Number of companies identified as Indigenous jumps sharply as Ottawa adopts procurement target

The number of businesses eligible for a federal program that prioritizes Indigenous companies when awarding contracts jumped more than 40 per cent over the past year, a rapid increase to a program that some community leaders say has overly broad criteria and is vulnerable to abuse.More than 800 new registrants enrolled in the Indigenous Business Directory, a database of companies eligible to participate in Ottawa’s procurement strategy for expanding the Indigenous economy. That jump, from 1,900 to 2,700 companies as of April, coincided with a federal plan, announced three years ago, that by this year a minimum of 5 per cent of the total value of federal contracts should be awarded to Indigenous businesses.