Human Resources committee  No, they're not. The funding is through ASETS. Some of the first nations do have partnerships with the province, but very few. The majority of them, our 34 first nations, usually partner with other federal funding programs. One of the challenges that I mentioned was that we really would like to have our federal funder facilitate that relationship with the provincial .

Human Resources committee  That's what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that we do need to work together because our aboriginal clients need to tap into that, absolutely.

Human Resources committee  There's no indication of the reason. What we're looking for is some consultation at the front end of when programs are being developed.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. Especially when you're considering capital initiatives, where the province is using those training dollars for capital initiatives, to have some kind of aboriginal input into that, in this province anyway.

Human Resources committee  That's accurate, absolutely.

Human Resources committee  Our organization is solely funded under the ASETS program, so it's more limiting. Of the 34 subagreement holders that we have, about a quarter have funding over $400,000. The remainder are very small agreements. Once you factor.... For example, if your agreement is between $100,000 to $200,000 and you only have a 10% administration budget, it quickly becomes very small, so therein lie the challenges I was speaking about.

Human Resources committee  Yes, absolutely. We did have to pick a system, and we tried to find one that's user friendly because there are varying levels of experience on the reserves. Everyone would find it easier to use this program. We've switched to a program called an accountability and resource management system.

Human Resources committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair, committee members, and colleagues. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today. My colleague Donavan Fontaine unfortunately is still not available. He is one of the seven board members of our organization. First Peoples Development Incorporated, FPDI, administers 34 first nations subagreements through ASETS funding.