Purpose:

 

We urge you to write to Prime Minister Carney and Minister Alty to express your opposition to these cuts, and to let them know that specific claims research funding is essential for First Nations to access the resolution process and that Canada’s failure to honour their commitments and uphold the honour of Crown will trigger litigation, loss of credibility, and escalating political conflict. Canada must uphold its legal and moral obligations, and take immediate actions to address the research funding crisis, including providing an emergency supplement of $23 million for the current fiscal year and to work with First Nations to co-develop a mechanism to provide stable, equitable, full funding based on need to First Nations wanting to research and develop their historical claims

 

 

Claims Research Units (CRUs) are mandated directly by First Nations undertake specialized and complex historical research and specific claims development on behalf of First Nations. CRUs are funded to carry out claims research, the development of legal arguments, the preparation and filing claims of on First Nations’ behalf and following up on all necessary work until a claim is accepted or rejected for negotiation by Canada. The funding received allows CRUs to provide research and legal work related to claim development and submission at no cost to First Nations.

 

On late June/early July 2025, CRUs across Canada began receiving their letter of offer from Canada’s Cross-Sector Initiatives Directorate (“CSI”) which allocates funding for the research and development of specific claims. All CRUs received significant cuts to their research program – many over 50% and some as high as 83 percent.

 

The severe cut to these budgets, one quarter into the fiscal year, will adversely impact CRUs ability to research and develop claims as mandated. It will also impede progress on claims overall and obstruct First Nations’ access to justice. 

 

 

CRUs and individual First Nations apply annually to Canada’s Cross-Sector Initiatives Directorate (“CSI”) for research and develop funding to support the complex, extensive research and legal work required for a First Nation to submit a claim to the Specific Claims Branch. CRUs are specialized historical research centres which receive mandates from individual First Nations to conduct research and develop claims on their behalf. First Nations decide whether to apply individually or to mandate a CRU to do this work on their behalf, a choice that reflects their autonomy and control over how their histories and grievances are documented, advanced, and resolved. CRUs research and develop approximately 80 percent of claims nationwide and receive funding scaled to their work plans, benefiting from significant economies of scale. Individual First Nations who apply for funding may receive up to $40,000 per claim. CSI has never provided a transparent methodology for determining the total amount of funding it will allocate to a CRU or a First Nation each year.

 

CSI’s funding envelope for specific claims research and development across Canada is $12 million per year and has been at this level since 2019. The year 2025-26 is the last year of this budget commitment, when the amount of available funding will revert to $4 million unless Canada commits to renewing and increasing the envelope. 

 

CSI’s data shows that CRUs and individual First Nations together applied for over $34 million in 2025-26, a shortfall of $22 million, and an $8 million increase over last year’s shortfall. The shortfall is the direct result of Canada posting claim research funding guidelines on its website in 2021. They took this step, we were told, to inform more First Nations about the program and how to apply. Canada made no corresponding increase in the overall funding envelope to address the predictable increase in the number of applications it would receive.

 

Prior to 2025-26, the shortfall in research funding impacted individual First Nation applicants disproportionately; funding to CRUs was insufficient but remained relatively stable. Research directors at CRUs advocated strongly that individual First Nations should receive sufficient funding and that overall shortfalls to research funding should be immediately addressed, insisting that full and fair funding for all claimants is a matter of justice and reconciliation, regardless of the mechanism through which they applied. There was no funding increase, and the shortfall has now reached crisis proportions.

 

 

CSI has made a significant change in the way it has distributed research funding. Previous practice, according to CSI’s own information, was to first allocate funding to CRUs, since they are mandated to research and develop the vast majority of claims, allowing them to maximize economies of scale, and then allocate funding to individual First Nation applicants.

 

For 2025-26, CSI reports that they received a significant increase in applications from individual First Nations (CRUs’ work plans also increased). CSI has stated that first it distributed funding at $30,000 per claim to rights holders who applied (meaning individual First Nations, even though CRUs are themselves mandated by rights holders via band council resolution to research and develop claims on their behalf).

 

As a result of CSI’s decision, CRUs are now operating with budgets slashed by up to 83 percent, whether measured against their 2025–26 funding requests or against prior year allocations. Individual First Nation applying directly for funding have also received 25 percent less than the $40,000 per claim cap and 50 to 75 percent less than the amounts First Nations requested, based on funding required to complete their work. CSI made and implemented these decisions unilaterally, with no warning or communication, despite the existence of a CRU-CSI working group established to collaborate and discuss funding issues as they arise.

 

 

Since CRUs research 80 percent of claims across the country, cuts to CRU budgets will directly impact First Nations, as CRUs receive mandates from individual First Nations to research and develop claims on their behalf. The cuts will severely undermine the research and development process, compromising the effectiveness of the entire specific claims program. In addition, because CSI routinely issues funding offers well into the new fiscal year, CRUs have historically managed cash flow based on the reasonable and consistent expectation that allocations would be roughly in line with previous years. This was a predictable and responsible approach under normal circumstances that allowed CRUs to continue researching claims, retain staff, and keep their doors open. The difference in 2025–26 is CSI’s extreme delay in issuing offers, the scale of the cuts, and the lack of any advanced warning, factors which are now forcing longstanding research programs to struggle and halting progress on hundreds of claims

 

CRUs are doing what they can to mitigate the impacts, in the short term. But some have already had to lay staff off with years of extremely specialized historical research experience and expertise, and significantly reduce budgets for obtaining necessary evidence to support claims and to cover basic administrative costs, including rent. It will hinder researchers’ ability to travel to gather information from community knowledge-keepers and to conduct legal work. Across Canada, CRUs capacity to properly research and advance claims as mandated by First Nations will be significantly diminished and claims will go unresolved.

 

 

Specific claims address Canada’s historical violations of its lawful obligations to First Nations found in statutes, treaties, agreements, or Canada’s reserve creation policies, violations that have caused lasting harm to First Nations. Under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Canada’s own UN Declaration Act, Canada has an obligation to provide redress for these wrongs. The honour of Crown compels Canada to uphold its obligations and public commitments and to ensure First Nations can access justice for their historical claims. Stable, full, and equitable research funding is essential to ensure First Nations have access to the specific claims process.

 

We urge you to write to Minister Alty using the templates provided.

 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require additional information.

 

In Unity,

 

Jody Woods,

Research Director and Administrative Director

Union of BC Indian Chiefs