The Trust Register is the branch of record through which the Secretariat maintains trust, fiduciary, accounting, revenue, and settlement records arising from the lands and interests of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River.
The Trust Register of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River is the branch of record through which the Secretariat maintains the fiduciary, accounting, revenue, disposition, and settlement records arising from the lands, territory, and related interests of the Nation. It exists to preserve an ordered institutional record of trust obligations, trust instruments, accounts, receipts, balances, dispositions, and related matters entered under the authority of the Secretariat.
The Trust Register is related to both the Register of the Nation and the Land Registry, but it serves a distinct function. The Register of the Nation is the permanent and authoritative official record of the Secretariat as a whole. The Land Registry records the physical estate: parcels, titles, surveys, land instruments, and territorial determinations. The Trust Register records the fiduciary and accounting consequences that arise from that same estate, including matters of trust corpus, revenue, administration, balances, settlements, and obligations. In this way, the Trust Register preserves the trust and financial record that follows from land, while the Land Registry preserves the territorial and physical record itself.
The Trust Register may include the recording of trust accounts, trust instruments, receipts, revenues, dispositions, balances outstanding, settlement records, accounting and reconciliation records, and such other fiduciary matters as are directed to be entered. It exists to ensure continuity, traceability, and institutional order in matters where land, trust, administration, and financial consequence are inseparably connected.
The Trust Register is also the appropriate branch for the recording of matters touching the original territorial corpus, subsequent handling or disposition of that corpus, revenues and proceeds flowing from it, and the continuing obligations that arise in relation to those matters. In this respect, the Trust Register is not merely financial. It is part of the Nation’s formal administrative expression of fiduciary position, accounting continuity, and institutional memory.
The work of the Trust Register is supported by the offices of the Registrar General, Treasurer General, Director of Trust and Fiduciary Affairs, and Attorney General, together with such other officers as may be brought into active function. Through those offices, the Secretariat records and maintains trust, treasury, revenue, and fiduciary matters in institutional form.
The Trust Register may operate in connection with trust accounts, treasury accounts, land-related trust files, accounting statements, certified extracts, and public or restricted fiduciary records. Some entries may be available as public extracts, while others remain internal, restricted, or subject to review and certification according to the nature of the matter and the authority under which it is entered.
The purpose of the Trust Register is not symbolic. It exists to preserve an ordered institutional record of trust obligations and financial consequence, to connect those records with the physical estate reflected in the Land Registry, to support accountability and notice, and to give enduring administrative form to the Nation’s fiduciary position in relation to the Grand River Territory.
Trust Accounts
The Trust Register includes the record of trust accounts established under the authority of the Secretariat for the receipt, holding, administration, and accounting of funds connected to the Nation’s territorial estate and fiduciary position. These accounts may include dedicated trust accounts, restricted accounts, treasury-linked accounts, and such other accounts as are constituted for the benefit of the Nation or its citizens. Through them, the Secretariat preserves an auditable institutional record of what is received, held, distributed, and still outstanding in matters of trust and fiduciary obligation.
Trust Instruments
The Trust Register records trust instruments issued by the Secretariat in respect of specific lands, assets, accounts, or beneficiary arrangements. These instruments give formal administrative expression to the Nation’s fiduciary position and may define the basis, scope, conditions, and governance of particular trust relationships. In this way, the Trust Register is not limited to recording obligations owed to the Nation by others, but also the Nation’s own fiduciary acts in the administration of lands, resources, and benefits held for citizens.
Receipts and Revenues
The Trust Register records revenues, rents, receipts, and other financial benefits arising from lands within the Grand River Territory where an accounting is owed or where funds are received in a fiduciary capacity. This includes receipts connected to the administration, disposition, occupation, or revenue-producing use of lands, as well as trust-related payments, recoveries, or distributions. The purpose of this record is to preserve continuity in the accounting of what has been received, by whom, on what basis, and in what amount.
Dispositions and Settlements
The Trust Register records the disposition of trust-related assets and the settlement or distribution of funds received in satisfaction, in whole or in part, of fiduciary obligations. This includes the recording of how lands or revenues were dealt with, the consideration received, the basis on which a settlement or payment was made, and the Secretariat’s assessment of whether such payment constitutes full or partial satisfaction of the obligation in question. In this respect, the Trust Register supports not only financial administration but the preservation of the Nation’s institutional position as to what remains unresolved or outstanding.
Certified Extracts
The Trust Register may issue certified extracts, statements, and accounting records in accordance with the authority of the Registrar General and the Treasurer General. Such extracts may include trust account summaries, receipts and revenue records, balance statements, settlement entries, and other fiduciary records that the Secretariat determines may properly be issued in certified form. Some extracts may be public, while others remain restricted or subject to review according to the nature of the account, the interests affected, and the authority under which the extract is requested.