First Steps

This is the first step toward bringing your FAL to life.
We work with you to build a clear picture of where your First Nation is now. Together, we look at what you have agreed to in your FAL and how ready you are to bring it to life.
The Initial Readiness Assessment (XLSX) allows us to learn about what’s important to your First Nation, your priorities, and build a work plan to support your First Nation get to where it wants to be.

After the FMB has worked with you to get a clear picture of where your First Nation is at now, we can help you create a work plan (XLSX) to get you to where you want to be.

To bring the good finance and governance practices in your FAL to life, you will need to develop policies that guide Council and staff in your work for the Nation.
You can choose to change your existing policies, or adopt and change FMB sample policies, or combine both approaches.
To compare your existing policies to your FAL requirements, the Policy Gap Assessment (XLSX) template can be used. The FMB's Capacity Development Managers can do this policy review at no cost to your Nation. Contact a Capacity Development Manager to get started.

Once you have drafted your policies to meet your FAL requirements, you will need to send them to the FMB. These policies go through one or more rounds of informal FMB reviewing and feedback until they are ready for formal review and approval by Council.
Council approves all policy changes.
The FMB's Standards and Certification team tests the policies to make sure they are in line with your First Nation's FAL and the FMB's Standards.

Once all policies are approved by your Council, the final step is to live by your FAL.
The FMB offers tools, templates and workshops to support you to live by your FAL.
Once all policies are being followed, the FMB then completes a Final Readiness Checklist (PDF) with your team, so that we can help you work on any last items.
After the “Final Readiness Assessment”, the FMB can recommend your First Nation for on-site testing to see how well your governance and finance practices are working.