Mr. James Bezan, Member of Parliament for Selkirk–Interlake, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and the Honourable Peter Bjornson, Minister of Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade for Manitoba, announced $9.47 million in funding to train Aboriginal Canadians in Manitoba to participate and obtain employment in the health care industry.

“Canada’s Economic Action Plan is making significant investments in training and skills development to ensure Aboriginal people fully share in economic opportunities,” said Mr. Bezan. “Our government’s investment will help accomplish this by providing nursing training for up to 150 Aboriginal people in Manitoba.”

The Government of Canada is supporting four training projects under the regional component of the Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund (ASTSIF). These projects will deliver 18 months of Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) training to Aboriginal participants in six rural and northern Manitoba communities. The project partners are the First Peoples Development Inc., the Manitoba Metis Federation and the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

“Licensed Practical Nurses have been a great addition to Manitoba’s health care system, and our government is committed to expanding nurse training,” said Minister Bjornson. “LPNs bring great skill and knowledge to the front lines of health care, and having more LPNs providing support to First Nation and Métis communities ensures there are caregivers for the residents of those communities.”

Manitoba’s support for this initiative builds on the Province’s commitment to support opportunities for Aboriginal people to establish a greater presence in the rural and northern workforce. The initiative will provide skilled professional workers to the high-demand health sector in areas of the province where recruitment remains a challenge and where substantial numbers of Aboriginal people choose to live and work.

Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides $75 million for the ASTSIF over two years, which will help create opportunities for Canadian workers through skills development during the economic downturn. ASTSIF projects support initiatives in various industries that test innovative ideas and approaches to delivering Aboriginal labour market programs. All projects will deliver measurable results within the two-year time frame and will be completed by March 31, 2011.

More information can be found on the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada Web site at www.hrsdc.gc.ca.

BACKGROUNDER

Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund

The Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund (ASTSIF) is designed to strengthen partnerships between Aboriginal employment services organizations and employers through training-to-employment programs. ASTSIF supports short-term, focused initiatives designed to help Aboriginal people obtain the skills they require to benefit from economic opportunities. ASTSIF projects are selected using an application process.

ASTSIF has a regional and a national component. The regional component supports training-to-employment projects, skills development projects and service improvement projects on a regional basis.

The national component of ASTSIF supports initiatives that are national in scope and partnership-based (Aboriginal organizations, governments, sector councils, national training and employment groups, etc.). The goal of the national projects is to develop tools, services or promising practices to enhance the range of client and business services provided under the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy, the successor strategy to the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy.