N.S. Mi’kmaq chiefs call on Ottawa to address income assistance disparity on reserves

The Eastern Eagles Mi'kmaq drumming group performs at the beginning of the Assembly of First Nations annual general assembly in Halifax on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

Mi’kmaq leaders from Nova Scotia are calling on Ottawa to urgently address an income assistance disparity they say is keeping some families on reserve in deep poverty.

Ta’n Etli-tpi’tmk, which represents 12 of the 13 Mi’kmaq First Nations in Nova Scotia, says Canada must raise on-reserve income assistance rates to match provincial levels. The group says there is a gap of more than $25 million a year between what First Nations people on reserve receive from Ottawa and what they would get from Nova Scotia if they lived off reserve.

“This is not about a handout, this is about enabling people to basically start to lift themselves out of deep poverty,” James Michael, a lead negotiator with Ta’n Etli-tpi’tmk, said in an interview Tuesday.

Michael said the federal government -- which administers social assistance on reserves -- offers rates as low as $13 a day for a single person, not enough to cover food or other basic necessities.

“There’s community support, people helping out other people, and people stretching their dollar as far as it can go. But I don’t know how people do it, to be honest,” Michael said, adding that many end up foregoing healthy food because they cannot afford it.

“Someone living on $13 a day, many of us, including myself, have spent that at the drive-thru at Tim Hortons some of my people are expected to live on that for a whole day. That’s very humbling,” he said.

For people living off reserve, Nova Scotia offers basic income assistance rates as low as $644 a month for individuals who board, meaning they have a bedroom inside a home belonging to someone else. The payments rise to $726 a month for an individual who rents or owns a home, and who doesn’t have dependents or isn’t a student.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ta’n Etli-tpi’tmk said the Mi’kmaq had been negotiating a self-governing agreement for social assistance with the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia between 2021 and 2024. Ottawa halted negotiations in 2024 after the Mi’kmaq submitted a plan to negotiate a fiscal arrangement to deliver social assistance on reserve based on provincial levels.

The group said that on July 9 the Mi’kmaq passed a resolution requesting that Canada return to the negotiation table and finalize an agreement this fiscal year.

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Vince Calderhead, a human rights lawyer and legal counsel for Ta’n Etli-tpi’tmk, said the amount of money allocated to on-reserve income assistance is not enough “to allow people to live with any measure of real dignity.”

As a result, he said, many people are forced to live in overcrowded housing and cannot afford healthy food.

“What you’re seeing today, despite all the talk of reconciliation and so on, is the federal government actually presiding over what is, in my view, not just a scandal -- but a huge human rights violation,” he said.

Sen. Paul Prosper, who is a Mi’kmaq lawyer from Nova Scotia, said First Nations in the province are asking for basic human and legal rights and “the ability to access poverty-reducing income supports comparable to what other Canadians can access off-reserve.”

Leroy Denny, Chief of Eskasoni First Nation, said, “our people are tired of the intergenerational trauma caused by an under-resourced federal income assistance program.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.

By Lyndsay Armstrong