canada delegates responsibility to Mi’kmaq Band Councils in Nova Scotia to deliver its National On-Reserve Income Assistance program. By law, this federal program must be comparable to Nova Scotia’s provincial income assistance—but it is not.

Under the Trudeau government, the Mi’kmaq worked with Indigenous Services Canada, which had promised to complete a national process to reform social assistance on reserves. That direction, however, shifted with the April 2024 federal budget, which reaffirmed Ottawa’s authority to implement its On-Reserve Income Assistance program—again framing it as merely “comparable” to provincial systems.

Since November 2021, the Mi’kmaq had been negotiating a section 35 sectoral self-government agreement with both Canada and Nova Scotia on reserve-based social assistance through the Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination tables. But in November 2024, the federal government halted talks after the Mi’kmaq submitted a plan to negotiate a fiscal arrangement that would fund social assistance based on true provincial comparability.

On July 17, Mi’kmaq bands in Nova Scotia submitted a second Financial Modelling Exercise to Ottawa, using Band population data to calculate the total block-funded cost of delivering an income assistance program equal to that offered provincially. The gap, Ta'n Etli-tpi'tmk said, is staggering.

Their analysis shows that Mi’kmaq families on reserve receive far less support than provincial clients and remain well below Canada’s poverty line. For 12 bands, the current annual shortfall in provincially comparable funding is estimated at $25,193,577.50—affecting 3,565 adults and 2,052 children who rely on social assistance to survive. This figure reflects the difference between what Ottawa currently provides and what would be required to meet provincial standards.

On July 9, the Mi’kmaq passed a resolution calling on Canada to return to the negotiation table and finalize both the Self-Government Agreement and a Fiscal Relationship Agreement within this fiscal year. To date, Crown-Indigenous Services Canada has remained silent on its commitment to settle what would be the second sectoral self-government agreement for the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia.