Good morning, and thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee for taking some time to visit Nunavut and listen to what we have to say today.
Just for clarification, I was asked to participate as a representative of the regional Inuit association, specifically the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and I'm here to do so, but primarily as a representative of their non-profit economic development organizations, which include the Kakivak Association, Kivalliq Partners in Development, the Kitikmeot Economic Development Commission, and Nunavut CEDO.
My position is with the Kakivak Association. I'm the manager of business services there and also the manager of the Nunavut CEDO.
While there are a number of topics to discuss in relation to the theme of barriers and solutions, and certainly there are reams of documentation on these topics for Nunavut, I'll focus my comments today on the aboriginal economic development programs, the delivery of those programs in Nunavut and in the rest of Inuit Nunaat, and the federal framework for aboriginal economic development.
As I'm sure you're all aware, in 2008 the federal government initiated the federal framework for aboriginal economic development process. The framework is intended to provide strategic direction and an integrated whole-of-government approach for aboriginal economic development. The Inuit community economic development organizations, or Inuit CEDOs, have been fully engaged in this process.
In Nunavut there are four Inuit CEDOs and they have joined with the Inuit CEDOs in the other three Inuit land claims regions to help establish the National Economic Development Committee for Inuit Nunaat, known as NEDCIN. This committee has also been established in partnership with INAC and other national Inuit organizations.
In Nunavut the CEDOs are integrated into the structure of the Nunavut land claims organization and provide regional service delivery for programs that support training on education, child care, youth and disabled persons, and for small and micro-business start-up and expansion. This is made possible through the aggregation of third-party delivery for HRSDC and INAC programs and funds made available through the land claims structure. So in fact, in practice, the Inuit CEDOs are achieving what the framework intends, to provide an integrated approach for economic development. So I guess from that perspective we are ahead of the game.
This approach ensures integration with land claims structures and effective use of resources, and it provides a comprehensive approach to planning and program design to benefit all communities served as opposed to an approach to planning that focuses only on a single community. This approach provides a critical mass or organizational capacity required to be effective in planning and promoting development activities, including qualified staff and professional support to clients.
The CEDOs are strategically positioned to be effective partners with other development agencies that operate at the regional level, and this in the past has been put in practice with our relationship with the economic development folks at the INAC regional office here in Nunavut. And we are seeing that now carried over into the establishment of the CanNor agency.
Through the framework process we have come to believe that the AFI, or aboriginal financial institution, model is favoured over the CEDO model, primarily because of the way the organizations function in the first nations context. This is a concern for the Inuit CEDOs in all of the Inuit land claims regions and is not reflective of the structures established for economic development within the land claims regions.
In the past, the community economic development program, CEDP, and the community support services program, CSSP, was delivered in Nunavut by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada with the advice and recommendation of the Nunavut Regional Program Management Advisory Committee, the NRPMAC. These programs are now delivered by CanNor, and we are establishing a good working relationship with CanNor and look forward to seeing this agency reach its full potential. The way these programs are used in Nunavut is to provide base funding and support funding for the Inuit CEDOs' operations and capacity development, thereby facilitating this integration-of-program-delivery approach.
Currently these programs are being considered for renovation as part of the framework process. This development represents both concerns and opportunities or barriers and solutions.
In the short term it represents a potential barrier, as these programs are currently due to expire at the end of this fiscal year. The framework and its outcomes are not expected to be concluded until well into the next fiscal year, so we anticipate or perceive that there may be a gap. It is therefore clear that an extension of the existing programs is required until the framework process and program renovation are completed; otherwise, the CEDOs will lose their institutional capacity, which will jeopardize their ability to deliver the various programs.
In the longer term, there's a need for programs such as CEDP and CSSP, or their successor programs, to be designed to effectively support the Inuit CEDOs. This represents an opportunity or a solution. From an Inuit CEDO perspective, the priority for the federal framework should be to build upon the existing regional Inuit organizational capacity to fill gaps where they exist, provide consistent program arrangements, and explore innovative approaches to meeting priority developmental needs.
The position paper prepared by the National Economic Development Committee for Inuit Nunaat includes the following key points regarding the framework: the need to consider Inuit Nunaat as one region from a federal aboriginal economic development policy perspective; the need to develop an economic development vision for Inuit Nunaat; the need for sufficient flexibility in the federal framework to allow for the implementation of program arrangements in accordance with provisions contained within the various Inuit land claim settlement agreements; the need for co-management in the area of federal AED policy and program management to reflect both the spirit and intent of the land claim settlement agreements, as well as to respect the specific obligations undertaken by the federal government; the need for the community economic development program to continue to support the development of the organizational capacity of the Inuit CEDOs; the concern that the federal framework, when it is eventually implemented, will not be clearly mandated to build upon existing Inuit and an Inuvialuit organizational capacity, as opposed to being directed to the creation of new or competing organizational program delivery structures, such as the AFIs; the concern from a program delivery point of view, which has been repeatedly and uniformly expressed by the regional Inuit organizations, that federal AED programs should be delivered through expanded external delivery arrangements with the regional Inuit associations, rather than attempt to replicate federal government departmental capacity at the regional level; the need for equitable access to programs for all regions within Inuit Nunaat; the need for equitable access to federal AED programs and services by Inuit beneficiaries living outside the settlement areas; the need for consistent, efficient, and cost-effective AED program funding arrangements between the federal government and the regional Inuit organizations responsible for delivering federal AED programs, which includes a need for multi-year flexible agreements; the need for developing jointly agreed and improved AED program tracking mechanisms and results indicators; the need for federal fiscal arrangements and AED program funding allocations that reflect the actual cost of living and doing business in Inuit Nunaat; the need to facilitate increased coordination between major project activity and CED programs and objectives; and the need for a regional approach to CED project priorities, funding allocations, and decision-making.
To sum up, the priority for the federal framework should be to build upon these initiatives and the existing regional Inuit organizational capacity to fill gaps where they exist, provide consistent program arrangements, and explore innovative approaches to meeting priority development needs through the Inuit land claims region. In part this involves the elimination of policy and program barriers that prevent these guiding principles from being full realized.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I look forward to any questions the committee may have.