Thank you, everybody, for welcoming me here today. My name is Mindy Denny. I'm from Eskasoni First Nation. I work in Membertou with the Union of Nova Scotia Indians. I'm their director for information, governance and data projects. As Bonnie mentioned, I'm also her colleague on the executive of the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
On the topic of community capacity-building and retention of talent in the delivery of essential services on reserve, our work provides some insight. Data from these national survey processes help to construct a holistic portrait of life in first nation communities, including ready and able talent and capacity on reserve. By assessing education level, skills, training needs and employment readiness in the first nations labour markets more generally, first nations are able to identify strengths and gaps with respect to the on-reserve workforce as it pertains to essential services.
First and foremost, this data is used by first nations leadership to help inform community planning and decision-making in communities. All of FNIGC's published national data is available at no cost on FNIGC's data online tool. Our free online data tool is accessed by first nations communities and is also available just generally to the public. In addition, unpublished and record-level data can be accessed on a pay-per-use basis to individuals pursuing academic research, policy development, and program planning and evaluation through the First Nations Information Governance Centre's data centre. Our data helps inform decisions around strategic investments by federal and provincial governments with respect to health, well-being, education and training in first nations communities across Canada.
I have some notes here about some specific data that talks about the labour market in the first nations communities, but I think I'm going to move away from that to discuss what I think is really an important part of community capacity-building and retention of talent in delivery of services on reserve. I think what's really important is that the individuals we're recruiting to the first nation to work with us, people with expertise...or even to build the capacity in the communities of our own. It's important to have the essential tools to help individuals perform their duty. We don't have the right connectivity, the right hardware, the right software or the right training available. We're unable to measure gaps from a perspective that it's a quality of life defined and self-determined by first nations. We need an opportunity to develop human development indices as well as well-being indices that are respective of first nations and their idea of their place in this world.
We're talking about connectivity, about hardware and software, and about support. What's most important is support, statistical and analytical support, at the first nation and community level. We're working really hard at the First Nations Information Governance Centre and with their partner regions to develop statistical capacity. We really feel that in order for first nations to take control of their own affairs and contribute to enhancing the quality of life of their members, this is necessary.
I have two more minutes left, so I'll pop it back to Bonnie in case she'd like to add something that I might have missed.