Auditor general blasts Indigenous Services Canada for failing to improve essential programs

IndigenousIndigenous Services Canada is failing to implement six past audits completed between 2015 and 2022, leaving First Nations facing persistent barriers when accessing health and dental care, safe drinking water and emergency services, the federal auditor general says.Barriers remain for First Nations accessing health care, safe water and emergency services, report saysBrett Forester · CBC News · Posted: Oct 21, 2025 11:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoAuditor General of Canada Karen Hogan waits to appear before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) in West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 23, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)Indigenous Services Canada is getting a failing grade on several fronts from the federal auditor general.In a scathing report released Tuesday, Karen Hogan found the department made unsatisfactory progress implementing six past audits completed between 2015 and 2022, leaving First Nations facing persistent barriers when accessing health and dental care, safe drinking water and emergency services.“Unless significant progress is made in addressing these barriers, the federal government may struggle to improve services and program outcomes and to advance reconciliation,” the report says.This lack of progress came despite the almost doubling of spending on Indigenous services over the last five years, Hogan said in morning testimony at the House of Commons standing committee on public accounts.“Sustained focus from Indigenous Services Canada to rethink how it delivers programs while collaborating with First Nations to improve their capacity is an important step to resolving the persistent issues,” she told lawmakers in prepared remarks.Indigenous Services Canada was created in 2017 when the Trudeau government dissolved the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Department and split it in two.The audit says spending on programs for Indigenous peoples grew by about 84 per cent between 2019-20 and 2023-24, from $13 billion to $24 billion. However the department failed to implement 53 per cent, or more than half, of the auditor general’s recommendations.Hogan took aim at what her report calls a lack of sustained attention from management, a lack of clarity around what level of service government is supposed to deliver, a failure to help build First Nations capacity to deliver programs themselves, and a passive and siloed approach to supporting communities.The audit found:Continued challenges with access to health services.Gaps in assessing the impact of oral health programs.Improved measurement and reporting on socio-economic gaps and education.Long-standing issues prevented access to safe drinking water.Critical gaps persist in emergency management amid growing threats.Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty is scheduled to join other Liberal cabinet ministers to respond to the audit findings on Tuesday afternoon.ABOUT THE AUTHORBrett Forester is a reporter with CBC Indigenous in Ottawa. He is a member of the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in southern Ontario who previously worked as a journalist with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.