Alberta cuts $250,000 from Indigenous business investment grant

In a release published on its website earlier this week, the provincial government announced that applications for the Aboriginal Business Investment Fund opened on 29 June.

The fund provides eligible Indigenous community-owned businesses with up to $500,000 in funding for ventures that demonstrate social and economic benefits for their communities.

This isn’t a new programme. It was implemented in the 2016–2017 budget year by the NDP government. The UCP don’t explicitly say it’s a new programme, but they don’t explicitly say it’s not. To be fair, they do list past projects that have benefitted from the funding, including a project organized by the Piikani and Kainai Nations, here in Southern Alberta.

However, one thing for certain that the UCP doesn’t say in the release is that the $500,000 maximum limit used to be $750,000. They reduced the limit by $250,000 for at least this budget year.

Oddly enough, Rick Wilson, the minister of Indigenous relations, forgot to mention that in the quote he submitted for the media release.

Originally published at kimsiever.ca on 1 July 2020.