Employment and Training receive their funding from Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin (MKIO). Norway House Cree Nation is a Sub-Agreement Holder for the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS) under the Master Agreement held by Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin (MKIO). The fiscal year of 2005-06 will mark the first year of a four-year agreement between MKIO and Service Canada in which MKIO will hold the Master Agreement and flow AHRDS funds to 18 Sub-Agreement Holders in Northern Manitoba. The MKIO-AHRDS Program is more or less managed by MKIO CFO Glenn Buchko along with the assistance of two Program Coordinators, who are Rita Spence and Jack Dysart. The MKIO office is located in Thompson, Manitoba.

Norway House Cree Nation as a Sub-Agreement Holder is required to submit an Annual Training Plan to MKIO, which will summarize the types of training programs our office will provide to Norway House Cree Nation community members, either within the community or without. We presently receive funding on a quarterly basis from MKIO and organize these funds into five types of training categories, which are CRF, EI, Disability, Capacity Building, and Youth. As per our Sub-Agreement, we are also required to provide quarterly reports to MKIO by the middle of the next month following each end of quarter date.

The MKIO is also the conduit organization, which will receive funds from the Wuskwatim & Keeyask Training Consortium (WKTC) under the program known as the Hydro Northern Training Initiative (HNTI) and flow these funds to First Nation communities, the Norway House Cree Nation amongst these. These funds will be used to prepare and train our membership for employment on construction projects while ensuring they are capable of competing successfully for skilled construction jobs such as those that will be available for the construction of the Wuskwatim and Keeyask hydro-electric projects.

There are currently three employees that fall under the Employment & Training budget: the Manager, Administrative Assistant/Employment Counsellor, Finance Officer and a Post Secondary Student Counsellor.

The following chart shows the financial information on allocation of funds for the Employment & Training Program: