A group representing the majority of First Nations chiefs in Nova Scotia says the provincial government’s budget cuts appear to be targeting Mi’kmaw-specific programs.

Maw-lukutijik Saqmaq, also known as the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, said in a statement Friday that the Progressive Conservative government has cut many programs created to address historic — and persistent — systemic inequalities. The assembly is calling for a government-to-government meeting with Premier Tim Houston.

“The Nova Scotia government’s decisions will have drastic impacts on this province,” Eskasoni First Nation Chief Leroy Denny, co-chair of the assembly, said in the statement. “Programs and organizations that, for years, the province and the Mi’kmaq have been partners on, this government decided to claw back or push away from. This is incredibly disappointing.”

Denny could not be reached for an interview Friday.

Facing a $1.2-billion deficit, the Houston government has chosen to reduce or cancel more than 280 grants across several departments, including for scholarship programs, arts funding, African Nova Scotian programs, disability supports, food security, caregiver benefits and adult learning.

According to the Finance Department, the government is pulling all grant funding for Mi’kmaq services in the Education Department, the entire grant for Halifax’s Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, the full budget for the Treaty Day awards ceremony, part of the budget for Mi’kmaw history month, the full grant for the Mi’kmaw Summer Games and all money for an Aboriginal community development fund as well as for an Indigenous economic development research program.

The Finance Department said the province is cutting $260,000 from the $1.3-million Mi’kmaw language revitalization strategy and all provincial funding from Mi’kmaw Health and Wellness, a health authority.

The assembly said altogether 21 Mi’kmaw-specific programs were “targeted and cut.”

“It is becoming clear what Premier Houston’s position and priorities are, despite saying he wanted to work with the Mi’kmaq upon his election,” the assembly said.

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Finance Department said the government had to make difficult budget decisions in order to focus spending on priorities like health care, housing and economic growth.

“These decisions are being made across departments and programs — no one sector or group has been singled out,” said the statement. “In most cases, provincial funding is part of a broader organizational budget that also includes fundraising, partnerships and other sources of revenue. Even so, we know these changes may be significant for some Mi’kmaw organizations, and we understand the challenges this can create.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender told reporters Friday that the government has a terrible relationship with Mi’kmaq communities. “It seems to be getting worse by the day. And I think that these cuts that we see, and there’s many of them, are really a slap in the face,” she said.

There have been several points of tension between the Houston government and First Nations. Last year, the assembly issued a statement critical of legislation that would make it illegal to block forest access roads on Crown lands, saying they were not consulted on the law.

The government said at the time that the change was made at the request of conservation officers and wasn’t meant to stifle protests over logging. One such protest was led by a group of Mi’kmaw land protectors at Hunter’s Mountain in Cape Breton.

In December, the Justice Department issued a directive to police agencies across the province calling for the disruption of illegal cannabis operations and asked chiefs to support the move.

Sipekne’katik First Nation Chief Michelle Glasgow has said the premier, justice minister and minister of L’nu affairs are banned from band lands over the cannabis directive, accusing the Houston government of continuing “to radicalize colonial practices to suppress our community and fellow Mi’kmaw by forming laws that direct harm against us.”

The assembly said at the time that it reached out to the provincial government before the 2018 federal legalization of cannabis to discuss its regulation in Mi’kmaq communities.

The assembly said the province rejected those requests, adding that it was disappointed by Nova Scotia’s apparent lack of understanding of treaty rights and their right to self-determination.

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