November 4, 2025 — Ottawa, Ontario
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami welcomes Budget 2025 references to Inuit, including support for Inuit Nunangat University, $1B over four years for a new Arctic Infrastructure Fund and a cap on the spending cut for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Indigenous Services Canada at 2 percent rather than 15 percent announced for other departments.
While today’s budget reflects some progress, success will depend on the scale, design, and transparency of its implementation, as well as commitment to Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee priorities, including Inuktut revitalization, self-determination in research and rights implementation.
ITK is deeply concerned that the government has chosen not to allocate additional funding in this budget for the Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI). The funding sunsets March 31, 2026, and if it remains unfunded, the most vulnerable members of our society would be deprived of their ability to live with dignity and access the critical services they need when they need them.
Since 2018, ICFI has served as an Inuit-specific equivalent to Jordan’s Principle, the human rights principle established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The federal government committed to a demand-driven policy to replace ICFI when it was initially launched and during the past year ITK and Inuit Treaty Organizations have engaged the federal government in co-developing a more permanent policy to replace it.
ITK and ITOs have considered ICFI and the accompanying federal commitment to develop a more permanent policy solution replacing it as a welcome alternative to costly legal action. Inuit will consider all options — including legal options — to ensure our children can access the critical services they need when they need them.
We are also disturbed by the lack of renewed funding to eliminate tuberculosis in Inuit Nunangat, despite the federal government’s public commitment to eliminate the disease by 2030.
Rates of TB in Inuit regions remain more than 300 times higher than rates among non-Indigenous Canadians, and continued underfunding threatens to reverse the progress achieved through Inuit-led screening, prevention, and treatment programs. The failure to allocate new resources in this budget represents a willful neglect of this public health emergency.
We are also concerned about the lack of specific reference to Inuit in the budget’s emphasis on Arctic sovereignty and national security, and its failure to recognize Inuit self-determination and rights in the region.
“Inuit-Crown partnership is not symbolic — it is a practical requirement for effective governance in the Arctic,” said ITK President Natan Obed. “We look forward to working with the government to turn today’s announcements into measurable outcomes for Inuit families and communities.”
Federal budgets since 2015 have been progressive in respecting Inuit rights holders as essential components of Canadian fiscal construction. This budget is a notable departure from this shared path.
