I would like to now address some priority issues related to the federal government's funding mechanisms as they relate to settlement and employment support services.
As you know, these agreements are entered into on an annual basis between the federal government, the departments and the agencies. Contrary to the agreements that the centre has reached with other funding services, more specifically at the provincial level, the funding agreements with the federal government are not true accountability agreements because the federal government's commitment is only that of contributor. They do not give the agencies a clear mandate to provide a service on behalf of the federal government. This raises significant legal issue for the members of the boards of directors.
Second, the process for transferring federal funds to community agencies is very costly because it involves contributions and funding transfers optional on reimbursement. The provincial government, on the other hand, simply uses an allocation method and conducts an annual audit. The problems we are describing to you may be rather practical type problems but they make the life of organizations in francophone minority communities very difficult. These funding agreements are very cumbersome to manage and the same types of complaints have been expressed by many other groups.