Gwaii trust business

History - Where it all Began

In 1985, the political standoff at Lyell Island brought worldwide attention to the Gwaii Hanaas issues of the land title dispute, the environment and economic matters. In 1987, the Haida Nation desig-nated the area a Haida Heritage Site. In 1988, Canada designated the area a National Park Reserve.

Representatives of the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN) and the Residents Planning Advisory Committee (RPAC) established an Accord on a Community Development Fund. In spite of legislative hostilities and other societal encumbrances to cross-cultural understanding, and after years of difficult work, the results evolved into the Gwaii Trust Interim Planning Society (GTIPS).

The GTIPS was established in accordance with the Society Act of British Columbia in November1991. Its purpose was to develop a permanent model for a locally controlled, interest-generatingfund. The Gwaii Trust Society would be founded on the principles of achieving a sustainable “Islands community”. The Gwaii Trust Society was formed in September 1994 to operate the perpetual Trust Fund, and the GTIPS was dissolved as a society.

Gwaii Trust Road Map

In November 1998, the Gwaii Trust Board completed its first road map, as described in this section, and it is followed by the 2001 – 2005 Business Plan.