AFOA to gather

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Members of the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada (AFOA) will be gathering in Saskatoon this fall for the association's third annual conference.

The conference, "Reconciling the Past: Balancing the Future", will be held Nov. 6 to 9 at the Saskatoon Inn.

The conference will feature workshops on how to avoid remedial management; First Nations planning, community involvement and mandates; financial statements; First Nations operations manual; and new technologies for remote communities.

A session dealing with partnerships as part of Aboriginal economic development is also planned as part of the conference, with representatives of the Prince Albert Grand Council, Meadow Lake Tribal Council and West Wind Aviation, Inc., scheduled to speak about their recently formed partnership. Another session will look at Membertou First Nation and the business opportunities that have come its way since becoming the first Aboriginal community in Canada to receive an ISO 9001 certification.

Two of the conference sessions will focus on projects being undertaken by the AFOA, including the AFOA KSI project, which is working to develop an electronic knowledge sharing infrastructure for Aboriginal financial management, and the atclick.ca project, a Web site for Aboriginal people interested in training and career opportunities in information management and information technology.

Other sessions will deal with Aboriginal human resources, how statistical information can be used to benefit Aboriginal communities and programs, and the office of the Aboriginal Auditor General at the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN).

For more information, visit the conference Web site at www.afoa.ca/conference/2002 or call 819-827-5931 or toll-free at 866-775-1817.