Ombudsman Report Criticizes Indigenous Procurement Failures

OTTAWA - The federal procurement ombudsman has accused Indigenous Services Canada and several other government departments of failing to properly implement a longstanding program designed to direct billions in contracts to Indigenous businesses, potentially allowing non-Indigenous firms to exploit the system through shell companies.

In a report released Thursday, Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic detailed widespread inconsistencies in the administration of the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Businesses, a 30-year-old initiative established in 1996 to promote economic reconciliation by reserving certain federal contracts for Indigenous-owned enterprises. The review examined 27 procurement files from April 2023 to March 2025 across Indigenous Services Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada, Shared Services Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and Correctional Service Canada.

The report found that departments often awarded contracts without verifying if suppliers were listed in the government's Indigenous Business Directory, which as of November 2024 contained more than 2,900 eligible companies. In 20 of the 27 files, there was no evidence that...