Indigenous women leaders say budget doesn't address their realities

Sophia Laporte · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 12, 2026 7:34 PM EST | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago

Indigenous leaders from across Canada gathered in Ottawa on Thursday to say Prime Minister Mark Carney's new budget leaves Indigenous women out of the decisions made in the more than 500-page document.

"Budget 2026 represents a missed opportunity to make Indigenous women's safety and healing a sustained national priority," said Josie Nepinak, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.

She was joined by Lisa Pigeau, director of intergovernmental relations for Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak, former executive director of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada Rose Mary Cooper, Quebec Native Women President Marjolaine Étienne and Ontario Native Women's Association CEO Cora McGuire-Cyrette.

Cooper said the budget does not account for the dangers Indigenous women face in northern and remote Indigenous communities, adding that Inuit women were not mentioned once in the document.

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"For many Indigenous women, safety is a plane ride away," Cooper said, adding that most communities in Inuit Nunangat can only be reached by air, and 60 per cent have no shelters or other safe spaces. 

One in six Indigenous women have experienced at least one form of intimate partner violence, according to Statistics Canada. According to federal data, while Indigenous women make up only five per cent of all women in Canada, they made up approximately 26 per cent of women killed by an intimate partner in 2022.

"When an Indigenous woman needs to flee violence, she often must leave her family, her language, her land and her whole surrounding," Cooper said. "A model designed for seven cities does not work in small flying communities where food and housing costs weigh much more. One size does not fit all."

Cooper added that responses "must be tailored to where Indigenous women live and be designed and led by the women who live there."

While Carney's budget pledges $50 billion over the next 10 years to Indigenous programs and services — including $32 billion over 10 years for First Nations housing and infrastructure — many Inuit and Métis groups have expressed concerns over their asks not being met in this year's proposed spending.

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Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) told CBC News in a statement earlier this week that while it welcomes the budget's promise of $575 million over five years to fund the Inuit Child First Initiative and transition to the new Inuit-led initiative Pirutsiagutiit, it was "disappointed" by the lack of specific references to Inuit in other areas of the document.

Métis leaders were also concerned earlier this week with the budget's lack of Métis-specific funding, with the word "Métis" only appearing once in the document.  Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) President David Chartrand said he was "appalled" by the absence of distinct funding for Métis.

During Thursday's news conference, the leaders also raised concerns about the government's plan to end homelessness in 10 years. McGuire-Cyrette said this will not be achieved "unless the government works with the agencies on the ground."

• Carney's new budget aims to end homelessness in 10 years

Citing a 2024 Ontario Native Women's Association study that 83 per cent of Indigenous women live off reserve in rural and urban centres, she said "the budget is silent for the majority of urban Indigenous agencies" with the majority of investments are going to on-reserve services.

"If we're not at the table, how can you work with us?" she said.

Funding welcome, gaps remain

One significant provision from this year's budget for Indigenous women was providing $3.6 million to renew the Red Dress Alert pilot, which was developed with Indigenous partners to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada (MMIWG). 

Nepinak said that while she welcomes the funding and believes it will save lives, it "doesn't fix or address all of the gaps that continue to exist" in safety and protections for Indigenous women.

McGuire-Cyrette added that the investments in the pilot were nice to see, but are for the "aftermath of violence" against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people as opposed to prevention.

"We're not seeing those upstream investments," McGuire-Cyrette said.

Cooper added that for Inuit women living in Inuit Nunangat, "the needs are greater and reflecting what those needs are will be important" on how the pilot rolls out.

Pigeau said that while the leaders have not requested a meeting with Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty since the budget's tabling last week, they spoke with her before the budget release and look forward to meeting with "all ministers that would be involved" because it's "beyond just one issue."

"It's a multi-systemic approach that is needed to address the gender and orientation-based violence that faces Indigenous women," Pigeau said.

Nepinak added that the leaders brought up the need for supports and investments for Indigenous women's lives in Ottawa in a February conference that Alty attended, but "it feels like it fell on deaf ears."