History

The Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation Community Trust was established as a result of a successful land claim settled between the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and the Government of Canada.   The Land Claim was for a 200 Acre parcel of land along the banks of the Credit River in Mississauga, Ontario.  The original Credit River people were relocated to their current lands just outside of Hagersville, Ontario in 1854.  The settlement funds of $12.7 million were paid by Canada and the Trust Agreement between the MNCFN Chief and Council and an original seven Board of Trustees was brought into effect on April 10, 1997.  The Trust Agreement had been ratified by the membership of the MNCFN in a community vote held January 4, 1997.

The Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation is located near the town of Hagersville, Ontario, one half hour south of Hamilton and southeast of Brantford.  New Credit was the name given the community when they were relocated from the banks of the Credit River in Mississauga, Ontario.

MNCFN Trust Agreement

The MNCFN Community Trust is governed by a formal Trust Agreement that was amended in April 2000.  The Original Trust Agreement was approved January 4, 1997 and brought into effect on April 10, 1997. 

In 2000, nine amendments were proposed to the original Trust Agreement by the General Manager at the direction of the Trustees.  The original agreement carried some defects, such as, the Fiscal Year was stated as April 1 to March 31, where the Fiscal Year for a Trust is legally January 1st to December 31st.  Other amendments were creating a Youth Trustee position to ensure the youth voice was heard within Trust decisions.  Allowing Band Employees to serve as Trustees, while strengthening the Conflict of Interest standards for Trustees was accomplished.  Originally, anyone who worked for the Band was ineligible to serve on the Trust, however, it was felt that this practice would discount a great pool of qualified Band Members to serve their community.   Under the original agreement, a Trustee was in conflict with the Community Trust if they were directly a party to a contract that the Trust would enter into.  Now the Conflict of Interest includes “Real” or “Perceived” situations that the Trustee may be in.

The terms of the elected Trustees were amended at that time, originally, the terms of the five elected Trustees were broken down to two 3 year terms, two 2 year terms and one at 1 year term.  This created a problem as every six years, the potential for a complete roster change, where consistency of Trustees would be preferred.  The amended solution saw the 3, 2, and 1 year terms being used at the 2000 election, however, once those terms were fulfilled, the re-election of those positions would then become all three year terms.  Moving forward, we have 1 or 2 positions available each at election time.

The most practical change at that time was to remove the “Investment Policy Statement” from the body of the Trust Agreement and including it as an Attachment to the agreement.  The problem at the time was the Investment Policy that is utilized by the Community Trust, should be reviewed and revised on a periodic time table to ensure the invested funds are being managed properly and that the most beneficial and responsible course is taken.  To change the investment policy under the original agreement would involve a full community vote, as opposed to now the Trustees having the authority to change it as needed through meeting motion.

The amendment process involved the Trustees passing a meeting motion then calling a community meeting and having the Band Members approve the changes.  This community vote was accomplished on April 1, 2000.

The Community Trust is managed and administered by 8 Trustees. The Board of Trustees has retained the services of a General Manager to ensure all administrative and functional responsibilities of the Trustees are met. The General Manager reports to the Board of Trustees and is responsible for the day to day accounting, liaising with all Service Providers (Investment Managers, Auditors, Legal, etc), Chief and Council, Community Members, records management and any other functions as required by the Trustees.

The MNCFN Community Trust is responsible for managing and carrying out the duties and powers provided within the Trust Agreement.  The Trustees owe a fiduciary responsibility to the Band Members of the MNCFN.  Any service providers are expected to owe the same fiduciary duty to the Trustees.

The Community Trustees are primarily responsible for managing and administering the original $12.7 million that created the Community Trust.  The Capital Funds (the original $12.7 million) are invested and annually adjusted for inflation and the Net Revenue (the Revenue from investing less inflation and expenses as calculated annually) is made available to the First Nation as represented by the Chief and Council for projects that are eligible as per section 11.5 of the Trust Agreement.  The projects are applied for by the Band through a formal ‘Business Plan’ document and the Community Trustees review the benefit to the community via meeting deliberations and make their decisions accordingly.