Ontario Indigenous Travel Grant
by Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities (OSAP)
Also known as: OITG
The Ontario Indigenous Travel Grant covered travel between remote (Zone 3/Zone 4) First Nations communities and postsecondary institutions, historically $1,300 per one-way trip, up to 4 trips a year. Per a December 2025 Ministry presentation, it was incorporated into the Indigenous Student Bursary starting 2025-26 (total allocation $2.5M, distributed by each school's financial aid office). Students from remote communities should now ask their financial aid office about travel support under the bursary.
Key facts
- Amount
- Up to $5,200 $1,300 per one-way trip (student travelling alone), max 4 one-way trips per academic year; $2,600 per person per trip when travelling with spouse/dependent children, max 2 one-way trips
Historical figures from the 2022-23/2023-24 program years, the last years the grant ran as a standalone. Do not rely on these for 2025-26.
Against all tracked amounts, $1,000 to $500,000,000, logarithmic.
osap.gov.on.ca · Last verified Oct 1, 2026 · Auto-checked against official source
- Instrument
- Grant (non-repayable)
- Status
- Superseded see successor program
- Who qualifies
- Individuals
- individual
- Self-identified Indigenous student on the OSAP profile, full-time OSAP applicant with calculated provincial financial need of at least $1 (historical criteria)
- Resident of a remote First Nations community when not in full-time study: CIRNAC Zone 3 (350+ km from the nearest service centre) or Zone 4 (no year-round road access to a service centre)
- District list above is indicative, qualifying remote/fly-in communities are concentrated in the Kenora, Thunder Bay and Cochrane districts (Far North), but eligibility followed community zone classification, not district
osap.gov.on.ca · Last verified Oct 1, 2026 · Uncertain: confirm with funder
- Where
- Cochrane District · Kenora District · Thunder Bay District
3 of 11 Northern Ontario districts are eligible for this program. A filled dot is eligible, an outline is not.
Common questions
Is the Ontario Indigenous Travel Grant still available?
Not as a standalone grant. A December 2025 OSAP/Ministry presentation states it was incorporated into the Indigenous Student Bursary beginning 2025-26, and the grant's page was removed in the OSAP site redesign. Travel support for students from remote First Nations communities now flows through your institution's financial aid office via the bursary, apply there.
Who counted as living in a remote community?
Communities classified by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada as Zone 3 (more than 350 km from the nearest service centre) or Zone 4 (no year-round road access to a service centre), largely fly-in communities in the Far North of the Kenora, Thunder Bay and Cochrane districts.
How much was it worth?
In its final standalone years: $1,300 per one-way trip for a student travelling alone (max 4 one-way trips, up to $5,200/year), or $2,600 per person per trip when travelling with a spouse/dependent children (max 2 trips). These are historical figures, amounts under the merged Indigenous Student Bursary are set by each institution.
Other streams of Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP)
Funders publish these as one program with several streams. The terms differ by stream.
- Ontario Distance Grants (OSAP), Up to $1,500
Where else could this money come from?
Chosen by what these programs have in common with this one, not by hand. The reason is shown for each, so you can judge whether it holds.
-
Ontario Learn and Stay Grant
Next intake not announced same funder (Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities (OSAP)); both for students & individuals; students — Up to 100% of costs
-
Winter Roads Program: Bridges and Culverts Stream
Open, continuous intake both for indigenous entrepreneurs & businesses; remote communities — Not published
-
Summer Company
Next intake not announced both for students & individuals; students — Up to $3,000
Guides that cover this program
Notes on this record
HONEST GAP: authored as superseded on the strength of (a) a Dec 2025 Nishnawbe Aski Nation-hosted MCU presentation stating the OITG was incorporated into the Indigenous Student Bursary for 2025-26 with a $2.5M allocation, and (b) the official OITG A-Z page now returning 404. No live ontario.ca page confirms the merger explicitly, hence confidence: uncertain throughout. No successor_slug set because no Indigenous Student Bursary record exists yet in the index, flag it as a candidate record. Historical amounts sourced from the 2023-24 OSAP info sheet PDF and the MNCFN 2022-23 fact sheet.
Facts on this page were read from the funder's PDF documentation rather than a web page, so they can lag a mid-cycle change.
Apply
Apply on the funder’s site and confirm current terms there: