Aboriginal lobbies must now focus – Winnipeg Free Press

By: Editorial

Federal funding for native lobby groups is being cut, with money from Ottawa to flow directly to projects the Harper government will determine by priority. This, according to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, is not a move to better direct critical dollars to improve services to First Nations; it is an attempt to muzzle groups that are often critical of federal policies affecting native people and their treaty rights.

AMC is a political lobby group, the leader of whom is elected by chiefs of Manitoba bands who make up the membership of the assembly. Last year, it received $7.7 million in federal funding, $4.5 million of which came from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, and another $2.9 million from Health Canada.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan on Thursday announced core funding for national and regional groups across Canada such as AMC will be cut by 10 per cent or be capped at $500,000 a year. Funding for projects will also be reduced, Duncan said, noting the reductions will be phased in over the next couple of years to allow the groups to find new revenue sources. In total, core and project funding to First Nations political groups came to $101 million last year.

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