Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, it is a good subject to have an opportunity to discuss. There is a lot of activity out there, a lot of possibilities. Early on in the game, we developed a Human Resource Development Plan, Mr. Chairman, that we used as part of the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy. We attempted to get funding from the federal government. Much of this was related to oil and gas training.
Subsequent to that, we decided we would make our own investments. We invested $500,000 for access training and this year, halfway through the year, we passed a supp and we added $600,000 for advanced training. So that is $1.1 million we are putting in from our particular money, Mr. Chairman, for training itself.
The Member is correct. We need to continue to work on planning and planning for specific areas. What we did do was ask the various players in all of this to come together to form a committee so that we can continue to pursue funding from the federal government. Funding is what is going to drive this whole thing. We have that committee together; HRDC, DIAND, RWED, and ourselves, but it fell apart in September of last year. We are attempting to get it back together again. It fell apart because the federal government decided that it would put its money into the security matters. Industry is together on that as well with us, as are aboriginal groups.
Additionally, on the pipeline side, my ADM was at a meeting in Fort Simpson a while ago. They also are forming a committee for training. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.