What Is the ISET Program? Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Explained

If you have ever asked about funding for training, a ticket, tools, or help getting job-ready as a First Nations, Metis, or Inuit person, someone has probably said the letters ISET to you. It is one of the most useful programs most job seekers have never had properly explained. This guide covers what ISET is, what it can pay for, who delivers it, and how to actually use it, in plain language.

What ISET is

ISET stands for the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program. It is the Government of Canada's main program for funding skills training and employment support for Indigenous people, delivered through Employment and Social Development Canada. It replaced the previous program, known as ASETS, in 2019, with a design meant to give Indigenous organizations more control and longer-term funding.

Here is the part that matters for you: the federal government does not deliver ISET to individuals directly. Instead, it funds a network of Indigenous organizations across the country, called agreement holders or service delivery organizations, and those organizations work with people in their own communities and regions. There are more than a hundred of these organizations, together serving every province and territory, with distinct streams for First Nations, Inuit, Metis, and urban and unaffiliated Indigenous people.

That means your path into ISET is local. The friendship centre employment program in your city, the training arm of your tribal council, your Metis nation's employment services, or a regional Inuit organization may all be ISET delivery organizations, even if the name ISET never appears on the door.

What ISET support can look like

Each delivery organization sets its own priorities and processes based on its community's needs, so offerings vary by region. Across the network, support commonly includes:

• Funded training and courses. Trades pre-apprenticeship, safety tickets, driver licensing, health care aide programs, office and computer skills, upgrading and essential skills.
• Financial supports while you train. Depending on the organization and program, this can include help with tuition, books, tools, work gear, child care, and transportation, the practical barriers that stop people from finishing programs.
• Job-readiness services. Career counselling, resume help, interview preparation, and job matching with local employers.
• Wage subsidies and work placements. Some organizations partner with employers to subsidize wages during a training period, which gets people hired who would otherwise never get the first chance.
• Youth and student programming. Summer work experience and first-job programs in many regions.

Who is eligible

ISET is for Indigenous people in Canada: First Nations (status and non-status, on and off reserve), Inuit, and Metis, including people living in cities away from their home communities. You do not need to be receiving other government benefits to qualify, and each delivery organization will explain its own intake requirements, which usually involve proof of Indigenous identity and residency in the area the organization serves.

How to actually use it, step by step

• 1. Find your local delivery organization. Search the Government of Canada's ISET page for the official map of agreement holders, or simply call your friendship centre, band employment office, or Metis local and ask who handles employment and training funding in your area. One phone call usually gets you to the right desk.
• 2. Book an intake appointment. Expect a conversation about your goals, your situation, and what is getting in the way. Be straightforward; the barriers you mention, like child care or a missing licence, are often exactly what they can fund.
• 3. Bring a goal, even a rough one. "I want my Class 1 licence," "I want to work in health care," or "I need my safety tickets for construction" gives the counsellor something to build a plan around. If you are not sure yet, browsing live postings first helps: seeing what employers in your region actually want, on pages like Indigenous jobs in Alberta or Indigenous construction jobs, turns "I need work" into "I need these two tickets."
• 4. Follow the plan and stay in contact. Funding usually comes with check-ins. The people who finish are the ones who treat the counsellor as a teammate and flag problems early.
• 5. Put the training to work immediately. Certificates get you interviews while they are fresh. Have your resume ready to update the day the course ends; the free resume builder takes fifteen minutes and needs no account.

Things worth knowing before you go in

• Funding is not unlimited. Organizations manage budgets for whole communities, so programs can have waitlists or intake windows. Applying early in the year, and being flexible on course dates, improves your odds.
• Every organization is different. If you move provinces, or even regions, a different organization serves you, with different offerings. What a cousin got funded in one territory may work differently in yours.
• It is not only for the unemployed. Many organizations support people who are working but want to move up, though priorities vary. It costs nothing to ask.
• Say yes to the extras. Workshops, job fairs, and employer connections offered alongside your funding are where a lot of actual hiring happens.

The bottom line

ISET exists so that money is not the reason you stay stuck. The training, the tickets, the gear, and the support to get through a program are fundable, through Indigenous organizations that answer to your community rather than to a distant office. The whole system starts with one local phone call, and the official list of delivery organizations on the Government of Canada website will tell you exactly who to call.

And when the training is done, the jobs are waiting: more than 1,200 live openings from verified employers across Canada, free to search and apply, at Aboriginal Hire.

Common questions

Is ISET the same as ASETS?

ISET replaced ASETS in 2019. If someone in your community still says ASETS, they mean the same system; the delivery organizations largely carried forward.

Does ISET pay me directly?

Support flows through your local delivery organization, and what it covers depends on your plan with them. Many participants receive supports for tuition, gear, transportation, or living costs during training, but the specifics are set locally.

I live in a city far from my home community. Can I still access ISET?

Yes. Urban delivery organizations, including many friendship centres, serve Indigenous people regardless of where their home community is.

How do I find my delivery organization?

Search "ISET program" on the Government of Canada website for the official map and list of agreement holders, or call your local friendship centre and ask who handles Indigenous employment and training funding in your area.