Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations

How Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations spent its budget in fiscal year 2024-25, shown as net expenditures by standard object from Public Accounts Volume II.

The Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations portfolio brings together the federal departments responsible for the government's relationship with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. The Department of Indigenous Services delivers programs and services in areas such as health care, child and family services, education, and community infrastructure, with an ongoing mandate to transfer control of these services to Indigenous communities and governments. The Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs manages the Crown's relationship with Indigenous peoples, including treaty and land claims negotiations, self-government arrangements, and northern governance. The portfolio also includes the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, which conducts scientific research in Canada's North.

Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations spent $40.77B in the 2024–25 fiscal year, or 7.4% of total federal spending. Spending is split between the portfolio's two main departments, with the Department of Indigenous Services accounting for a larger share than the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs; the Canadian High Arctic Research Station represents a much smaller portion of the portfolio's total.

The portfolio's transfer payments are concentrated in claims settlements and community services. Its largest transfer payment funds grants to First Nations to settle specific claims negotiated with Canada or awarded by the Specific Claims Tribunal, and to other Indigenous groups to settle special claims. Other major transfer categories include contributions to support the construction and maintenance of community infrastructure, contributions supporting prevention and protection services for children, youth, young adults, families, and communities, contributions for First Nations and Inuit primary health care, and contributions supporting First Nations elementary and secondary educational advancement.

How did Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations spend its budget in 2024-25?

Spending by entity, FY 2024-25

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

Percentage of federal spending, 1995–2025

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.