Program Guidelines

Objectives and Results

The Community Economic Development Program provides core financial support for First Nation and Inuit communities for public services in economic development. The financial support is intended for community economic development planning and capacity development initiatives, development of proposals and leveraging financial resources, and carrying out economic development activities.

The Community Economic Development Program is expected to lead to community economic benefits including more community employment, greater utilization and increased value of land and resources under community control, more community government revenue from economic development, enhanced community economic infrastructure, more and better arrangements to access opportunities from land and resources beyond community control, more investment in the community, a better climate and environment for community economic development, more and larger community businesses, more contracts and sales for community businesses, and enhanced capacity within the community government to address future economic opportunities.

Eligible Recipients

Eligible recipients of the Community Economic Development Program are:

1. First Nation Councils, as identified in the Indian Act;
2. Governments of self-governing First Nation and Inuit communities;
3. Representative organizations of Inuit members in Inuit communities; and
4. Organizations which the foregoing have designated and mandated to carry out economic development activities on their behalf within the following categories:
   
   1. Local governments of Inuit communities;
   2. Tribal councils;
   3. First Nation and Inuit economic development corporations, associations, co-operatives, and institutions;
   4. Partnerships and joint ventures involving First Nation and Inuit community members, governments, or economic development organizations;
   5. Other First Nation and Inuit corporations, associations, co-operatives, and institutions which provide or plan to provide economic development services for the benefit of First Nation and Inuit communities; and
   6. Other Aboriginal corporations, associations, co-operatives and institutions.
   These organizations may be community level organizations or organizations acting on behalf of aggregations of communities.

Where First Nation Councils, governments of self-governing First Nation and Inuit communities and representative organizations of Inuit members in Inuit communities have designated or mandated other organizations to carry out economic development activities on their behalf, they may revoke the mandate or designation for the following fiscal year, subject to notice provided in writing to INAC and the mandated organization by September 30.

Eligible Projects and Activities

Eligible one-time projects and ongoing activities address:

1. Community economic planning and capacity development, including but not limited to:
   
   1. Community economic development strategies and community economic planning, including economic planning in the context of overall community planning;
   2. Organizational design and structures;
   3. Development of the skills and experience of the organization's staff; and
   4. Coordinating economic development activities with other community initiatives;
      
      
2. Proposal development and leverage of financial resources, including:
   
   1. Identifying and securing funding and other resources for community economic development; and
   2. Development of proposals;
      
      
3. Community economic development, including:
   
   1. Employment of community members;
   2. Community-owned (e.g. community development corporation) and community member business development;
   3. Community land and resource development;
   4. Access to opportunities from land and resources beyond community control;
   5. Promoting investment in communities; and
   6. Research and advocacy.
      
      

Eligible Expenditures

Eligible expenditures within eligible one-time projects and ongoing activities are:

1. Salaries and wages, including benefits;
2. Travel, including transportation, accommodation, meals, allowances;
3. Overhead;
4. Minor equipment;
5. The provision of seed capital to community entrepreneurs within seed capital initiatives;
6. Professional and technical services e.g. fees, travel, accommodation, meals;
7. Communications (e.g. translation, studies, brochures, booklets, pamphlets, posters, html files, videos and photographs);
8. Conferences, workshops and meetings (e.g. room rental; food and beverage costs);
9. Training delivery (.e.g trainer and support staff costs);
10. Trainee costs (e.g tuition, expenses);
11. Work experience initiatives (e.g. participant and supervisor costs); and
12. Economic infrastructure.

Ineligible expenditures include:

1. Any economic development expenditure that would be incurred in the absence of the Community Economic Development Program;
2. Payments for services that would normally be provided without charge (e.g. honoraria for a community service);
3. The operation, repair, and maintenance of the economic infrastructure;
4. Economic infrastructure projects which have a reasonable expectation of capturing construction and operating costs through user fees and other means and can function as commercial enterprises;
5. Infrastructure costs financed by, or eligible for financing and likely to be financed, under INAC's Capital Facilities Management Program or other federal programs;
6. Training delivery and trainee costs financed by, or eligible for financing and likely to be financed, under INAC's Post Secondary Education Programs;
7. Expenditures for economic development services provided by INAC; and
8. Expenditures not related to economic development.

Access Requirements

To access their allocations, potential recipients must submit an annual Operational Plan within the recipient's funding allocation. The plan must include, at a minimum:

1. An identification of all eligible projects and activities to be carried out with the funding;
2. A brief explanation of how the eligible projects and activities will lead to community economic benefits;
3. A cost estimate for the projects and activities;
4. An annual cash flow forecast;
5. Expected outcomes; and
6. Proposed performance measures.

An annual operational plan is the recipient's plan on how the recipient intends to utilize the funding provided by INAC. Where a community organization has a community economic development plan, the annual operational plan would normally be a component of the year's implementation plan for that community economic development plan.

Where a potential recipient does not submit an annual operational plan on a timely basis, the recipient will lose its annual allocation for that year.

All recipients must be in compliance with INAC's management control framework regarding reports, audits and other matters.

Funding Level

National program funds will be allocated each year to INAC's regional offices.

Regional offices will allocate their regional share of the national allocation:

1. To address commitments under existing Alternative Funding Arrangements (also known as Canada/First Nation Funding Agreements and Fiscal Transfer Agreements); and
2. To support other First Nation and Inuit communities according to the regional allocation plan.

Regional allocation plans for the Community Economic Development Program should provide recipients with a funding base that is stable over the medium term (up to five years) to carry out economic development functions, regardless of opportunities.

Regional allocation plans will be based on the following principles:

1. Base funding allocations for communities will be determined within region, in accordance with an open, transparent and fair methodology;
2. The regional methodologies may include incentives for aggregation;
3. Where First Nation Councils, governments of self-governing First Nation or Inuit communities, or representative organizations of Inuit members in Inuit communities designate other organizations to provide community economic development services on their behalf, their base funding allocations, and any incentives for aggregation, will be provided to these organizations normally on an ongoing basis, to provide a stable base of core funding to facilitate planning and human resource development; and
4. Regional methodologies may address disincentives to aggregations due to initial one-time costs of establishing working relationships and plans, through one-time allocations to community organizations seeking to aggregate.

Where a recipient, in response to a particular opportunity, wishes to receive an increased allocation in a particular year and is prepared to forego future allocations or equal value, efforts will be made to accommodate request, subject to the availability of funds and the recipient's compliance with INAC's Management Control Framework. Potential sources of funds include allocations to recipients which did not submit annual operating plans on a timely basis, undisbursed allocations to recipients which did not meet reporting and audit requirements for the previous year on a timely basis, and allocations to recipients which chose to forego funding in the current year.

Approval Criteria

For the Community Economic Development Program, funding approval to a particular recipient in any particular year will be based on:

1. Whether the recipient has submitted an operational plan for the year;
2. The acceptability of the operational plan, including:
   
   1. The adequacy of the plan as a basis for accountability or performance measurement;
      
   2. Whether the annual operational plan utilizes the annual funding allocation to the recipient;
      
   3. One-time projects and ongoing activities as described are eligible for funding; and
      
   4. Other economic development initiatives in the region which may influence the effectiveness of the plan have been taken into account.

Terms and Conditions of Funding Agreements

Terms and conditions in funding agreements with recipients will include:

1. Initial disbursement of annual allocations, with subsequent disbursements subject to compliance with INAC's management control framework;
2. Initial disbursement of annual allocations, with subsequent disbursements subject to approved annual operational plans;
3. Implementation of the operational plan for the year; and
4. Reporting on the implementation of the operational plan for the year in the format to be provided or included in the First Nation National Reporting Guide.

Funds may be provided through Alternative Funding Arrangements, or annual Flexible Transfer Payments or Contributions.

For application and reporting forms, please contact your regional office.