Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) detailed which local organizations received funding last year from the Six Nations Economic Development Trust (EDT) and talked about future investments during the organization's Annual General Meeting on May 24.

SNGRDC says the EDT is "available to groups who address community priorities within Six Nations. The EDT is the mechanism, in which surplus profits generated by the SNGRDC, are invested into the Six Nations community for the collective benefit of its members."

Alaina Vanevery, member of the board of directors for SNGRDC, spoke about which organizations were recipients of funding through the Economic Development Trust. Organizations that received funding in 2022 were: Two Row on the Grand, Jamieson Elementary Home & School Association, Woodland Cultural Centre, Kayanase, Ganohkwasra, Six Nations Language Commission and Six Nations Housing. The total amount of funding provided to local organizations from the Economic Development Trust was $2,402,245 which increased from 2021 when the SNGRDC distributed $1.8 million.

Matt Jamieson, CEO for SNGRDC, also detailed a new 15 year funding agreement that SNGRDC has reached with Six Nations Elected Council. Jamieson outlined how the agreement will provide clarity for both organizations of how surplus profits will be distributed within the community.

"We've solidified the relationship between SNGRDC and SNEC for the next 15 years. And what it does is, it provides clarity on how the surplus profits that we generate every year will be utilized," he said.

The agreement details are as follows:

• 50% - Six Nations of the Grand River - organization will retain for future investment and growth opportunities;
• 40% - Six Nations Elected Council - to be used to address Community Plan priorities by way of EDT annual transfer;
• 10% - EDT - to be used for investment in community priorities outside SNEC departments (grassroots programs)

Jamieson says he is confident with the direction SNGRDC is going and that he has no concerns with SNGRDC meeting it's community obligations.

"Despite all of the dilemma's we went through over the last number of years, we were able to maintain a minimum of $5 million of liquidity as a company," he said. "We are very well capitalized as a company. I have no concerns of our ability to meet our obligations well into the future, in fact I'm very confident we're going to have a tremendous run now that we're emerging from COVID-19."

Jamieson spoke on the impact that the EDT has had on Six Nations and his hopes to continue to provide it to the Six Nations community.

"I always reflect on how we touched the community through the EDT transfers. Since we launched the development corporation we've put almost $22 million back into the community, hard real dollars, those are hard real dollars that weren't funded by the federal government, that we didn't have to wait for transfer payments," he said. "These were the results from the investments that we made and we bought things like fire trucks, equipment for the police, housing, water lines."

During the 2023 Annual General Meeting, the SNGRDC also provided information to community members on the SNGRDC 2022 financial statements, and future projects that the company are hoping to bring to the community.

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