The First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA) is a statutory not-for-profit organization without share capital, operating under the authority of the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, 2005. The FNFA’s purposes are to provide First Nations governments investment options and capital planning advice and—perhaps most importantly, access to long-term loans with preferable interest rates. The FNFA is not an agent of Her Majesty or a Crown corporation and is governed solely by the First Nations communities that join as Borrowing Members.
The Innovative Communities Fund (ICF) invests in strategic projects that build the economies of Atlantic Canada's communities.Working in partnership with Atlantic communities and stakeholders, ICF builds on the strengths of communities and provides the tools needed to identify opportunities available for their sustainable economic growth.
ICF focuses on investments that lead to long-term employment and economic capacity building in rural communities. Urban initiatives that stimulate the competitiveness and vitality of rural communities may be considered on a selective basis.
“In this program we will look at Rural Development and Principles, Policies and Management comprehensively addresses the basic concepts, elements, paradigms, determinants, policy instruments strategies, programs and management of rural development.”
"First Nations' communities have been a major focus for the long history of colonial action in Canada. The results have been disastrous for Native cultural, identity and pride. Four major community institutions – political, economic, religious and educational and the family – have been devastated.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC)
Year of publication:
2010
This chart provides a brief overview of the Community Economic Development Programs available to First Nations Communities provided by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. The programs include the Community Economic Development Program (CEDP), Community Support Services Program (CSSP), Community Economic Opportunities Program (CEOP), Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB), and Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative (AWPI).
"This report defines the language of outcomes, indicators, and performance measures and then summarizes a review of applications of several strategies and tools for tracking progress that have been developed since the late 80s. It then reviews the current performance measurement practice of Indian and Northern Affairs at the policy, program, intermediary, and community level. The results demonstrate a confused, wholly inadequate approach to the application of indicators and performance measures at every level.
"A training project in a northern Canadian community provided an opportunity to examine participatory planning approaches and the meaning of work in First Nations communities. Focus groups conducted three years after the unsuccessful intervention of a community economic development (CED) project suggest that complex factors such as lack of support from community leaders and rate of pay for workers determine whether CED is always appropriate in northern, First Nations contexts."
