National Inuit org complains about cut to project funding

Recent federal government cuts to project funding for Aboriginal representative organizations are “inconsistent and unconscionable,” Duane Smith, the acting president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said in a statement June 7.

Smith and other ITK officials learned of the cut in a letter from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, ITK said in a news release.

“At a time when Canada is hosting the Arctic Council, for example, I find it inconsistent and unconscionable that this same government would seek to reduce Inuit collaboration on projects and weaken efforts to develop vibrant, healthy communities,” ITK’s acting president said.

ITK, along with six national and 39 regional aboriginal representative organizations, will see project funding cut by 30 per cent for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

In 2010-11, Ottawa handed out $73.3 million in project funding to those groups, including $8.96 million to ITK and other regional Inuit organizations.

“Project funding” is generally understood to be money to pay for special projects, and comes from a pot of money separate from the pot of money that covers core funding for aboriginal groups.

This past September 2012, AAND told aboriginal organizations that the current system will be replaced by a new one that will come into effect in 2013-14.

To prepare for that, AAND announced a 10 per cent cut in core funding for all the groups, to be followed by “gradual” reductions in project funding.

Under the new system, the government would fund projects that are “more closely aligned with key priorities,” AAND said.

But ITK said this week’s 30 per cent project funding cut comes as a fiscal shock.

“The 30 per cent cut in project funding announced this week – combined with the other cuts listed above – reduces ITK’s overall operating budget by one-third, or $1.9 million,” ITK said.

An ITK spokesperson said Duane Smith is acting as ITK president until the organization’s president, Terry Audla, returns the week of June 17 from a short period of medical leave, about a week and a half from now.