Federal contracts given to Indigenous companies without proof

Credit: Global News

A federal program is coming under fire over loopholes that appear to allow it to be exploited at the expense of Indigenous companies.

The federal government spends at least $33 billion per year on contracts for goods and services, with five per cent of that money going toward Indigenous-owned businesses, touted as a form of reconciliation.

But as Melissa Ridgen reports, a joint investigation by Global News and researchers from the First Nations University of Canada has discovered the program hasn’t always required bidders to prove they are actually First Nations, Inuit or Métis.