Indigenous Settlement Money Management and Trust Education Assessment Survey

The purpose of this survey is to explore education needs of Indigenous communities for settlement money investment management and trusts. AFOA Canada is reviewing its current trust workshop offerings. Your feedback will help us understand the needs of Indigenous communities and what topics and delivery methods you are most interested in.

If you are interested in participating further in this needs assessment through an interview, please email Pamela Ouart-McNabb at p.ouart-mcnabb@afoa.ca.

This survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Note that your answers will remain anonymous and names will not be shared. To thank you for your time, you can be entered into a draw for the opportunity to win an Apple Watch Series 10 (estimated value of $549) or one of two prizes of Apple AirPods (estimated value of $179 each), please leave your name and email address at the end of the survey.

Thank you!

About Trusts and Settlement Money

Many communities have made settlements with the Government of Canada or other entities. For example:

·specific claims like “Cows and Plows”

·comprehensive modern land claims, primarily in the North and British Columbia.

These settlements include a significant amount of money that must be managed.

Although some money may be distributed to members (per capita distributions), in many cases, communities set up vehicles to hold the money for the long term to grow and finance community needs for current and future generations.

These vehicles are most often trusts, which are an arrangement where someone (a trustee) holds property for the benefit of others (the beneficiaries). The beneficiaries are usually the community members. The trustees can be members of the community or other trusted people, banks, or trust companies. Settlement money sometimes is held in corporations instead. (If your community’s money is held in a corporation, please consider “trust” to mean “corporation”).

The money is managed by consultants to grow through investment in mainly stocks and bonds and the trustees have oversight of this investment management.

1.Please indicate your current role(Required.)

Community Elected Leader

Senior Administrative Officer/Executive Director/CEO/COO of Indigenous community or organization

Finance staff in Indigenous community or organization

Trustee

Trust Administrator, Trust Officer or Trust Staff

Trust Service Provider (e.g., asset manager, lawyer, investment advisor)

Government of Canada / Provincial Government

Other (please specify)

2.Does your Nation currently have a trust fund?(Required.)

Yes

No

Don't know

Not applicable

3.If the trust fund was from a settlement with Canada, what percentage of money was distributed to the membership (per capita distribution)?(Required.)

4.If your community has a trust, do you recall community education in advance of any membership approval for the trust settlement?(Required.)

Yes

No

Don't know

Not applicable

6.If your community does not have a settlement trust, is one expected in the next few years (e.g. “Cows and Plows”, other specific claims, comprehensive land claim)?(Required.)

Yes

No

Don't know

Not applicable

7.Have you ever taken trustee or investment management training?(Required.)

Yes

No

8.If so, who offered the training? (pick all applicable)

Other (please specify)

9.If yes, what was the biggest limitation of the training? (Pick one or more)

The training only covered basic concepts and lacked depth

The training was too short to be useful

The training was not culturally relevant

The training was too complex

No limitation

Other (please specify)

10.If yes, what was the best part of the training? Please provide a short answer below.

11.If you have not taken trustee or investment management, why not? (Pick one or more)

The training was only offered online

The training was only offered in person

The training was too long

The training wasn't technical enough

The training was too technical

The training was too expensive

Other (please specify)

A certification program is a structured educational or training program that, upon completion and often after passing an assessment, provides a credential (a certificate) verifying a specific skill, knowledge, or competency level in a particular field. It's designed to enhance career skills and may be used to qualify for jobs or career advancement. It may be done in modules over a few months or years.

A microcredential is a short, focused program that awards a credential for demonstrating specific skills or competencies. They are designed to be a quick and efficient way for individuals to acquire in-demand skills and for employers to validate those skills. Microcredentials can be a pathway to further education or a standalone credential for career advancement. Microcredentials usually are a few days long and may have an assessment at the end to show understanding of the material.

A survey course is an introductory course that provides a broad overview of a particular subject area, rather than focusing on in-depth study of specific topics. It's designed to give learners a general understanding of the field—the important basics. There may or may not be an assessment at the end.

A webinar is an online presentation, meeting, or workshop that allows individuals or groups to interact in real time on a particular short topic over the course of 30 minutes to a few hours.

17.How would you prefer trust and investment management education:(Required.)

In person

Virtual

Hybrid (in-person and virtual)

Other (please specify)

18.Would it be reasonable to expect that you must do pre-readings or watch recorded lecturers to prepare in advance for a course?(Required.)

Yes

No

19.After doing the preparation in question 18, would it be reasonable to have a quiz or assignment that showed you had understood the materials?(Required.)

Yes

No

20.Case studies are stories about real decisions, challenges or opportunities that an organization faced to be used by students for analyzing how situations could be handled. For example, a case study could be about an Indigenous trust that was faced with a big decision and you would be asked to analyze the information that the trustees had at the time to make a recommendation. This is a kind of experiential learning (as opposed to lectures) where you would share your experiences and analysis with your classmates. The AFOA, Harvard Business School, and NAFOA’s Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities program (also called the AFOA’s Harvard Program) is based largely on case studies.

Would case studies be a more valuable way to learn than only lectures?(Required.)

Yes

No

21.Understanding major decisions when receiving a settlement and getting the community ready, what are the biggest knowledge gaps in managing community wealth and investments? (Select all that apply.)(Required.)

Understanding how trust funds and investment portfolios work

Understanding the roles of trustees, trust officers, and Chief and Council

Understanding the roles of service providers, measuring their results, and negotiating their fees

Managing risk and protecting community wealth

Creating long-term financial strategies for future generations

Ensuring financial transparency and accountability in decision-making and communicating with stakeholders

Conflict of interest identification and mitigation

Other (please specify)

22.If you had a specific wealth management/trust questions that you did not have the answer to, who would you turn to?(Required.)

23.Please share any additional comments, suggestions or insights.

24.If you would like to be included in our draw for a prize, please enter your name and email address. Note that your answers will remain anonymous and names will not be shared.