Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 02, 2017 -

The Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), responsible for administrating the Specific Claims Process, needs to improve the way it manages the process and the way it shares key information with First Nations, according to a report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts tabled today in the House of Commons by the Hon. Kevin Sorenson, Chair of the Committee.

In the Fall of 2016, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a performance audit in which it examined whether INAC adequately managed the resolution of First Nations specific claims. The audit concluded that INAC had not done so.

Specifically, the audit found that funding cuts and a lack of information sharing between the Department and First Nations posed barriers to First Nations’ access to the process for resolving specific claims. As the Committee was very disappointed to learn of the deficiencies of this process, it has made five recommendations that aim to ensure that the Department addresses each of these deficiencies.