Nisga'a Settlement Trust

The Interim Nisga’a Settlement Trust is intended to provide financial security for future generations of Nisga’a citizens. A total of $78,740,234 has been invested by NLG in the fund to the end of November 2008. The value of the investment fund at the end of November 2008 was $79,551,834.

The fund includes both Canadian and foreign investments. The Canadian investments are managed by two investment managers who were selected by NLG. Foreign investments are managed by Royal Trust. The goal of the investment strategy is to provide a safe return in good markets and minimize loses in bad markets.

Since the Trust was created the funds have earned a total of $14,243,228 in interest. This interest has been reinvested. The total of NLG’s investment and interest is $92, 983,462. The current financial crisis means that this $93 million investment is worth approximately $79.5 million. The loss of $13.4 million represents most of the interest the fund has earned and is not a loss of the actual cash NLG has invested.

This conservative investment strategy has served us well during these difficult financial times. The CEO and Director of Finance met with the investment managers and Royal Trust in October. They came away from that meeting confident that the funds are invested to optimize return with a minimum of risk.

The majority of NLG’s funding is determined by the Fiscal Financing Agreement (FFA). This agreement started in 2000 and lasted 5 years. It includes provisions to negotiate a new agreement when it expires. The NLG has met with the federal and provincial counterparts numerous times to renegotiate the FFA. To date these negotiations have not been successful.

Without a new agreement the terms of the original FFA still apply. The Nation’s costs have continued to rise and the funds provided under the FFA are not sufficient to properly support government activities. The Nation must balance its budget. To make sure this happens transfers from the Settlement Trust fund totalling 11.9 million dollars were approved in 2007 and 2008 if they were required to cover any shortfalls in revenues. Prudent fiscal management means it has not been necessary to transfer these funds.

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