(November 5, 2025) The Government of Canada unveiled its 2025/26 budget yesterday, and cuts are coming for Indigenous programs and Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) won’t escape the impact. The cuts are all part of the federal government’s moves to reduce the costs of government operations.
In the budget the federal government indicated that Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations – the two main federal funding sources for MNBC – will be needing to achieve more than $2 Billion in funding cuts over the next few years. In addition, it is expected that some funding programs that are currently in existence will not be renewed. For example, the Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples (UPIP) which MNBC has received funding from will expire next March and no money has been allocated for it after that time.
In both May and July of this year, we predicted funding cuts were going to happen, and strongly suggested that MNBC who received more than $74 million in federal funding last fiscal year should be taking note and getting its expenditures under control but MNBC naively has kept spending money like it will keep on flowing.
So what did MNBC do to deal with the projected cuts? Believe it or not, they actually asked for more money from the federal government – how much we don’t know because they were afraid to reveal that in the Board minutes – and then in the most incredible demonstration of political incompetence – travelled to Ottawa to lobby the federal government just two weeks before the federal budget was presented. Anyone with a wit of political intelligence knows that the federal budget was already written two weeks ago, and that there was not a chance that the federal government would open up the budget document just because MNBC was asking for more money.
Think about it for a moment – four MNBC Board members plus the Chief Executive Officer plus two lobbyists – a total of 7 individuals all travelling to Ottawa lobbying for money when the budget was already sealed and ready for printing. Accommodation alone for the 7 would have amounted to thousands of dollars. We don’t know where they stayed but if they stayed at the Chateau Laurier (which is where they sometimes stay) the accommodation per night ranges in price from $500 to $700 and if the 7 stayed 4 nights that works out to $14,000 to $19,600 plus taxes and per diems, plus airfare. Total bill for the trip likely upwards of $30,000, and all to hand out ties and get photo ops, while many Métis families and seniors here in British Columbia are struggling to make ends meet.
Red River Métis British Columbia President Clara Morin DalCol says, “This board has been shoveling money out the door for the last four years in hiring more and more staff, hiring consultants and increasing their own salaries, and now they don’t know how they’re going to manage with less money.”
Ms. Morin DalCol points out that MNBC foolishly rejected an invitation from the Prime Minister in early August to participate in a meeting with other Métis organizations to discuss proposed major projects in the country and other initiatives. She says, “To reject the Prime Minister’s invitation has to be the dumbest decision this Board has made, and they have made a lot of them,” and she asks, “What were they thinking?”
She also says it is ludicrous and absurd for MNBC Treasurer Patrick Harriott to tell MNBC Citizens in his treasurer’s report (in July) that “through prudent financial management and strategic investments, MNBC continues to ensure that funding is effectively aligned with the needs and priorities of our Métis citizens across British Columbia.” Ms. Morin DalCol says, “Really??? And calls Harriott’s statement “an absolute joke.” She adds, “If this wasteful trip to Ottawa and hiring hundreds of staff and increasing Board salaries are examples of prudent financial management, then MNBC is headed toward a cliff.”
Don’t follow MNBC over the cliff. Ms. Morin DalCol – the President of Red River Métis British Columbia invites true Métis to join our grassroots organization which is focused on improving the lives of our true Métis people in British Columbia. Red River Métis British Columbia works on the issues that matter to our members through strong and effective advocacy work with governments.
Join Red River Métis - British Columbia today, by clicking on
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