Article content âIncluded in this amount was $577.5 million, or $115.5 million annually, for the High-Cost Special Education Program. The only evidence the department provided to substantiate the $115.5 million increase was that spending on this program had exceeded the budget by $22 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year. âWe also found that the department could not provide analysis to support its language and culture funding of $275 million, or about $55 million annually between the 2016-17 and 2020-21 fiscal years ⦠this amount was based on a proposal from one region that was then applied nationally, regardless of specific conditions.â Ferguson, who passed away in 2019, said while the government talked a good game about closing the gap between Indigenous people and other Canadians, âwe donât see those gaps closing. We donât even see that they know how to measure those gaps.â