KAIROS responds to Budget 2025
Security for whom? Federal Budget 2025 prioritizes economic growth, militarization and border security over justice, equity, reconciliation, sustainability and peacebuilding
The federal government finally tabled its long-awaited Budget 2025 on November 4. In our pre-budget submissions to Finance Canada and the Standing Committee on Finance, KAIROS voiced strong concern about the government’s stated commitments to prioritize defense spending, fossil fuel development and private sector interests.
KAIROS recognizes that the global context is rapidly shifting. Geopolitical instability, including the increasing unpredictability of the United States, poses security concerns.
Security, though, cannot be equated solely with economic growth, militarization and border protection. A secure Canada and world require investing in the intersecting root causes of conflict: inequality, ecological destruction, colonialism, gender oppression and the erosion of democracy. These are the security threats of our time. They impact us here at home and worldwide.
KAIROS encouraged the government to allocate appropriate public resources toward peacebuilding, climate justice, Indigenous self-determination and a fair global economy.
The government chose harmful trade-offs instead. To fund defense spending and false climate solutions like carbon capture, it refused to invest in the structural changes needed for a sustainable, just future.
These choices were political — not necessary. The government could have introduced a wealth tax to tackle the historic wealth gap and fund real climate action. It could have ended subsidies for fossil fuel corporations. Instead, it cut public services, forcing job losses that fall hardest on women, Indigenous Peoples and racialized communities, as the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives warns.
Canada needs to decide what role it wants to play in the world. These issues are inseparable: climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, migrant justice, gender equality and peacebuilding rise or fall together — and Canada’s future depends on advancing them as one interconnected project of justice.
This budget marks a turning point — and Canada must choose whether it will help build a more peaceful, sustainable and just world, or deepen the crises it claims to confront. The sections that follow outline how this budget falls short across the interdependent pillars of a just and sustainable future. Climate justice, Indigenous rights, feminist peacebuilding, migrant justice and international cooperation are not separate priorities but interconnected pathways toward equity and collective security. Progress in one depends on progress in all. Yet – across every pillar, this budget moves in the wrong direction, deepening inequality, widening gaps in accountability and placing those already most impacted by injustice at greater risk.
Ecological Justice
Budget 2025 fails to deliver on the level of ambition and urgency needed to address the climate crisis. It frames climate change primarily as an investment opportunity driven by market-based solutions and fails to deliver on Canada’s fair share commitments to tackle this mounting crisis. This failure will expose Canadians and others – especially racialized and Indigenous communities – to increased climate threats. The plan to water down hard-won anti-greenwashing legislation is also a blow to climate accountability and transparency.
Of concern is what the budget leaves out. It announced no new commitment on climate finance. This failure represents a profound breach of trust and lack of leadership as Canada prepares to attend COP30.
KAIROS notes two bright spots. It’s happy to see that Canada plans to strengthen industrial carbon pricing despite strong pressure from the fossil fuel sector, some provinces and political parties. Budget 2025 promises that the federal government will set a multi-decade price trajectory, harmonize provincial/territorial industrial pricing systems and apply a federal backstop when a province or territory falls below the national benchmark.
KAIROS is also pleased to see a $40 million commitment over two years to create a Youth Climate Corps to provide paid skills training for young Canadians, starting in 2026–27. This is a hard-won victory for many young adults and allies who campaigned for this over many years.
KAIROS Global Partners
In this budget, Canada has retreated from the world in its commitment to human rights, peacebuilding and international cooperation – precisely when bold Canadian leadership on these issues is needed most. At a time when it could have drawn on its global reputation, leadership and moral authority to offer an alternative to militarization, the federal government will instead re-arm the Canadian military with $81.8 billion over five years and cut funding to the country’s International Assistance Envelope by $2.7 billion over four.
These cuts to international assistance will undermine the wellbeing of the world’s most vulnerable people, coming at a moment when their needs are deepening, and many other governments are retreating from their international assistance commitments.
We know that preventing war is sixty times less costly than waging it – and far more effective, sustainable and equitable. True prevention requires sustained investment in local peacebuilding initiatives, particularly those led by women.
KAIROS joins Cooperation Canada in expressing deep disappointment and concern about the significant cuts to Canada’s international assistance. Those most impacted by these cuts will likely include women’s organizations, environmental groups and Indigenous and human rights organizations. These organizations are key to building a safer, more sustainable and equitable world – they address the root cause of insecurity. When we abandon these local organizations, the world is less safe for everyone.
Furthermore, there are no actual projections for the $2.7 billion cut. This lack of transparency creates confusion and uncertainty within a sector that provides critical support to at-risk populations.
We are also deeply concerned by the prospect of a scaled-up Industrial Military Complex in Canada. Even today, arms components made in Canada are used against civilians in Gaza and other conflict zones due to loopholes that allow them to flow indirectly through allies, helping to further entrench global insecurity.
Rather than defense budgets and investment in defense innovation, Canada’s leadership should be measured in humanitarian action, diplomacy and peacebuilding.
Gender Justice
KAIROS welcomes the recognition of the Department for Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) in this budget and the announcement of funds to support many of their important programs in Canada. We look forward to hearing more about this work from women’s organizations and networks in Canada. However, we regret that there is a lack of commitment to and resources for gender justice programs throughout the budget.
This budget marks a notable retreat from Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy and its stated commitments to a Feminist Foreign Policy. With only cursory mention of Global Affairs in the 493-page document, these priorities are effectively sidelined.
A week ago, Canada signed the Paris Joint Political Declaration on Achieving Gender Equality, Promoting Human Rights of All Women and Girls and Strengthening a Feminist Approach to Foreign Policy under the auspices of the 4th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policies in Paris, October 22 and 23.
In this statement, signed by more than 30 Ministers and high representatives of government, Canada committed to guiding principles including:
- Resolute support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and all the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Achieving ambitious outcomes on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
And Canada joined a Call to Actions that included:
- Combatting gender-based violence as a national and international priority, recognizing that women and girls suffer from multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
- Supporting the key role of civil society actors and feminist organizations, including women human rights defenders in the defense, protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms and promote a supportive environment for those actors throughout the world.
The question remains: where are the resources within this budget for Canada to live up to these commitments and actions?
Indigenous Rights
The budget makes no mention of the 231 Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Indigenous women are mentioned three times, once in relation to Permanent Funding for the Department for Women and Gender Equality. This, according to the budget document, “will help ensure that people facing intersecting barriers, including Indigenous women and girls, women and girls with disabilities, Black and other racialised women and girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people, can access the supports they need.” But with no commitments to addressing the 231 Calls for Justice and plans to scale up mining, which exacerbates gender-based violence, the government fails to address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirited people.
In this budget, the Canadian government prioritizes reducing “inefficient approval processes” and red tape to encourage investment. Yet this threatens to weaken the essential relational work with First Nations communities – those best positioned to define what healthy and safe practices mean for their lands and peoples; those who will live with the environmental and health impacts of potential ecological harm.
The Federal government says that it’s looking to support proper talks and representation to “ensure the perspectives, rights and interests of First Nations, Métis and Inuit are reflected throughout major project planning and decision making.” With the reduction of red-tape and the shortening of planning time, how can there be confidence that First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples are fairly represented? The federal government must respect the right of these communities to select their own representatives and guarantee them an equitable voice in decisions made in the name of the “national interest”.
We question this statement on page 86: “This is done all while maintaining strong environmental protections, upholding Indigenous rights, and creating opportunities for Indigenous Peoples to derive economic benefits from major project development.” How transparent and sustaining are safeguards and practices to any given Indigenous community in Canada? There needs to be guarantees and high-level standards that include Indigenous representation and approval to ensure local and regional communities are not at risk.
The Federal government states that it is committed to reconciliation with Indigenous people. However, there will be a two percent cut in spending by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada. These reductions, spread over three years until the spring of 2030 and projected to save approximately $770,000 annually, are deeply concerning. They threaten the well-being of many Treaty peoples across Turtle Island who depend on child and family services, primary health care and vital community infrastructure.
Starting in 2026–27, the federal government plans to renew the First Nations Water and Wastewater Enhanced Program, allocating $2.3 billion over three years to support approximately 800 ongoing projects and their long-term sustainability. However, with resource extraction projects expanding across Canada, questions remain about how this renewed water program will interact with such developments – and whether it will adequately protect safe water access for Indigenous communities affected by industrial activity.
The budget confirms $2.8 billion for urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing, yet offers no clear details on how or when these funds will be delivered. There is a troubling lack of specificity and assurance about how quickly or effectively the investment will translate into real housing for those who need it most. No timelines, measurable targets or accountability mechanisms have been outlined to ensure the promised outcomes are achieved.
The federal government has announced its intention to conclude value-added sales tax agreements on fuel, alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and vaping products with interested Indigenous governments. However, no plan has been outlined to replace the tax revenues that Indigenous governments and communities currently rely on. Nor is there any clarity on how the long-standing tax exemptions – used by Indigenous peoples for nearly 25 years – will be addressed or compensated.
Migrant Justice
Budget 2025 takes a step backward for migrant justice in Canada. The government’s plan to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers by nearly half reinforces a restrictive and exclusionary immigration system. This approach prioritizes economic control over human rights and deepens the precarity faced by thousands of migrant workers who contribute daily to Canada’s food systems, care sectors and economy.
By framing “sustainability” in purely economic terms, the government ignores the human cost of debt, exploitation and family separation. Canada continues to rely on a two-tiered labour system that treats migrant workers as temporary and disposable — rather than as integral members of Canadian communities.
Despite its regressive direction, Budget 2025 does include small but meaningful steps:
- A commitment to transition 33,000 work permit holders to permanent residency between 2026 and 2027 — a recognition that pathways to permanence are necessary.
- Funding for foreign credential recognition and labour rights enforcement, which acknowledges and addresses systemic inequities in the Canadian labour market.
These actions, while limited, show some awareness of the need for fair treatment and inclusion of migrant and racialized workers.
However, these isolated measures do not offset the broader harm caused by policies that reduce access, restrict mobility and undermine dignity.
KAIROS urges the federal government to:
- End the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and replace it with permanent residency pathways as the primary solution to labour shortages.
- Regularize undocumented workers, halt deportations and extend work and study authorizations while applications are processed.
- Ensure migrant workers have equal rights, protections and opportunities for family reunification.
- Recognize and address climate displacement by integrating climate migration as a legitimate form of forced displacement in Canada’s immigration framework.
A fair and sustainable economy must center the dignity, rights and full inclusion of migrant workers, not marginalize them further. Canada’s prosperity depends on the people it continues to marginalize. Budget 2025 is a missed opportunity to build an immigration system rooted in equity, permanence and care.
Budget 2025: Security for Whom?
This federal budget assumes that investments in defense, border protection and infrastructure will benefit all Canadians, while failing to define how these measures will safeguard human rights, advance reconciliation or protect the planet.
This approach represents a narrowing of Canada’s moral and policy vision. By centring growth and security as economic imperatives, the budget sidelines the interdependent pillars required for a just and sustainable future—climate justice, Indigenous rights, migrant justice, gender justice and international cooperation.
Across these pillars, the direction of federal spending is marked as much by omission as by inclusion. There is no meaningful investment in community-driven, gender-responsive climate solutions. No clear commitment to Indigenous leadership or participation in decision-making. No plan to reduce dependence on temporary foreign labour or uphold migrant rights. Instead, increased funding for militarization, resource extraction and expedited infrastructure projects risks further entrenching inequality, ecological destruction and colonial patterns of control.
True security cannot be achieved through border fortification or market expansion. It is built through investments in care, reconciliation and the protection of land, water and human dignity. A just budget would prioritize the well-being of people and the planet, ensuring that economic and security measures are guided by principles of equity, solidarity and sustainability – so that no one, and no ecosystem, is left behind.
Partner Reactions to Budget 2025:
Climate Action Network Canada reacts to Budget 2025 – Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) Canada’s unions call for stronger action on jobs and public services | Canadian Labour Congress Cooperation Canada: Canada’s Cuts to Critical Development Assistance Weaken Us All, Undermine Security
