Treasury Secretary Chrystia Freeland promised that the spending plan released on Tuesday would show fiscal discipline.

It should also include funds to advance Canada’s green energy transition and measures to ensure the country can compete with the United States, which is aggressively funding clean tech with its Energy Reduction Act.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed said despite the government’s dovish rhetoric, it will continue to spend billions – and he hopes that will include a $75 billion pledge over 35 years for infrastructure in Inuit communities becomes.

“There is money being spent in this budget, while the government is talking about a very lean budget, there will still be billions of dollars,” he said in a recent interview.

Obed said the motions included in the organization’s pre-budget proposal came from discussions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government at the Inuit Crown Partnership Committee table.

“It’s not just numbers that we come out of nowhere,” he added.

Trudeau has made reconciliation with tribal peoples one of his government’s top priorities since taking office in 2015.

However, last year’s budget fell short of expectations for the improvement and construction of First Nations shelters, which have long been identified as a problem for many communities across Canada.

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Indigenous communities face a deteriorating housing stock and leaders and experts have said there is not enough to support population growth.

Ahead of the 2022 federal budget, the First Nations Assembly — which serves the needs of more than 600 First Nations communities — estimated $44 billion to repair reserve housing.

Ottawa eventually committed $4.3 billion to support housing in Indigenous communities over seven years, including $2.4 billion earmarked specifically for reserve housing needs.

For her part, Cassidy Caron, President of Métis National Council, said in a statement that she hopes the next budget will include funds for the organization to set up an economic development fund specifically to help Métis businesses.

In its submission to the federal government, the organization says Métis communities do not have access to funds through the two existing programs that Indigenous Services Canada runs to support economic development.

She also recommends that the federal government provide funding to help create directories of Métis companies.

“Long-term, sustainable investments will help our citizens, communities and businesses meet current and future challenges,” said Ms. Caron.

The federal government also signaled in its fall economic statement that it plans to develop a new framework to “ensure” that First Nations and other Indigenous communities “can directly benefit” from the great resources being developed on their lands and that more information would be provided on this year.

A presentation prepared by the First Nations Assembly for its Special Assembly of Chiefs last December shows that it expects to see policy options on the issue in early 2023 and then set a framework between April and December.

The AFN did not respond to a request for information about its priorities for this year’s budget.