The Ogemawahj Tribal Training & Economic Resources (OTTER) Program is the Labour Market Program administered at the Ogemawahj Tribal Council, of which Alderville First Nation is a member community. Alderville Band Members have been accessing the OTTER Program since the latter part of the 1990s, when the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy was first implemented in 1999. However, 'Aboriginal specific' Human Resources/Labour Market Training has been evolving since the early 1990s when the Pathways program was first implemented. The OTTER Program is the product of this evolution.

"The OTTER" funds individual client requests and organizational training. Training is normally that which takes a year or less. Anything taking longer than that would normally be considered post-secondary education. Your Economic Development Officer is the first point of contact for individual client training requests. Alderville members wishing to access this funding should be aware that the first priority are those that are Unemployed, on Social Assistance, on EI or EI Reachback. Reachback clients are those having come off an EI claim in the past 36 months, or a maternity and/or parental claim in the past 60 months.

Your obligations as a client requesting training is to formally request it by letter to the EDO with course outline/information, and once an intake is established we would request you to enter an employment counseling process, either at the Alderville Learning Centre or your local Human Resources Centre if you are off-reserve and living away from Alderville. The results of your employment counseling will assist us in moving your request forward. You will also be asked to perform some labour market research on your "career" choice, and we will request that you cold call prospective employers to gain a sense of the interest in hiring you once your training and certification are complete. You are also obligated to complete a Personal Information Form and Consent to Disclosure Form. We will be there for you during this process so don't hesitate to call us for more information at 905-352-3044.