12 METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 Aboriginal s kills and e mployment s trategy A sets One of the most important r elationships contributing to building a better futur e for MNO citizens has been the r elationship we have built with the federal gover nment thr ough ASETS In 2010 the MNO signed a fveyear 306 million agr eement for employment and training pr ograms thr ough the federal gover nment s ASETS pr o gram The MNO s solid employment and training deliver y foundation combined with an ongoing commitment to partnership and skills development r esulted in the MNO being the frst ASETS agr eement appr oved in Ontario ASETS funding supports a wide range of employment ser vices for Metis people acr oss Ontario including job training pr ograms such as Employment in Ener gy Navigating Employment Pathways and the Metis Mining Strategy as well as job sear ch assistance client assessment case management action plan development labour counseling job placement and follow up The funding also helps MNO staf f maintain job boar ds tollfr ee phone lines r esear ch material computer access and updated r efer ence materials for clients ASETS funding also supported the Infnite Reach Mar ch br eak camp Metis cultural summer student pr o grams inter branch collaboration training youth networking and brainstorming meetings and youth and client success stor y videos Metis ar e a pr oud people who have contributed to the building of this pr ovince and Canada ASETS funding will have a lasting inter generational impact as it will help our citizens develop skills sets and qualifcations that will have ripple ef fects acr oss the pr ovince because having a car eer will impr ove life in all other ar eas which will then have positive impacts on families and communities Citizenship applications The ongoing support of the Offce of the Federal Interlocutor OFI in the Federal Ministr y of Aboriginal Af fairs and Norther n Development is also a key to cr eating positive impacts for Metis families and communities OFI funding supports the work of the MNO Registr y which made major strides in 201213 in its Root Families work The genealogical information of these families will pr ovide citizenship applicants with access to valuable data that will str eamline the pr ocess of becoming a citizen Impr essively the Registr y pr ocessed 675 citizenship car ds and 485 r eplacement car ds in 201213 and made signifcant pr ogr ess in pr ocessing the backlog of appli cations that r esulted fr om understaffng during 20102011 The MNO experienced a signifcant incr ease in the number of people applying for citizenship in 201213 This incr ease clearly shows that mor e and mor e Metis want to be part of the futur e of the MNO W ar of 1812 Bicentennial The incr ease in inter est in MNO citizenship was likely partly infuenced by the attention Metis people fnal ly r eceived this year for their contributions in the W ar of 1812 The Metis r ole in the W ar of 1812 has long been ignor ed by historians but the MNO was determined that during the W ar of 1812 bicentennial that our ances tors sacrifces would be r emember ed Accor dingly we applied for funding thr ough the W ar of 1812 Bicentennial Secr etariat and incorporated W ar of 1812 themes into the AGA and the Metis V oyageur newspaper Although initially the Metis r ole continued to be ignor ed our persistence paid of f when we wer e invited to participate in a p r esident l ipinski wit h t he Hon m ichael Gravel le who was m inister of n atural r esour ces at t he t ime fol lowing t heir meet ing on a pril 18 2012 p r esident l ipinski left wit h d r b r enda m acdougal l centr e Chair of m et is s tud ies at t he u niversity of o t tawa and m aria Campbel l r enowned m et is aut hor