Ec onomic De v elopment John Ok onmah The Mushk e g o wuk Ec onomic De v elopment MED pr oject st art ed fr om the str at e g y session in 2011 c onv ened b y the Deputy Gr and Chief DGC and other t echnicians in the r e gion and ec onomic de v elopment e xperts but with the original ide a fr om the DGC and Chris Me t at aw abin EDOF AFN F unds f or the session w as made av ailable c ourt esy Bill L outtit MET S The session w as inv olv ed with c oor dinating ide as and input fr om the r e gional t echnicians y outh priv at e sect or play er s and other st ak eholder s t o de t ermine what the str at e gic f ocus of Mushk e g o wuk Council MC should be in ec onomic de v elopment in the short t o medium t erm The MED pr oject witnessed the st afing of a MED pr oject c oor dinat or in MC The pr oject which w as originally f or 6 months w as f unded b y Aboriginal A f air s and Northern De v elopment Canada AANDC F edNor and RED OMAFR A F ollo wing fr om e arlier ec onomic de v elopment initiativ es in the r e gion the pr oject held about 9 pr oject sessions and mee tings and w as subsequently e xt ended c ourt esy of AANDC up until F ebruar y 2015 K e y deliv er ables fr om the pr oject ar e 1 The 9 pr oject c oor dination mee tings 2 One Str at e g y plan r eport 3 One Mushk e g o wuk R e gional Business Or g aniz ation MRBO business plan 4 One T r aining Car eer De v elopment and Emplo yment R e adiness action plan 5 One Y outh Business Support Entity f e asibility st udy 6 One Canadian Ex ecutiv e Ser vic es Or g aniz ation CESO p articip ation action plan Though the MED pr oject f ormally ends in Mar ch 2015 the activities will pot entially c ontinue with tw o k e y thr ee y e ar pr ojects Mushk e g o wuk R e gional Ec onomic Exp ansion MREE and the Mushk e g o wuk R e gional Business Or g aniz ation MRBO pr ojects The MREE has about 68 sub pr ojects within it such as the est ablishment of the Mushk e g o wuk Business Association the implement ation of the r e gional tr aining c ar eer de v elopment and emplo yment r e adiness c ap acity building sessions f or c ommunity EDOs and the Community Ec onomic De v elopment indic at or s fr ame w ork f or me asuring ec onomic de v elopment in the c ommunities among other s The MED pr oject also witnessed the se tting up of tw o c ommitt ees fr om the Mushk e g o wuk Ec onomic De v elopment Working Gr oup MED W G i e the Mushk e g o wuk Ec onomic De v elopment Advisor y Committ ee MED A C and the Mushk e g o wuk Emplo yment R e adiness Committ ee MERC O The Mushk e g o wuk R e gional Business Or g aniz ation MRBO This pr oject it is hoped will c ommenc e in e arly 2015 F unding applic ations ar e in t o AANDC Northern Ont ario Herit ag e F und Corpor ation NOHF C and the Aboriginal Ec onomic De v elopment F und AEDF t o implement the Mushk e g o wuk R e gional Business or g aniz ation Ho w e v er some k e y nonfinancial st eps t o f acilit at e the est ablishment of the or g aniz ation ar e under w ay These include the se tting up of an int erim bo ar d t o addr ess f oundational it ems of the or g aniz ation and c ontinued c onsult ation with the v arious c ommunities on the objects struct ur e and pot entials of the or g aniz ation The c ontinued c onsult ation pr oc ess will be thr ough the EDOs who hav e been inv olv ed with the pr oc ess thr ough the MED A C 14