OTTAWA, ONTARIO, May 4, 2009—The Government of Canada has delivered on its commitment to support Aboriginal people by launching the Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund application process. Mr. John Duncan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, made the announcement today.
“The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that First Nations, Métis and Inuit fully share in economic opportunities. We are supporting Aboriginal people in these tough economic times through targeted investments to help them improve their skills and secure long-term jobs,” said Mr. Duncan.
Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides $75 million for the Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund over two years. The Fund will strengthen partnerships between Aboriginal organizations and employers to help Aboriginal people gain the skills they need for the labour market today and for the long term.
The Fund will support short-term, focused initiatives designed to help Aboriginal people obtain the specific skills they require to benefit from economic opportunities. This fund will be an important step toward implementing the partnership- and results‑based successor to the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy, to be put in place April 2010.
The Fund’s objective is to strengthen partnerships between Aboriginal organizations and employers to help Aboriginal people gain the skills they need for the labour market today and for the long term. It will also support projects that test innovative ideas and approaches to delivering Aboriginal labour market programming, and those that provide training for individuals facing barriers to employment, such as low literacy and a lack of essential skills for employment.
All proposed projects must be able to deliver measurable results within the two‑year timeframe and be completed by March 31, 2011.
The Government is also investing an additional $100 million over three years in the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership program to help Aboriginal people participate in the workforce and obtain the training they need to secure skilled jobs.
More information is available on the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada Web site at http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/home.shtml.
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This news release is available in alternative formats upon request.
For further information (media only):
Michelle Bakos
Press Secretary
Office of Minister Finley
819-994-2482
Media Relations Office
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
819-994-5559
Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund Application Process
Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund projects will be selected using an application process. These projects will identify and implement distinct, short-term, focused initiatives designed to help Aboriginal people get the specific skills they require to benefit from economic opportunities.
There are regional and national components to the Fund. The regional component will support training-to-employment projects, skills development projects and service improvement projects on a regional basis.
The national component of the Fund will be used to support initiatives that are national in scope and partnership-based (Aboriginal organizations, governments, sector councils, and national training and employment groups, etc.), and will result in the development of tools, services or promising practices that will enhance the range of client and business services provided under the successor strategy to the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy.
Under the national component, Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreement holders and other Aboriginal organizations may be eligible to apply for funding.
For the regional component, the deadline for the initial call for applications is June 19, 2009. Applications for the national component will be considered until the funding allocation has been committed.
Funded projects will be announced beginning in fall 2009. Projects are funded for a maximum of 18 months, and all projects must end on March 31, 2011.
