Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in regards to the question specifically about community transfer initiatives that the Member did ask about, I just wanted to first respond to that question. So that question there is an underspend of the vacant economic development officer positions, and so -- and those positions that have traditionally been vacant are in Fort Liard, the Sahtu, and in Tuktoyaktuk. And so however the community transfer initiatives funding does provide about 13 and a half positions through Indigenous governments, especially in our small communities, and those are economic development funding positions that play a role of helping people set up businesses and enter into passive entrepreneurship.
In addition, Mr. Chair, there's also, for example, programs like SEED which is a program that people who are wanting to jump into entrepreneurship can take advantage of. And there are also programs that are supportive, with my other ECE hat on as well. If somebody wants to start a business, there is programming called the self-employment fund, which I think, unfortunately, not a ton of people know about, but also supports people as they're starting their own businesses.
Across the territory, Mr. Chair, ITI does contribute over $10 million across programs like community futures, community transfer initiatives, SEED funding, through their sustainable Canadian agriculture program and also the northern food development program. So there's a tremendous amount of funding and programming that does go into the Northwest Territories.
And what I would say to MLAs and to anybody who does want to start a business is please either reach out to your MLA or to your regional staff with ITI, because there are people who want to be able to create these pathways and help people figure out where they fit within these funding programs. Thank you.