For the Cowichan Tribes alone, the numbers are staggering. According to our calculations, based on 24 years of Cowichan financial statements (adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars), the Cowichan (with approximately
5,600 members) have been paid nearly $1.3 billion since 2001 for health care, education and more.
In the 2001-02 fiscal year, the federal and provincial governments spent more than $37 million on the Cowichan, and that number tripled to $103 million (or $18,359 per band member) by 2024-25. In total, over 24 years, taxpayers paid $227,223 per band member, or over $900,000 for a Cowichan family of four.
Moreover, the Cowichan Tribes also received $229.5 million in 2024 through a four-year child and family services agreement with the federal and provincial governments, adding an additional $40,785 per member over four years.
With rare exception (such as when funding is provided for education instead of accessed provincially), Cowichan Tribes members receive such transfers on top of other benefits from the federal and provincial governments. A First Nations member living on reserve will also use off-reserve highways, hospitals and community centres, and benefit from national defence and so forth.
In other words, First Nations, with or without treaties, receive funds for selected services they might otherwise access off-reserve. They also receive funds other Canadians do not, such as “top-up” health care benefits for which most Canadians or their employers must pay for out of pocket. They are also eligible to access all other government programs and also benefit from living in a peaceful nation-state — i.e., Canada.
x 3 
