Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's funding reductions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are three kinds of AFIs: aboriginal capital corporations that were capitalized by Industry Canada and Aboriginal Affairs; aboriginal community futures development centres that are capitalized by Industry Canada through regional agencies; and aboriginal developmental lenders

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Very few: there are no deposits.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's offset to a large degree by the client equity programming that Industry Canada and AANDC have put in place. That's really to replace the absence of home equity.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The client's business plan is developed. If it is shown to be viable, a contribution toward the establishment of that business is made, and the financing, whether it's from an AFI or a conventional institution, then falls into place.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In AFIs' dealings with aboriginal clients, they will often attribute a value to the business planning and research that people put into a business concept, but in terms of the equity the clients need to invest in their business to make it possible to give them even an AFI loan, t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As of March 31, 2014, there were a number of AFIs identified in the group and they require capital of $78 million to properly position themselves to deal with the private sector. Some of them, such as the First Nations Bank and the Peace Hills Trust, which Keith mentioned, have a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For the character types of loans that AFIs most often provide, there isn't adequate equity to secure the loans, or else it's very questionable or arguable. The level of experience in managing and operating a business is lacking. We compensate for it in that way: we'll take extra

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, and that's what drives the administrative costs up to 10%, which Kyle zeroed in on.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With respect to infrastructure financing, very few AFIs have even looked at it at this point. As far as I know, only one or two have, and one has done some. The problem is that AFI capital is stretched to the limit without getting into capital-intensive infrastructure loans. As

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Right now—and correct me if I'm wrong, Lucy—they end up going to the chartered banks, the conventional banks that they deal with. If they are able to get infrastructure loans, it's usually provided over a short term—five or seven years—versus the 30 years that you might get as a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, actually, there is a plan in place at the moment. In the past year, we introduced an extensive business services officer guide, almost like a manual, to assist them. About two or three years ago we had developed a business services officer training course, or an analyzing a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The training that's provided to community members comes from the AFI located in the community. Maybe in Sept-Îles it would be CDEM.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In Quebec City or other parts of the province it would be SOCCA. They would have specialized staff to assist with business plan development and training with respect to entrepreneurship.