Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  And in Nunavut.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I agree with you, they are not complete. That was the point I tried to make. If the brief gets translated and you get a chance to read it, you'll see more of that. We do work one on one with clients. What I'm saying is that with more staff we could do more. Maybe we could provide some of this training in-house if businesses were interested in getting the training from us.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, there's some misunderstanding there. Two were originally created under the federal government: the one in Hay River where Mr. Bevington is from, I believe, and one in Inuvik. After the program was downloaded to the territorial government, who voluntarily took it—it wasn't forced upon them or anything—five more were created.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Now they're all territorially funded, except one, which refuses to sign the contribution agreement because there's so little in it for them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I should point out, although Mr. Bagnell has left already, there was a community futures organization in the Yukon prior to 1995 when the rationalization happened. Their fund got passed on to another organization.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are a couple of issues you raised there. First, the $1.5 million you mentioned was given to Community Futures organizations that needed it over the first five years of their lives. From my understanding, some Community Futures could access a second $1.5 million in the second five years, or the next three after the first five, if they warranted the money.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd say that the boards vary from region to region. If you get a chance to read my full notes, you'll see that I mention board training and the fact that we don't have access to a large pool of professionals who are interested in business development. You have to have both: you have to have the professionals and the interest.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As long as they don't all go south to spend it. That is a large part of the problem. Goods and services prices aren't always reduced just because there's a tax credit.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not aware of the education measures that you've mentioned. I would suggest that the education measures that need to be taken up here are largely not school and college based, but they're to be done by small organizations or perhaps individual businesses. That's why I mentioned the video conference opportunity.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I didn't bring numbers with me today to be able to give that. I can probably provide it at a later date, if you want. If you get the clerk to send me a list of what you'd like to see, I'll try to get it to him. There are seven Community Futures in what is now the NWT. In 1995, when the federal government offered Community Futures programs to the provinces and territories, the territorial government did take it on, and from what I understand, they had big plans for it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just hit the highlights. Lack of access to other resources--so they don't have access to lawyers and accountants on a daily or even a weekly basis, or other sources of private financing, which might be banks, venture capital, that kind of thing. We could inform businesses of the suitable business incubators.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, and thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to present. You often hear it said in the NWT that the way to start a small business in the north is to start a big one and wait a couple of years. The statement perhaps unintentionally reflects the reality of the many barriers to business development in the NWT.