Auditor General Considers Investigation into Indigenous Procurement Program – National

Canada’s auditor general is considering an investigation into a multibillion-dollar program designed to boost Indigenous businesses that has been vulnerable to abuse for decades.

Following complaints from Indigenous communities and a recent Global News investigation involving researchers from the First Nations University of Canada, the office of Auditor General Karen Hogan confirmed it is reviewing a request for an investigation into the Indigenous Business Directory (IBD).

Government departments rely on the database to find First Nations, Métis and Inuit businesses for about $1.6 billion in federal work each year under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB). Indigenous leaders have long warned Ottawa that non-Indigenous businesses are being listed in the IBD and given access to billions of dollars in government contracts.

A months-long investigation by Global News and the First Nations University of Canada into the PSIB, which was created in 1996 to give Indigenous businesses priority access to a percentage of federal contracts, found loopholes and workarounds that allowed non-Indigenous businesses to access that money.

The analysis found that the federal government allowed companies to identify themselves as Indigenous until 2022 and did not always require documentation to support those claims. It also detailed “rent-a-feather” arrangements — an open secret in Ottawa’s lucrative procurement sector — in which an Indigenous person is hired to lead a non-Indigenous company’s bid for federal contracts.

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Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, called the temporary solutions a form of identity theft and the “next phase of colonization.”

The request for an audit comes from three prominent Indigenous groups – the Assembly of First Nations, the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council and the Assembly of First Nations Québec and Labrador – who accused Ottawa of “negligent management” of the IBD.

“The IBD, which is intended to provide Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs with targeted contracting opportunities, has been taken over by non-Indigenous invaders who have potentially deprived Canada of billions of dollars,” the organizations’ letter, shared with Global News, reads.

“The Canadian government, which claims to want to expand economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples, in reality pays no attention whatsoever to ensuring that the beneficiaries of billions of dollars in contracts are Indigenous.

“We feel like we are being ridiculed rather than supported by those in charge of the IBD.”

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), which operates the Indigenous Business Directory, initially told reporters it had tightened eligibility requirements in 2022, requiring businesses to provide documentation confirming their Indigenous heritage.

However, Global News reported Wednesday that when a representative of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Tribal Council approached the ISC about being listed on the directory in April 2024, they were told the council did not need any documentation.

According to the emails, a federal official told the Algonquin representative that they could upload “any” document, including a “picture of a rabbit,” to complete the application. The Algonquin representative went ahead and uploaded a picture of a rabbit.

“Unbelievably, the Canadian government has accepted this (photo) as evidence of AANTC’s Indigenous status,” the letter to Hogan reads.

“This would be a funny joke if it weren’t so disgustingly offensive.”

Global asked ISC for comment on Monday’s rabbit incident. The department was not available for comment as of Thursday afternoon.

In a statement Thursday, the Court of Auditors said it was “currently assessing the indigenous groups’ request” and deciding whether to proceed with an investigation.

Those audits can take years. But a spokesperson for Hogan’s office said the process is “flexible,” allowing them to “reprioritize planned audits to consider emerging issues, ensuring our work takes into account the areas of greatest risk to the Canadian public, as well as our mandate, available resources, and parliamentary interest.”

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