The federal government is promising to spend $50 billion over a decade on programs and services for Indigenous peoples in key sectors like on-reserve infrastructure, housing, education, health care, child welfare, policing and emergency management.

Pledging "long-term predictable funding in core programs," Prime Minister Mark Carney’s majority Liberals' second budget, tabled Thursday in the House of Commons, promises a "historic investment" of $32 billion over 10 years for First Nations housing and infrastructure, plus $18 billion combined over six years for other areas.

The single biggest pledge is $18.5 billion over 10 years for a newly proposed "First Nations On-Reserve Infrastructure Program" that would cover things like roads, bridges, schools, health facilities and water plants, the spending plan says.

"It's not just about the amount, it's the approach. We're going now to stable, multi-year funding," Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters Thursday afternoon, touting this as different from the "year-to-year basis" approach of budgets past.

Budget 2026 does commit new money for longer terms in key areas, but it lands at a time when Carney's "Building Canada" agenda is causing increased tension between First Nations and Ottawa, especially over proposed legislation to streamline approval of major projects.

Earlier this week, one First Nations leader denounced the budget title of "Maître chez nous/Masters of our destiny" as "astonishingly tone deaf" in light of widespread First Nations concerns about this initiative.

"Canada invokes the language of self-determination while fast-tracking development on our First Nations territories without the proper consultation or consent," Judy Wilson, co-chair of the B.C. Specific Claims Working Group, told reporters on Tuesday.

Some of the budget's other proposed spending measures for Indigenous communities — not all of them entirely new — are: $11 billion to help communities manage and preserve 119,000 existing housing units, and $1.7 billion to "enable faster delivery of shovel-ready housing projects" $6 billion over six years for Jordan’s Principle, and $575 million over five years to renew the Inuit Child First Initiative $5.8 billion over five years for elementary and secondary education on reserve, and $437.9 million for post-secondary education $2.9 billion over three years for the Non-Insured Health Benefits program $865.6 million in 2026-27 to respond to emergencies that occurred on reserve and an additional $446.2 million ongoing for future emergency response and recovery $806.7 million over five years to implement the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families $633.7 million over four years and $250.9 million ongoing to the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program.

The budget thus notably renews funding for some expiring Trudeau-era reconciliation programs that went largely ignored in Carney's first budget, prompting some Indigenous leaders to worry the programs could be terminated or face massive cuts.

Indigenous leaders decry budget’s lack of money for key reconciliation programs Indigenous programs face $2.3B in cuts, some new money in Carney’s 1st budget Amid those persistent concerns, the Assembly of First Nations' top request this year was for sustained funding for First Nations services and money to close an infrastructure gap estimated at more than $375 billion.

National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said Tuesday that "budgets are not just math" but "instruments that governments use to deliver on their obligations." Champagne told reporters the budget responds to First Nations leaders' requests for more predictable and stable funding.

But there are some notable omissions. Most of the measures are for First Nations, and no new money for Métis governments specifically was mentioned.

It's also unclear how some of the promised cash would be spent longer term because the budget also only includes a detailed spending plan for $26.6 billion over the next five fiscal years, not $50 billion over 10 years.

The figures announced Thursday also include money announced earlier this year, namely $4.6 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure pledged in June 2026. The money for emergency management and policing was announced at last week's first ministers and First Nations meeting in Ottawa.

Perhaps the most debated outcome from that meeting was Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew's call to reform or abolish the Indian Act, for which Carney expressed support, but there is no mention of that in the budget.

The budget reiterates the government's intention to approve major development projects within a year through Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, and stresses "the new timelines do not change section 35 rights, the duty to consult, or treaty obligations." Woodhouse Nepinak, addressing a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, called the bill a "mass dilution" of environmental protections and First Nations rights and said the AFN opposes it.