E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.2 page 10 20. The Community Economic Development Program (CEDP), a Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development initiative, provides long-term employment and business development opportunities to First Nations and Inuit communities by helping them manage skill development programmes, economic institutions and business enterprises. This is achieved through partnerships among aboriginal peoples, and with various levels of government and the private sector. CEDP provides funding for the establishment and operation of 500 Community Economic Development Organizations (CEDOs) utilized by Tribal councils, First Nations and Inuit communities. The objectives include developing community economic plans and providing contributions or loans to community members for training, business or resource development projects. 21. The Government also helps First Nations and Inuit communities with negotiations to access business and employment opportunities in major resource projects; to attract investment in on-reserve natural resources; to access off-reserve natural resources; and to manage off-reserve natural resources through the Resource Access Negotiations Program (RAN). The project is directed at First Nation and Inuit communities and settlements, tribal councils and institutions authorized by their band or community to carry out activities on their behalf. RAN pays for professional fees and expenses of technical experts as well as incremental direct costs to the communities. 22. Provincial governments also have their own programmes addressing the needs of aboriginal peoples. The Special Rapporteur was extensively briefed about such programmes in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec. C. Institutional and legal structure relating to human rights 23. The federal Government has adopted an array of laws that aim to eliminate social inequalities while combating all forms of discrimination in the country. These include the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other provisions of the Constitution Act, 1982, the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, the Employment Equity Act, the Canada Labour Code, the Public Service Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Employment Act and the Criminal Code of Canada. Apart from these acts, a wide range of policies and programmes are implemented by Canadian governments in order to combat exclusion and social marginalization resulting from all forms of discrimination; provincial and territorial governments have also adopted extensive legislation, programmes and policies which ensure the implementation of the Convention in their jurisdictions. 24. The federal and provincial human rights codes prohibit discrimination on the following grounds: race or colour; religion or creed; age; sex; sexual orientation; family or marital status; physical or mental handicap or disability; national or ethnic origin and ancestry or place of origin and other grounds. 25. With the exception of British Columbia, which has abolished its human rights commission,3 there are also at both the federal and provincial levels a number of opportunities for redress in the case of violation, including courts and statutory bodies created to administer particular legislation (commissions, boards, committees, tribunals and ombudsmen). Individuals