Peace Hills beat national banks in bid to manage treaty funds

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A Native-owned trust company in Alberta defeated several national banks in a contest to administer treaty land entitlement funds in Saskatchewan.

Peace Hills Trust grabbed 75 per cent of the $450 million offered to 25 bands in Saskatchewan through a 1992 treaty land entitlement deal with Ottawa and the province.

And the trust company did so without asking for the business.

"We were invited," president Warren Hannay said. "We never solicited any of them. We were very careful. We've been doing business for over 10 years with other bands in Canada."

Most of Canada's other banking and lending institutions solicited the settlement bands heavily, he said. But many of the bands chose the Native trust company because the First Nations have historically been ill-served by the non-Native banks.

"Our familiarity with the market really made them more comfortable."

Peace Hills Trust, which was incorporated by the oil-rich Samson Cree Nation in central Alberta in 1980, had been watching the treaty land entitlement negotiations for years and was "very familiar with what was going on," Hannay said.

The deal provides the band with funds over a 12-year period to purchase "short-fall" acreage owed to them from past treaty negotiations.

The first mandate of the agreement is to replace the land and bring it up to reserve status, Hannay said.

"They must buy the short-fall acres and get the land to reserve status. Once they've reached the short-fall, additional funds could be used for other economic development."

Between $40 and $50 million will be distributed this year, he said. Each band

was required to name a financial administrator prior to the ratification of the deal and the receipt of any funds.

Once all the short-fall lands have been purchased, bands will be allowed to use any additional funds for other economic development.

Peace Hills Trust's newest branch, which opened last November, is located on the Muskeg Lake Reserve near Saskatoon.