Good morning. My name is Terry Goodtrack, and I'm the president and CEO of AFOA Canada. We've been formerly known as the Aboriginal Financial Office Association of Canada, and about a year ago we changed our name to AFOA Canada.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, committee members, colleagues, and friends for this opportunity to speak on access to capital.

I'm going to scope my presentation to who we are as AFOA Canada and what we do in relation to capacity-building and financial literacy. You've already heard from two experts here from CCAB and TD bank.

AFOA Canada is a not-for-profit association formed in 1999. We serve over 1,500 members across the country. We also have eight local chapters located in the Atlantic region, Quebec, Ontario, the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. AFOA membership spans the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic to the Arctic. AFOA members are leaders in their communities, their organizations, and their companies. What binds them together is their commitment to finance and management excellence. The association has a volunteer board of directors. Our chapters also have volunteer boards of directors. We are not-for-profit and non-political.

AFOA Canada provides capacity-building training to individuals working in aboriginal organizations and communities. We provide training in finance, management, and leadership. Our training is targeted toward supporting aboriginal communities, progressing towards economic prosperity and self-reliance. After more than 16 years in operation, AFOA Canada has become the centre of excellence in innovation and aboriginal finance management leadership and is the only organization in Canada that focuses on capacity development and the day-to-day needs of those aboriginal professionals who are working in these areas.

Our certified programs and workshops are developed in concert with communities and the needs of our members. The programs are designed by our communities for our communities. At AFOA Canada we are building a community of professionals. AFOA Canada welcomes any and all individuals interested in advancing aboriginal communities through sound professional, financial, and management training and certification.

Our vision is to be the centre of excellence, information, and certification for aboriginal management. Our mission is building management proficiency and connections that enhance effective aboriginal governance, administration, and self-reliance. We undertake our mission through delivering certified programs in finance and management, and we link with other professional associations and universities and colleges. We deliver capacity-development workshops aimed at the needs of aboriginal professionals in their communities' journeys towards economic prosperity and self-reliance. We hold an annual conference that provides our members and other interested parties with an opportunity to learn from each other, network, and further develop their skills.

We publish The Journal of Aboriginal Management. I've brought a copy here and have tabled one with the committee in French and English. As Canada's only professional aboriginal management journal in these areas—finance, management, and leadership—we promote best practices. We participate in the development of aboriginal financial management, accounting, and reporting standards. We undertake management-focused research, and we encourage our aboriginal youth to enter the finance and management professions.

We have two certification programs: the certified aboriginal financial manager, which we refer to as the CAFM; and the certified aboriginal professional administrator, which we refer to CAPA. In terms of the CAFM program, our target market is aboriginal financial professionals. The program is comprised of 14 courses. Five of these are offered online by AFOA Canada. The other nine are delivered through colleges and universities across Canada. The intent is to increase the level of knowledge and skill within our communities in the area of financial management.

AFOA Canada had a strategic alliance with CGA-Canada, and now, upon the unification of the profession, we are engaging in a further alliance with CPA Canada. AFOA Canada has commenced discussions with CPA Canada on how the CAFM program can be part of the CPA Canada program. I look forward to signing a memorandum of understanding with CPA Canada at our upcoming conference on February 16-18, 2016, in Montreal, Quebec.

To date, we have certified 527 CAFMs across this country.

Due to the success of the CAFM program, our members also wanted AFOA Canada to develop a certified program for senior administrators of aboriginal communities and organizations. One of our most powerful and promising innovations is the certified aboriginal professional administrator, or CAPA program, as I referred to earlier. Our target market for this sort of program and certification is aboriginal senior administrators and their successors. The program comprises 16 courses, guided by a grassroots council. The CAPA program sets high-quality competency and certification standards. A holder of the CAPA designation has demonstrated his or her attainment of high ethical, governance, finance, and management competency.

Our goal is to make the CAFM and the CAPA designations the choice for those individuals working in aboriginal finance and management. In 2013, at the Assembly of First Nations annual general assembly, the chiefs in assembly endorsed the CAPA program as their preferred credential when hiring first nation administrators within their communities. This already occurred for our other designation, the CAFM designation, in 2008.

There are currently 36 CAPA graduates. AFOA Canada is also creating a ladder of success with universities and colleges that will allow the CAPA graduates to receive advance standing in degree programs.

AFOA Canada has a number of capacity development workshops. These workshops are designed to further the knowledge and skill levels of our members. We have workshops for financial management, management for elected leaders, and management proficiency. Upon the invitation of a community, these workshops are delivered at the community, and as a pre-conference workshop to our national conference.

As I mentioned earlier, in addition, twice a year we produce our Journal of Aboriginal Management for our members. The JAMs, which is the acronym we use, complement the theme of our conference for that year. Last year it was business development. In our upcoming year it will be leadership and governance. The other JAM, in the fall, highlights a specific knowledge and skill area. As an example, I mentioned our JAM on business development was released at our conference, and our upcoming fall edition will be on communications. The JAM is intended to be thought-provoking and to provide additional knowledge to our members about a specific area, as well as hot topics of the day.

Once a year we have a national conference for our members and other interested parties. Typically we attract about a thousand delegates. We have five skill level tracts that include financial management, first nations administration, human resources management, leadership, and business development. This upcoming year our theme for the conference is on leadership and governance.

One of AFOA Canada's key initiatives is to encourage aboriginal youth to enter the financial profession. Many Canadian corporations, professional associations like CPA Canada, share a common challenge with aboriginal communities: the need to hire aboriginal financial professionals. At AFOA Canada we want to develop the next generation of financial and management professionals. We undertake a number of specific initiatives in this area.

At AFOA Canada-PotashCorp we have the youth financial management conference awards, which provide a learning opportunity at our conference and a $5,000 scholarship to three recipients to pursue their post-secondary education in these areas. We also have the Norman Taylor Memorial Scholarship and Bursary programs. AFOA Canada's charity, the Indigenous Learning Centre, provides bursaries to four students each year who attend post-secondary education in the areas of business, commerce, or accounting. We also have the Dollars and Sense program. With the financial support of TD Bank, we have developed a financial literacy product for aboriginal students in grades 3 and 4, 7 and 8, and 11 and 12. AFOA Canada believes financial literacy needs to begin with our youth.

In the last few years, AFOA Canada has worked on developing financial literacy products for our members. Certainly, the Dollars and Sense program for youth is one such product. We have undertaken a literature review of products that exist for indigenous people in the countries of the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. We have just completed our data collection on financial literacy needs of aboriginal Canadians. We will be developing, in the upcoming year, products for retirement planning and building wealth for aboriginal Canadians. At AFOA Canada we believe financial capability training is essential to the ideal of financial wellness. It has a significant amount of transfer value to individuals who wish to operate a business or operate aboriginal government programming.

I would like to conclude by stating that investing in training is essential to building management proficiency in finance management leadership. I would encourage the Government of Canada to make training dollars available to aboriginal Canadians to take the AFOA Canada certified programs, workshops, and certainly attend our AFOA Canada national conference. Some of this has been done in the past; however, more needs to be done in this area.

Thank you.

Transcript

Discussions (0)