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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The head of Yellowknife's Federation franco-tenoise has his heart set on entering a bid in the much-debated sale of Yellowknife's post office - but first he has to get some cash.

Leo-Paul Provencher, the federation's executive director, said if the federation is successful in its bid there are no plans to push the post office out. If purchased, the building would house a French-language school. He added that the upcoming school's main needs are for the top floor and basement.

So far, the federation's attempts to secure funding to purchase the building from the territorial government have been unsuccessful.

"We did approach the territorial government for some assistance in putting up the (cash) that's required to buy the building," said Léo-Paul Provencher, the federation's executive director.

"I don't think we'll be in success there but our approach has been made," he added.

Two years ago, the federation won a lawsuit against the territorial government after the group complained that the government wasn't providing adequate services for French speakers.

Shawn McCann, manager of public affairs for the GNWT's Department of Education, Culture and Employment said the department does fund the federation regularly but it doesn't have any money available for the federation to purchase the post office building.

"We don't have funding for this year available to allocate toward a building purchase ... not for '08, '09 anyways," said McCann.

The territorial government isn't the only potential financial partner the federation has approached in its attempt to enter a bid.

"We're looking at Canadian Heritage, of course," Provencher said. "They are more linked to the support of the minority community historically." He also mentioned the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development as possible partners.

"It's still a work in progress. We have not completed all the steps we have to go through to solve this situation. (The bid) is a little complex for the organization, when (we) don't have the money to buy it," he added.

The federation isn't the only one who wants the building. The Yellowknives Dene First Nation, who were not available to comment before press time, recently asked the minister of Indian Affairs to reconsider selling the building - and to purchase it for the Dene instead.

The move to buy the post office is just one of the many the federation is making to establish an educational institution.

Their project has been pursued for several years, but the Federation franco-tenoise's recent hiring of their planned school's first director is a sure sign of its start. Donald Violette gave up a government job to take on the post.

Plans call for a college to provide French second-language courses to federal civil servants - a lucrative contract, as the NWT harbours no less than 729 federal government workers, not to mention the Canadian military and RCMP.

Transparency is important to the success of the project, according to Jean-Thierry Burafuta, spokesperson for the Canada School of Public Service. A call for tenders will be issued to fill the needs of the federal government. So far Burafuta is not aware of alternative providers of such a service.

The program devised for the post-secondary school will include more than just teaching French to federal employees, Provencher said.

Courses to be offered will include lessons to francophone teachers to brush up on their training, a similar service for kindergarten workers and some computer skills instruction for accounting and office work. In the long run, a partnership may be established between with Quebec colleges and Northern institutions.

Many more opportunities are possible, project leader Donald Violette insisted. One thing is clear, he said: "We want to collaborate with the Aurora College, not compete with it. We don't have the means to do that."

The mission of the new French college might conflict with Aurora's if native French speakers decide to switch over, but such competition would appear to be minimal since Aurora deals with a pool of 40,000 potential students and the French community hardly reaches 1,300.

The list of courses planned by the French centre do not conflict with Aurora's, with the possible exception of Northern studies. The deal on acquiring a new building for the centre has yet to be completed. Canada's School of Public Service might only issue a tender as late as April 2009, Burafuta said.