Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario

The Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (or FedNor) is a program of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada whose mission is to address the economic development, diversification and job creation in Northern Ontario. FedNor especially aids women, Franco-Ontarians, youth, and Aboriginal peoples in Ontario. While a lot of progress has been made in achieving FedNor's objectives, communities in Northern Ontario continue to face the ongoing economic challenges that necessitate a stable, long-term regional development effort.

Since the beginning of FedNor in 1987, the role in business and economic development throughout the North has grown substantially. As a result, the programs and services that FedNor offers to the communities of Northern Ontario have evolved and improved. FedNor has offices in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, which are the three main offices. Other offices are located in North Bay, Timmins and Kenora.

Under prior minister Andy Mitchell, FedNor's service area was expanded to include many rural areas in Southern Ontario, including much of the Central Ontario region. In 2007, a group of politicians from Northern Ontario, including Tony Martin, Claude Gravelle and France Gélinas, called for the program to be refocused exclusively on Northern Ontario.

Additionally there have been many calls from politicians and organizations to make FedNor an agency, separate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, like the other regional development agencies across Canada.

FedNor supports regional economic development, which it does through the delivery of three programs:

The Northern Ontario Development Program (NODP) was put in place to help promote economic development and diversification throughout Northern Ontario. NODP provides repayable and non-repayable contributions to not-for-profit organizations and small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for projects focussed on the following three areas: Innovation; Community Economic Development; and Business Growth and Competitiveness.

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