Thank you to the following who re-posted or re-published
this article to their websites and/or blog sites:
Before writing about how some of those continuing payment annual sums are spent for the benefit of First Nations peoples, I have to write about the First Nations Trust Fund. The reason I have to address the First Nations Trust Fund first has to do with some of the comments I received on Twitter after sharing yesterday’s blog article with the Twitterverse. The comments to which I’m referring are those that allege that any money paid out to First Nations peoples is charity money.
Over the past few days, a document by Robofraud has been circulating online that states that the First Nations Trust Fund is over $2 TRILLION and earns an annual interest of over $35 BILLION.
A trust is a way to hold property that lets Trustees manage the money so it benefits a defined beneficiary. The property that makes up the Trust is usually defined by a written trust agreement. The written trust agreements in this case are the treaties.
The Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) provided this information with regards to the monies being held in the First Nations Trust Fund as of March 31, 2009.
Is it possible that the over $2 TRILLION claimed in the Robofraud statement is correct? Since the only figures I was able to find date back to 2009 when it was at $1.15 BILLION, it’s not likely that the amount in 2013 is $2 TRILLION. Could it be $2 BILLION? Could be.
Still, $2 BILLION is a sizable amount of money as is the interest $2 BILLION generates on a quarterly basis.
That being said, the First Nations Trust Fund isn’t the only money that belongs to First Nations peoples that is handled by the AANDC. According to the website, the Department “may issue licences, permits, and other instruments to individuals and organizations that propose to undertake resource exploration and other types of development projects.” That money also belongs to First Nations peoples, doesn’t it? If the resource exploration and development projects weren’t on First Nations property, there wouldn’t be any need for AANCD to involve itself ergo the revenues generated from “licenses, permits and other instruments to individuals and organizations” is First Nations revenues, is it not?
And how about the monies held in accounts that the AANDC identifies as Indian moneys suspense accounts? An Indian moneys suspense account is meant to hold monies “received for individual Indians and bands pending execution of the related lease, permit or licence, settlement of litigation, registration of the Indian or identification of the recipient.” The AANDC website goes on to state that “[t]hese moneys are then disbursed to an Indian, credited to an Indian Band Fund or Individual Trust Fund account, or returned to the payer, as appropriate.”
What about the Environmental Studies Research Fund Account? It’s part of the AANDC as well and records levies pursuant to the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. If it wasn’t part of the First Nations portfolio, AANDC wouldn’t be dealing with it.
And how about those Special Accounts as identified under Section 63 of the Indian Act — the accounts where funds such as deposits and payments on leases are held for individuals, held to be split between individuals and bands? AANDC controls that money as well.
Indian Estate Accounts need to be included in the total amount of money AANDC controls since Indian Estate Accounts (pursuant to Sections 42 to 51 and 52.3 of the Indian Act) have funds from the estates of deceased First Nations peoples, those deemed mentally incompetent, and ‘missing’ First Nations peoples. Factoring in the Indian Savings Accounts that are in keeping with Sections 52 and 52.1 to 52.5 of the Indian Act and pretty soon, that $2 BILLION figure from the First Nations Trust Fund is considerably more.
And contrary to popular misconception, Indian Moneys Suspense Accounts aren’t what one might think they are. In the Public Accounts Of Canada document for 2011-2012, the Indian Moneys Suspense Accounts are described as accounts to “hold moneys received for individual Indians and bands, that cannot be disbursed to an Indian, or credited to an Indian Band Fund or Individual Trust Fund account, pending execution of the related lease, permit or licence, settlement of litigation, registration of the Indian or identification of the recipient.”
In other words, there’s all kinds of money that belongs to First Nations peoples that isn’t part of the First Nations Trust Fund, and AANDC controls all of it.
“But wait, there’s more!” as they say on those television infomercials!
Have the monies due the First Nations peoples from natural resources been taken into consideration as part of FN revenues? What natural resources, you ask?
The next thing to look at, then, are the fiduciary duties of the government towards First Nations peoples. According to the AANDC website, the Trust Fund Management System (TFMS) “is an application used to manage Indian Moneys in Trust. The responsibilities and authorities as outlined by the Indian Act allow the Minister to manage the Indian Moneys as a fiduciary (Statutory obligation of the Minister’s fiduciary responsibilities to collect, receive and hold moneys for the use and benefit of Indians or bands and to manage and expend Indian Moneys in accordance with the Indian Act.) ”
The next time someone says that First Nations peoples are getting a free ride from taxpayers or that First Nations peoples are mismanaging the money the government gives them, step back and share facts with individuals, corporations and government departments who are riding the slammin’ bandwagon.
Education is one of the strongest weapons against ignorance.
Elyse Bruce
Elyse Bruce 
January 21, 2013 at 10:03 pm
When Treaty Six was commemorated in 1976-100 years-with Sask. Elders we compiled a Teachers handbook.Deceased Solomon Mosquito
stated: “We as First Nations have a Revenue Fund held in trust in Ottawa. That is our money but can’t access it…His words are echoing in my mind…
January 21, 2013 at 10:55 pm
Elise, I hope you are taking copies of this. Information of all kinds has a way of disappearing from government websites these days. We live in a dictatorship. The public service which is supposed to have a job to do regardless of who is in power has been completely muzzled; even opposition members of parliament are not able to talk to scientists and government experts without government minders present. The Canadian public is paying for public servants but they serve the Harper government only. Canada is no longer the country that many believe it is. see http://harperwatch.wordpress.com
January 22, 2013 at 5:32 am
I agree make copies. Important posts have disappeared off my FB Page, and others I have talked to.
January 22, 2013 at 11:02 pm
I took a screenshot. 😉
January 22, 2013 at 1:45 pm
The first trust was started with Six Nations under the Peace Treaty of Albany 1686 when the proceeds from the sale of a parcel of Six Nations land in present day New York was taken in trust by the Crown for “the perpetual care and benefit of Six Nations”. In 1701 £26,000,000 (about $40,000,000) was added. By 1800 the trust was worth over $800,000,000. In 1820 then British government started borrowing from it & paying compounded interest. In 1820 the interest was compounded quarterly & added to the principle.
Using the standard rates from an Order in Council on Interests to be paid on Indian Moneys, the trust would have doubled every 20 years.
Six Nations is preparing a lawsuit against the government of Canada for $8 billion which represents their accounting of the moneys that were taken for GB/Canada use or misappropriated by Indian Agents and never repaid. That proves that the total First Nations trust is far in excess of what AANDC is saying to distract everyone.
January 22, 2013 at 5:12 pm
This is all correct, in 1820 we sued Canada the Northwest Company and the Hudson Bay Co. Some of us hereditory people know about this trust fund. We have families in Kewatin,s Land that are signatories for this fund. We may not have written things down, we still past on info on Oral basic.
The sue was started after 1812 so called Indian Wars. LEARN THE REAL HISTORY OF TURTLE ISLAND. Treaty people build these towns and cities across what is now known as “CANADA” you figure it out !
February 20, 2017 at 1:32 am
Theres also the Queen Victoria trust fund. It is not a First Nations Trust fund. It is the Six Nations Trust fund. I was in a forum with a guy who claimed to have worked for the government administering the trust fund and he was telling everyone that the money was a taxpayer handout to six nations which is false and thats my proof that the government keeps the people misinformed so they are biased against natives, especially Mohawk in Ontario where Canada really started on the Grand River. They dont want to talk to the real signatories of the trust fund, If anything Canada has been built with embezzled money from the trust fund by the government. This puts to bed the rumour that natives get tax payer handouts in Ontario. Canada was built around the administration of the trust fund. The Six Nations were the first people here after the war of 1812 when they were brought here by the Butlers Rangers after having fought for the crown and lost when England lost. They were given a trust fund by queen Victoria with the administration of it charged to the Canadian government. Then a bunch of narcissistic psychopaths followed the money here and Canada was formed. I think Canada spent the trust fund and then had to take loans from the vatican bankers and now theres a jesuit trained prime minister. Put two and two together. Whatever happened between 1812 and 1885 when John A. Mcdonald was hanging 200 indians at a time it didnt turn out very well for the natives. With all that money in trust you would think that no native would have had to be poor or put in residential schools, but thats not the case. Why? Is it because we subsist in a land of thieves and embezzlers who got so greedy they spent it all and then had to take out loans with the mob and who are now selling their own corporation and all its shareholders down the tubes because they cant pay back? If this is the monies your talking about that are administrated by the government then to be clear. Its not a First nation Trust fund. Its a Six Nations Trust fund. These nations are the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora. This and other things is what they were given for forfeiting all the land that they had in New York that they could never claim as theirs again. It was reimbursement for the loss of their territory in service to the Crown is what I gather. When one is administering a trust fund and does with it other than was intended, that is called embezzlement so when the corporation started to borrow the money it was embezzlement. When the crooked indian agent sold land that belonged to Six Nations it was theft and embezzlement because he was charged with a Crown job to take care of six nations and he didnt do it and he stole crown land that had to legally be first given back to the crown if the native was agreeable then it was sold at the crowns discretion so natives were not allowed to sell land to anyone which proves that natives didnt sell their own land.. I rather think that The Six Nations are the real government around these parts. I surely could use some of that money to build me a house. Im getting too old to live in an apartment in the city
January 22, 2013 at 3:40 pm
Hello Elyse,
Thank you for share. The only way to get the truth out there is to educate ourselves so we can educate others.
So I’m not understanding the whole picture here. What I think is being said is that all these ‘monies’ that are ‘given’ to the FN are really going into accounts that the government or a corporation in league with the government has complete control of and that it is not getting to the people and bands?
Thank you for taking the time to educate us so that truth may be known.
January 22, 2013 at 8:38 pm
All monies that are disbursed to First Nations come from the money that the government is controlling. The monies that are received by First Nations are immediately put into one of these trust funds.
So yes, essentially the fox is guarding the hen house.
January 23, 2013 at 12:38 am
I have been involved in the sovran movement in BCsic. We have been made aware of the original agreement which was made shortly after first contact on turtle island.this agreement was a 60/40 % split on all resourses utilized by settlers to ensure their survival. The proceeds of said agreement is not able to be claimed by any other than the Natives and decendants of the participants of this original deal. The Native people of today are said not to qualify under this criteria. Our traditional form of government has been forcibly changed to an elected system, our tribal names have been changed(anglosized), our culture and spirituality is under constant attack to accomplish eradication,our languages are almost extinct, and our so called elected leaders have allowed the euro government to decide who we are and to reclassify us as first nation, as status indians. It has been said that we must access this account in our original names and with our heriditary/traditional form of governance, it must also be done in our languages, only in this way will we receive the recognition as the original people. There is discussion as to which party has which percentage of this agreement. I have heard that the deal started as 50/50, but the white man would take the extra 10% and supply housing, medical and the Natives would never pay tax. This submission will hopefully encourage research into this area of hidden/forgotten history.
January 24, 2013 at 10:29 pm
How can we find out more about this original agreement in BC? Are there any resources online that you can provide links for? I really want to know more. I had no idea about the trust fund. I’ve heard a story about how all the chiefs in BC got together early on and formed an agreement before BC joined Confederation as well.
January 26, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Deceased Val Nighttraveler worked as a student in ottawa in the 70’s. Returned upset-his research uncovered this FN Revenue fund…He walked from Edmonton to Calgary with a heavy wooden cross-he knew alone, he could do nothing about his discovery…He resumed his career as Principal at Littlepine First Nation School…
March 2, 2016 at 9:07 am
They allowed this to save there lives people need to understand this and the fact till 1962 natives were considered savages by law and couldn’t hire lawyers till 1965 CANADIANS AT GUN POINT
January 23, 2013 at 2:46 am
Wah-chay!….there were many first nations that followed a traditional hereditory leadership system…more like the king and queen of england.That was why native treaties are important…it was a nation to nation treaty, and somewhere in there is this trust fund
January 22, 2013 at 8:59 pm
[…] See Elyse Bruce https://elysebruce.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/idle-no-more-about-that-fn-trust/ […]
January 22, 2013 at 9:10 pm
[…] Elyse Bruce […]
January 24, 2013 at 3:00 pm
[…] How much money is in that First Nations Trust Fund? Is it really $2 TRILLION? Is it more? Is it less? And who controls all that money anyway? Is it the "Indians" who have their hands on all that ca… […]
January 24, 2013 at 3:01 pm
[…] See on elysebruce.wordpress.com […]
January 25, 2013 at 10:42 pm
Hey, I should have just come here first. You have all the information I need. What caused the diesel spill in Attawapiskat? Was that also DeBeers?
January 28, 2013 at 12:49 pm
I haven’t done any research on diesel spills on FN lands, Gail. It may be a subject for a future Idle No More article in this series.
February 5, 2013 at 1:42 pm
From the article in today’s Ottawa Citizen comes disturbing news about the audit on Federal environmental protections done by Canada’s commissioner of the environment and sustainable development.
“[quote] In the North, Vaughan is especially concerned that officials with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada are not inspecting mining operations to make sure companies are living up to their obligations [end quote].”
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/touch/news/national/Environment+commissioner+report+financial+preparedness/7919149/story.html?rel=7589146
January 28, 2013 at 9:06 am
so its treaty not taxpayer monies
January 28, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Monies paid out to First Nations people comes from First Nations monies, and monies paid out to taxpayers comes from taxpayers monies.
January 28, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Elyse, I can’t understand why this information is not part of the MSM whenever the topic comes up by people who should know the answer. Is it a deliberate attempt to keep Canadians ignorant and biased? I can’t think of any other reason for the silence.
February 2, 2013 at 3:34 pm
[…] Idle No More: About That FN Trust […]
February 11, 2013 at 8:00 pm
It is $billion, not $trillion. The AANDC document where you found Table 2 above says also: “At March 31, 2009, the Indian Moneys trust accounts represented approximately $1.2 billion in the CRF [Consolidated Revenue FUND].”
It’s still a huge amount of money, and AANDC’s accounting is sloppy. In a lawsuit by Ermineskin and Sampson First Nations several years ago, the method of calculating interest on the Trust money was challenged. The courts upheld the way it was done, but the investigation led to $millions being paid to the First Nations due to accounting errors.
I don’t believe that any other Trust account in the country would be allowed to be dumped into the general revenue account, as is done here with the CRF..
June 17, 2013 at 1:13 pm
The table you are looking at does not represent all the funds they hold in trust….if you look at their whole budget system you will see where they are putting our different trust monies they are using.
February 11, 2013 at 10:52 pm
You may not want to post this, but please read it. I have been chasing the numbers from that Robofraud document for two weeks, and it is substantially incorrect. The Trust Funds are indeed huge, but they are not the whole story.
There is a significant amount of money that comes from the Federal government’s general revenues, in the form of “transfer payments” to the First Nations governments. They are a nightmare of complexity, and correspond to the transfer payments to the provinces. They are meant to pay for education, health care, etc. Different payments are intended to build infrastructure such as roads and dams.
The trust funds do exist, and represent money belonging to individual bands. The Indian Act mandates that their revenues, called “Indian moneys”, have to go to the AANDC to be held in trust, apparently because the Indians are considered too child-like to manage their own resources. The AANDC doles out this money as it sees fit, to its actual owners.
Here is a summary of sources of revenue to the First Nations, by the BC AFN, which might help clarify this.
http://www.bcafn.ca/toolkit/governance-bcafn-governance-tool-4.2.php
August 24, 2013 at 9:43 am
THE DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRSs has bECOme an institution reliant upon government funds to sustain their operations. They like many other government implemented Programs would all be on unemployment line if it were not for the Aboriginal peoples of this country. INAC BUDGET AT AROUND 7.6 billion dollars per year and with 560 some odd reserves in CanadaCanada only 1.7 billion was actually divied up amongst them. The rest used
January 1, 2014 at 6:13 pm
[…] I researched and published, they shared them with the two most shared articles being “Idle No More: About That FN Trust” […]
February 1, 2014 at 11:28 am
[…] is one last article by Elyse Bruce, I highly recommend reading regarding the First Nations Trust Fund and the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. It speaks in depth to the allegations […]
July 13, 2014 at 7:43 pm
[…] Read: “About that First Nations Trust Fund”. […]
August 7, 2014 at 7:28 am
yawn…money money…money money money…money money and more money…gimme some money…gimmie gimmie gimmie money…P.S. good thing the white man did not slaughter y’all because then you would not be here to write about money you may or may not get…how about getting a job so you can get some [inappropriate language redacted] money instead of feeling or making everyone feel sorry about what happened…buy a lottery ticket or something.mby you will get lucky and win some money.Where is my money…I want money…give me some money.Who’s IDLE NO MORE…ME.
August 12, 2014 at 10:11 pm
For those who are reading the comments to this article, Richard Cheese has done an excellent job of showing a lack of knowledge about the treaties that were signed as well as what it looks like to promote (and perhaps believe) racist stereotypes.
January 23, 2015 at 9:58 am
I agree…ignorance breeds fear and in turn breeds these characters.
August 20, 2014 at 2:23 am
Im not racist…i love the native culture and art…what is anoher name for Richard…Rick…Rickey…Dick…the Native’s deserve to access all the monie’s that the Canadian government has been holding from them for as long as they have been…im just as tired of the way the government is running this country as you are…people don’t need money to survive,that is what i was trying to get at with my stupid money money money comment…my nephew is full blood indian and calles me uncle…i am not a racist but am just getting tired of hearing or even reading about anyone wanting more money…money is’nt everything and does not buy anyone happiness so why do people want more of it??? How aboiut we all give up money and just live for free by helping oir neighbors and ourselve’s survive…most of the people on this planet would not know how to live off the land…in closing i would like to appologize for my previous stupid comment that i made.
December 9, 2015 at 5:34 pm
A great majority of people on turtle island like most of the people on mother earth live in a world of commerce and agreements like treaties are based on that, that is, it gave economic benefits to the parties involved, however my accompaniment to this discussion is when do treaties expire, that is, are all the parties to the historical treaties signed with the North American Indians of Canada still present!? Nay, I think maybe “no” as CANADA sees them as ‘solemn agreements’ which means ‘wills’ as the present entity known as CANADA wasn’t and isn’t a party to them i.e., take the ones signed with the Royal Family, a.k.a. the ‘Crown’, and not the ‘CROWN’ which are two different entities and this historical tidbit– the Royal Family’s Declaration through the British Parliament released people in Great Britain and the [former] Commonwealth Countries as subjects after the death of [late] Queen Victoria; because they lost their dominion to their Creditors (see the history of late King John in the 1200s for this background basis) and countries like the Dominion of Canada became Canada, the Dominion of Australia became Australia, etc. So how did this affect the treaties signed with the ‘Crown’ (who were not and are not the ‘CROWN’; for they are two different entities)? I say, it annulled them and the Canadian courts are beginning to say/state this. My tribal nation may not have signed any treaties with the ‘Crown’ or the ‘CROWN’, but they still got us by the balls through the annual Band funding agreements (and other Band agreements) which has the same affect, that is, it put my people in ‘ward’ status, which really means ‘war prisoner’ status (till my people wake up) and such matters as the two types of ownership results from them– ‘ownership in fact’ and ‘ownership in possession’; treaties and Band agreements puts the CROWN in ‘ownership in possession’ and does not affect the ‘ownership in fact’ of tribal lands, however we’ve all seen and still see the negative effects and affects of this, especially regarding development(s) such as resource extraction(s). And in my personal opinion tribal people have always been operating in commerce, we just didn’t and in many cases don’t know the rules; however not all is lost for a tribal nation can always negotiate/renegotiate a better treaty such as keeping the present ‘ownership’ arrangement however without the ‘ward’ status and involve such things as ‘revenue sharing’, etc.
September 6, 2014 at 6:03 pm
[…] not being paid out is money that already belongs to First Nations peoples thanks to the First Nations Trust Fund where First Nations monies are […]
September 30, 2014 at 11:39 pm
Thanks for finally talking about >Idle No More:
About That FN Trust | Elyse Bruce <Liked it!
July 26, 2015 at 1:11 am
[…] Idle No More: About That FN Trust https://elysebruce.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/idle-no-more-about-that-fn-trust/ […]
March 13, 2016 at 2:19 pm
[…] onkwe’hon:weh trust fund https://elysebruce.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/idle-no-morehttp://aptn-about-that-fn-trust/ […]
April 11, 2016 at 3:59 pm
iam from a full blood line and an inherent one at that we r of different desent as being Dahcotah…we know history as I researched intensely, we were biggest here at one time before the migration of settlers, we lived with the cree chippawa and all cree nations even though there were only 7 tribes , history lied to all of us we r sovern an lookin for our trust n land titlement, for our generations and to free our people first nations people from the eastern threat of big sick business, that will harm our mother..please if u have any info please help me. thanx for your time.
April 22, 2016 at 8:53 am
2 billion is nothing considering there are 1.3 million First Nation people in Canada and over 600 reserves….do the math!!!!
April 22, 2016 at 8:38 pm
hell raiser, there are 600 bands not 600 reserves, and some reserves are shared between multiple bands.
There are, according to Statistics Canada, only 637,600 First Nations people are Registered Indians. Of those, 49.3 percent live on reserve.
And lastly, the First Nations Trust Fund is but ONE of many funds where monies belonging to First Nations peoples is being held by the Government of Canada.
June 27, 2017 at 9:24 am
https://www.change.org/p/kathleen-wynne-help-the-kashechewan-first-nations-reserve-get-access-to-clean-water
so why is this allowed to happen
July 11, 2017 at 8:45 pm
Yeah I dislike what the non Aboriginal people or Racist people that don’t understand that they should come live on the reservation let them see what it’s like living there where we can not do much with the land we live on
July 13, 2017 at 5:39 pm
You need to get some not so native looking people to infiltrate the departments where injustices are happening in our country.
July 13, 2017 at 5:43 pm
Never, ever allow someone else to manage your land or finances. That being said, never also allow a select body (Band councils) to manage your finances either. You all know what I mean. The system isn’t working. Kill the system and take back what is yours before it all goes to shit.
July 16, 2017 at 7:45 am
I need more concrete evidence that we have all that money tied up in the First Nations Trust fund. I NEED REFERENCES references from the archives and such to put up a good argument when white people say that we live off their taxes. They always show me that website,”The myth of First Nation’s Trust fund”
July 17, 2017 at 3:43 pm
You have to go through the access to information and ask the specific questions. It’s no myth. Lawyers are keeping the information from members and filling their damn pockets. I dealt with the Makivik Corporation and they are liars. All I had to do was find out from another member to find out the truth. Band councils and other governing bodies are not to be trusted.
July 21, 2017 at 4:17 pm
[…] Idle No More: About That FN Trust […]
September 4, 2018 at 5:46 am
I wish I could believe such a trust fund was in place for First Nations people. Not enough clarity on the subject. It almost sounds like a myth, or a story. I don’t believe I’ll ever receive any benefits from it. In other words, I’ll believe it if I ever see it.
November 16, 2018 at 2:51 pm
And these monies are being used via AFN , Band councils health etc to the benefit of the government. Not 1st nations.
The hereditary system should be in control as their lands were taken.