Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations

How Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations spent its budget in fiscal year 2023-24, shown as net expenditures by standard object from Public Accounts Volume II.

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) are two distinct federal departments tasked with advancing Indigenous priorities in Canada. Established in 2017 following the dissolution of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), they divide the work: ISC delivers essential services to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities — health care, education, housing, and child and family services — and works to transfer control of those services to Indigenous-led organizations, while CIRNAC leads treaty negotiations, self-government agreements, land claims, and Northern affairs.

On the consolidated accrual basis (Volume I), this portfolio’s expenses were $44.75B in FY 2023-24 — see the overview and methodology.

In fiscal year (FY) 2024, ISC and CIRNAC collectively spent $62.94B, accounting for 12.1% of total federal spending. This share was unusually high: it was driven up by an exceptional, largely one-time expense of roughly $20 billion tied to the settlement of First Nations child and family services and Jordan's Principle compensation claims, which is the single largest element of the departments' spending for the year. That settlement is why the departments' share of the federal budget was far above adjacent years and falls back sharply the following year. These figures cover only ISC and CIRNAC; they do not include programs in other departments designed specifically for Indigenous beneficiaries.

Spending by entity, FY 2023-24

Federal spending on Indigenous priorities shifts over time with population growth, policy changes, new self-government and claim-settlement agreements, and one-time events such as the compensation settlement. Even setting the settlement aside, spending has grown substantially over the past three decades. Significant challenges nonetheless remain in areas such as housing, health care access, and infrastructure in remote Indigenous communities.

Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations’s share of federal spending

Percentage of federal spending, 1995–2025

The spending is split across two main entities: the Department of Indigenous Services, at roughly $46 billion, and the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, at roughly $16 billion, with small amounts flowing through Northern development and research bodies. Much of this spending takes the form of grants and contributions transferred to Indigenous communities, organizations, and governments rather than being spent internally.

How did Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations spend its budget in 2023-24?

ISC and CIRNAC are led respectively by the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, both cabinet members appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Line items

Every transfer-payment (grant and contribution) program, in dollars. These are the named programs behind the transfer-payments object in the chart above. Search, sort, and download the full table.

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Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations figures are net expenditures by standard object from Public Accounts Volume II, and will not match the Volume I consolidated headline totals. See the methodology for details.