ITK welcomes the August 12th announcement by the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, of an additional $305M to support Indigenous community and regional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal funds will be distributed through a combination of allocations directly to First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and through needs-based applications.
ITK will be seeking further clarity on this in the coming days.
In March 2020, during the initial federal commitment to the COVID-19 Indigenous Community Support Fund, $45M was allocated directly to Inuit land claims regions across Canada.
Each regional organization developed its own schedule of investments, which included funding for community harvests, supports for Elders, measures to provide daily water and sewer deliveries, mental health supports, funding for food banks and community distribution of cleaning supplies, among other areas.
Funds provided to each land claims region were also used to support their respective beneficiaries throughout Canada, including outside their land claims regions.