Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nation
Treaty 8 Trust

To honour our ancestors, we commit to honest and responsible financial management today to create a foundation for prosperity for our descendants in generations to come.

My mission, as a volunteer and the Chair of the Board of Trustees is to manage the Treaty 8 Agricultural Settlement funds, invest the capital prudently and responsibly, and to be a strong steward of the returns for the benefit of this generation and future generations of the Fond du Lac First Nation. I value integrity and transparency while focusing on the best interests of all members of our First Nation, on and off-reserve. As a Board, we will continue to work hard to maximize our investment returns while preserving the initial capital so we can address current and future needs, ensuring our First Nation will be a model for others.

- Trust Board Chair Ray Tralnberg
treaty8trustees@fonddulac.ca

Trustees

Ray Tralnberg

Trustee

Ray is the son of Ben Tralnberg, Fond du Lac First Nation member and fur trader with the Hudson’s Bay Company, who served Fond du Lac and Black Lake First Nations in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s prior to successive transfers and advancements with the Hudson’s Bay Company in communities in the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Manitoba before executive placements and positions in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Ray graduated high school in Sherwood Park, Alberta in 1982, followed by five years of post secondary education at the University of Alberta and another two years with the University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business. He was a director of Canadian Van Line Operations with Allied Van Lines Canada before establishing a residential real estate appraisal business serving the greater Edmonton area.

Ray is married with two children who are now attending the University of Alberta. He has been active in community and sports organizations and served on condominium and homeowner association boards over the previous four decades. “I volunteered as a Trustee for Fond du Lac First Nation because I wanted to make a positive contribution to my First Nation and honor my grandmother, Maria Mercredi.”

FNB Trust

Accounting Trustee

FNB Trust is humbled to serve as the Accounting Trustee of the Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nation Treaty 8 Benefits Trust. With over 50+ years of combined trustee and trust service experience, we provide accounting and administrative services to ensure the Trust Agreement objectives of long-term sustainability and transparency and accountability to the Members are met. We only serve Indigenous trust clients, have only Indigenous employees and are only focused on supporting the Fond du Lac First Nation to govern your Treaty 8 Benefits Trust. 

Suzanne Trottier, CFA, MBA
Vice-President of Indigenous Trust Services
FNB Trust

Gabriel Stenne

Trustee

Gabriel spent his earliest years at Camsell Portage, where his paternal grandparents Phillip and Mary Stenne, still live. He went to school there, in Fond du Lac and La Ronge before graduating from St. Mary’s High School in Prince Albert. He has worked as a power engineer for 13 years and currently works at McClean Lake Mine. Gabriel wanted to be on the board because he is honest and wants to ensure there is no corruption in handling the Treaty 8 Trust Fund. Every decision made by the board requires at least four of the five trustees to be present to vote. “As long as you have good people in there it will be okay… I want to make sure it lasts for future generations. No one’s going to touch the principle, just use the interest.” Gabriel hopes the income from the interest will benefit the young people of today and in the future through investments in the community and post-secondary funding.

Justin Mercredi

Trustee

Justin has previously served three terms on the band council, having been elected in 2003, 2005 and 2011. He completed high school in Prince Albert in 2000 has worked as a mill operator at three uranium mines, most recently at the Rabbit Lake mine. Justin is a long-serving volunteer firefighter and is a member of the volunteer recreation committee. He manages the arena and applied for the grant that was used to equip and furnish the recreation centre. “I care about the youth. I want them to have all the opportunities I can give them, like what they’d get down south, so they don’t feel left out.’ He joined the Board of Trustees to help ensure the Trust Fund is not used inappropriately and will be there for seven generations and keeps on going for our kids and their kids in to the future.

Devin Yooya

Trustee

Devin Yooya has worked at Father Gamache Memorial School for 23 years, where he is a Gym teacher associate. He is married and has three children.

As a trustee, Devin believes in transparency and honesty.

He wants the Trust Fund earnings to benefit the community by building toward the future. He wants to see Fond du Lac become self sufficient with equal opportunity education and job training for our people on and off reserve.

“We’ve come a long way as a board. We’ve learned a lot in the past year,” he said. The trustees don’t make decisions alone, but hear each other’s ideas and consider advice from experts. “We’re on the right track. We’re right where we’re supposed to be.” 

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