Our vision is to deliver an innovative Essential Skills program to the Aboriginal Community through employer partnerships and customized training that supports employment success and retention.
Essential Skills for Aboriginal Futures (ESAF) is funded jointly by Access (Aboriginal Community Employment Services Society and MNBC (Metis Nation British Columbia). This project is also funded in part by the Government of Canada.

In the News

ACCESS, MNBC and BC Housing win WOW Award.

On October 22, the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) awarded the Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society (ACCESS) Metis Nation BC (MNBC) in partnership with BC Housing, a Canadian Award for Training Excellence (CATE) in the WOW category.

ACCESS and MNBC deliver an innovative Essential Skills program to the Aboriginal Community through employer partnerships and customized training that supports employment success and retention, called Essential Skills for Aboriginal Futures (ESAF). This program is funded jointly by ACCESS, MNBC and the Government of Canada through an Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreement (AHRDA) and the Office of Learning and Essential Skills (OLES). Through AHRDAs, the Government of Canada provides Aboriginal organizations with funding for employment programs and services that help Aboriginal people prepare for, obtain and maintain employment.

CATE Awards honour innovative, Canadian-developed learning products and programs. WOW Awards are given to programs that introduce a new idea into the marketplace in the form of a new product or service or an improvement in organization or process. This award showcases entries for the CATE awards which simply "wowed" the judges.

"This award identifies the great collaboration between AHRDA employers and our Aboriginal Programs Unit," said Hal Howie, Executive Director, Labour Market and Social Development Programs (LMSDP) Branch. "It highlights the importance of Essential Skills, and recognizes the work done by both the entire Aboriginal Programs Unit and the project leadership of Francesca de Bastiani, Business Expertise Consultant."