Auditor general considering probe into Indigenous procurement program

Three prominent Indigenous groups have called on the federal auditor to investigate 'non-Indigenous scammers' accessing government contracts.

Canada’s auditor general is considering a probe into a multi-billion program meant to boost Indigenous business that has been open to abuse for decades.

Following complaints from Indigenous communities and a recent Global News investigation with First Nations University of Canada researchers, Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office confirmed that it is reviewing a request to investigate the Indigenous Business Directory (IBD).

The database is relied on by government departments to find First Nations, Métis and Inuit companies for roughly $1.6 billion in federal work annually under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB). Indigenous leaders have long warned Ottawa that non-Indigenous companies are being listed in the IBD and gaining access to billions of dollars worth of government contracts.

A months-long investigation by  Global News and First Nations University of Canada delved into the PSIB, created in 1996 aimed at giving Indigenous businesses preferential access to a percentage of federal contracts, found loopholes and workarounds for non-Indigenous companies to access that money.

The analysis found that until 2022, the federal government allowed companies to self-identify as Indigenous and did not always require documentation to support those claims. It also detailed “rent-a-feather” schemes – an open secret in Ottawa’s lucrative procurement industry – where an Indigenous person is hired to front a non-Indigenous company’s bid on federal contracts.

Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, called the workarounds a form of identity theft and the “next stage of colonization.”

The request for an audit comes from three prominent Indigenous groups – the Assembly of First Nations, the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council, and the Assembly of First Nations Québec and Labrador – who accused Ottawa of “negligent management” of the IBD.

“The IBD, which is meant for giving Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs targeted contracting opportunities, has been usurped by ineligible, non-Indigenous interlopers who have defrauded Canada of possibly billions of dollars,” the organizations’ letter, shared with Global News, read.