Ottawa ends ‘political accord’ with controversial Indigenous group

The federal government is cutting ties with a controversial group that claims to represent Indigenous peoples living off-reserve in Canada.

The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) said Wednesday that Ottawa had “unilaterally” ended a political accord with the group, which had been signed in 2018 under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau.

CAP, an organization founded in the 1970s to represent the interests of Métis and non-status Indigenous peoples, has drawn criticism from some prominent Indigenous voices for their affiliation with groups claiming to be “Eastern Métis” and “Southern Inuit.”

But membership with the organization was enough for companies to gain access to billions of dollars worth of federal contracting opportunities through the Indigenous Procurement Program, a Global News investigation revealed in 2024.

CAP did not respond to Global News’ request for comment Wednesday. But in a public statement, the organization vowed to “challenge” the federal government’s decision to end their 2018 accord.

Story continues below advertisement

“Indigenous people do not stop being Indigenous because they live off reserve, lack federal registration, or fall outside the federal government’s preferred administrative structures,” CAP National Chief Brendan Moore said in the statement.

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.

“Their rights do not depend on the existence of a political accord, and neither does their right to be heard.”

The organization said the federal government made the decision without offering an explanation, and demanded accountability.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments, meanwhile, have maintained they represent their people regardless of where in Canada they live, making a group like CAP moot.

Neither Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) nor Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) immediately responded to Global News’ request for comment.

Crystal Semaganis, who has testified before parliamentary committees as an expert witness on Indigenous identity fraud, said non-Section 35 rights-holding groups who claim Indigeneity can divert needed resources and supports away from First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

“It’s become something very fraudulent, something very exploitative and damaging to people who are in need of those funds and that community support for nation building, for capacity building, for education, for economic diversity and growth,” Semaganis told Global in an interview.

A 2024 Global News investigation into the government’s Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB) and Indigenous Business Directory found that companies with unclear claims to Indigeneity had been granted access to billions in contracts meant for First Nations, Métis and Inuit-owned businesses.

Story continues below advertisement

The investigation found that the federal government, through Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), had little control or oversight in place to ensure the businesses qualifying for the Indigenous Procurement Program were, in fact, majority owned and operated by Indigenous people.

Global News also detailed the practice of companies hiring Indigenous businesses as a front to gain access to the contracts, and then giving them a percentage of the proceeds — a scheme known in the procurement world as “rent-a-feathers.”

Procurement Ombudsperson Alexander Jeglic told Global News in March that the program was the “worst (he’s) ever seen” in terms of his office’s systemic review.

Jeglic’s office’s report found that ISC showed a “systemic disregard” for the program’s principles, confirmed the department repeatedly failed to verify companies were Indigenous-owned, and failed to measure how the program benefited First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.

The result, Jeglic’s found, was the federal government could not “credibly” say it was accomplishing its targets for economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada.