Human Resources committee  Thank you for being here today. I really appreciate that the committee has come to Vancouver to allow us to make presentations in person. I want to talk to you about a framework for an employment strategy that ASPECT has developed. ASPECT is an association of service providers

Human Resources committee  Could I ask you to repeat that, please?

Human Resources committee  It appears that in the economic policy federally in British Columbia, if I may address that, there is a growing need for skilled workers here, and yet there seems to be a lack of willingness to address the labour force that's available but is currently not eligible, for example,

Human Resources committee  It's interesting that you mention literacy training, because the federal government just cut funding for literacy training. The provincial government isn't picking up on that. We have to remember that ASPECT's members are mostly working with multi-barrier clients. If anybody is

Human Resources committee  Yes, I am, somewhat.

Human Resources committee  Yes, although there's much talk of devolution here in British Columbia. We have mixed feelings about that, because as I said in my presentation, the federal government has been instrumental in ensuring there are services in most communities in B.C. We're grateful that Service Can

Human Resources committee  With respect to the role of the Government of Canada, if I'm referring to the LMPA, I believe the funds associated with the LMPA are funds that are available to all Canadians and able to be used for more multi-barriered clients.

Human Resources committee  I'm speaking for myself, and I'm also speaking on behalf of my board, because we've had this discussion. We believe the Government of Canada should be responsible for that. We have a distrust of the sometimes interesting political peccadilloes of the Province of British Columbia.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  I'm old enough to remember when I started in the employment training field. It was 1986. At that time, I worked in a program that saw me work directly with clients. We were able to help anyone who came through the door, and sometimes there was a breakdown in ages. There were cert

Human Resources committee  That ended in 1997.

Human Resources committee  Yes. I forget what the bill was, but I think it was Bill C-911. What that did was change the definition of access to programming for those who were EI-eligible or—

Human Resources committee  Both, actually. It's a bit of a conflictual situation sometimes. Our first mandate is advocacy, so we represent our agencies and the issues of our agencies to both the federal and provincial governments and to many ministries in the provincial government. We provide networking op

Human Resources committee  IMMPowerBC, yes.

Human Resources committee  I was very interested in that. I just came back from Ottawa last night, where I was at a conference. IMMPowerBC receives joint funding from the federal government and the Ministry of Economic Development in British Columbia to help skilled immigrants get employment commensurate w