Background on the High Arctic exiles trust fund

As a public service, and as background to our news story on the changes that Makivik Corp. and members of the Hart Trust are proposing for the trust fund set up to compensate the High Arctic exiles, Nunatsiaq News is posting these documents on our website.

Makivik lawyers recently deposited most of these documents Feb. 17 with the Quebec Superior Court at 1 Notre Dame St. East in Montreal.

A caution to readers: our news stories on this issue represent our best attempt to summarize the situation accurately.

But we highly recommend that any High Arctic exile or exile descendant seek independent legal and financial advice before making any formal response to the Makivik motion.


• Copy of motion to amend Hart Trust deed (PDF, 980 KB)
This document relates the history of the High Arctic exiles settlement agreement and explains the financial difficulties that require Makivik and the Hart trustees to seek permission to use up to $3 million of trust principal.

• The Hart Trust Deed (PDF, 780 KB)
This document, drawn up by Makivik lawyers in 1996, sets out basic rules for how the Hart Trust is to be managed. It’s the document that Makivik and the trustees now want the court to amend.

• 1996 agreement to compensate the High Arctic exiles (PDF, 340 KB)
This set of documents was signed in 1996 by Ron Irwin, then the minister of Indian affairs and northern development; Zebedee Nungak, then the president of Makivik Corp.; and surviving members of the 19 Inuit families relocated to Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord in 1953 and 1955. In exchange for a $10 million payment from Canada, the exiles agreed to give up any future claims for compensation. They also agreed to grant power of attorney to Makivik Corp. Makivik then signed the agreement with Irwin and set up the Hart Trust, which it continues to manage.

• Operations statement showing trust earnings and distributions from 1996 to 2008 (PDF, 320KB)
This document shows how until the year 2000, the Hart Trust earned enough money to give out a million dollars a year or more to trust beneficiaries. It also shows the big decline in earnings and distributions that the trust has suffered since about 2002.

• Trust balance sheet: Dec. 31, 2009 (PDF, 80KB)
This document shows the financial performance of the fund between Jan.1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2009, lists administration expenses incurred that year, including travel and accommodation expenses, and shows how the trust spent far more than it earned last year.

• Confirmation from CIBC of one-year GIC deposit made July 17, 2009 (PDF, 76 KB)
A GIC, or guaranteed investment certificate, is a special type of bank deposit that ensures your money is kept safe for a specific period of time. In exchange for using your money, the bank pays you an agreed-upon interest rate at the end of the period covered by the GIC. In this case, the CIBC will pay the Hart Trust 1 per cent interest for holding its money until July 19, 2010.

• List of Hart Trust cash distributions between 1996 and 2008 (PDF, 112 KB)
This document lists all the money the Hart Trust distributed to the High Arctic exiles and their descendants from 1996 until 2008, including the $2 million divided up among the original exiles in 1996 and 1997. The trust’s most generous year was 1998, when they gave out about $1.4 million. Distributions declined each year thereafter and the trust distributed no cash in 2009.

• Amended notice postponing Quebec court hearing until April 14 (PDF, 76 KB)
This amends a legal notice published recently in newspapers intended to inform trust beneficiaries of the upcoming hearing at the Quebec Superior Court. The hearing date is now April 14.