2016

At Diamond North Credit Union we believe in the concept of people helping people; from this belief comes a special People Helping People Community Investment Fund to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

Every year we donate approximately $80,000 - $100,000 (upwards of 3.5% of pre-tax profi ts) to our communities through our annual funding. In addition to this regular community funding, 2016 brings another $25,000 of support to our communities.

Diamond North Credit Union is celebrating its ten year anniversary. That’s a decade of helping members achieve their fi nancial well-being. Although the world has dramatically changed on many levels, a few things remain the same for us – we love helping our members and we love what we do!

On January 1, 2006, Diamond North Credit Union was formed through an amalgamation with Carrot River & District Credit Union Ltd., Nipawin Credit Union Ltd., White Fox Savings and Credit Union Ltd. and Zenon Park Credit Union. On January 1, 2008,

La Caisse Populaire d’Albertville Limitée and Arctic Credit Union (Prince Albert) joined Diamond North Credit Union, increasing operations to an eight branch service location spread across northeast Saskatchewan.

An important characteristic of who we are is the ability to provide quick, local decision making. This means you won’t be waiting for an answer from someone out of our service area. It is important to us that we retain this local decision making; we believe there is no one who knows what’s better for you than you!

Agriculture and wealth management specialists have expanded the Diamond North Credit Union team; they provide valuable advice for our members and remain available (by appointment) in all of our branches.

We remain invested in our communities by retaining all eight of the original full service branch locations into our 11th year of operation. Communities and giving back remains an integral part of the credit union way. We have donated over $1.1 million to worthy projects over the past decade. We are proud to support local initiatives and capital projects throughout the communities our members call home.

Watch for more ten year anniversary celebrations and events throughout 2016!

$25,000 People Helping People® Community Investment Fund

These funds are available for eligible capital projects based on the People Helping People Community Investment Fund criteria.

Applications will be accepted fromMay 1 until August 31, 2016. Stop in at any of our branch locations or v isit us online at w w w . d i a m o n d n o r t h c u . c o m to fi nd out more about our People Helping People Community Investment Fund.

Looking to Upgrade?Ag Equipment Loans are more aff ordable than ever during our limited time Ag Equipment Loan Sale.

Contact your Account Manager today. We’re ready to talk options.

Looking to Upgrade?Ag Equipment Loans are more aff ordable than ever during our limited time Ag Equipment Loan Sale.

Contact your Account Manager today.

An important characteristic of who we

We have donated over$1.1 million

to our communities in the last decade.

HEATHER HIND-HLUCHANIUKOccupation: Business OwnerElectoral Region: Nipawin Term Expires: 2018Years of Service: 1

ROGER KIRKOccupation: FarmerElectoral Region: Nipawin Term Expires: 2019Years of Service: 21

SHAWNA KOZUNOccupation: FarmerElectoral Region: Carrot River Term Expires: 2017Years of Service: 1 Month

Our milder than usual winter has been followed by an early spring; it is good to see our agricultural community get off to an early start in this year’s growing season. There is something optimistic about spring, whether it’s the prospect of a new crop or the fact that it’s now time for warmer temperatures and everything to start turning green.

January 1, 2016 marks the completion of a decade of service to our members and communities as Diamond North Credit Union. Over the last 10 years, our credit union has more than doubled in size. The results of our Annual General Meeting (held in April) indicated that 2015 was our second-best year so far, second only to 2013. (Please see our website for our Annual Report). Over the last 10 years, we have had a great deal of success. I am happy to say that all original full service branch locations remain in operation since the Diamond North Credit Union merger took place. Also in fi ve - soon to be six - communities, we are the only fi nancial institution with a physical branch location.

We have provided over $1.1 million in community sponsorships and support since the beginning and, in honor of our anniversary, have announced an additional $25,000 to be given to our communities. (This is in excess of what we normally give back each year.) We are calling this our People Helping People® Community Investment Fund. Applications can be found in branch or online and may be completed for a project that helps people in any community in our service region.

Our success as a rural based credit union is tied to our rural branches and our members in these branches keeping their fi nancial business local. I thank our members for supporting our credit union, as well as our staff and management that do their very best to deliver the highest service level possible.

Be wary of scam artists who reach out to you and attempt to take your money. If your intuition tells you that something isn’t quite right, it is likely a scam. If the caller claims he/she is from an organization (like CRA) but

doesn’t know your name, it is likely a scam. Signs of scams in written

communications (like mail, email or text messages) are spelling errors or the logos and images look wrong.

If you’re ever unsure of the legitimacy of an email, phone call, mail or text message contact the sender using contact information that you’ve looked up (instead of the information provided in the mail, email or text message). And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true!

Recognize Common Scams

Board of Directors

Years of Service as of May 5, 2016. Includes previous Board of Director service from amalgamated credit unions.

Vice President

JOHN THOMPSON Occupation: Retired ForesterElectoral Region: Prince Albert Term Expires: 2019Years of Service: 18

President

MAURICE LALONDE Occupation: Business OwnerElectoral Region: Zenon Park Term Expires: 2019Years of Service: 18

LESLEE SERACKOccupation: Retired Financial DirectorElectoral Region: Nipawin Term Expires: 2017Years of Service: 2

DARRYL SANDEOccupation: Business OwnerElectoral Region: Albertville Term Expires: 2017Years of Service: 15

Message from the CEO

The Board of Directors governs on behalf of the members. With an emphasis on outward vision, diversity in viewpoints, strategic leadership and clear distinction of roles between the Board and the CEO, the Board translates members’ wishes into credit union performance. The Board of Directors manages the credit union at a very strategic level. To ensure this strategic focus, the Board Credit Committee was eliminated in 2006, prior to the formation of Diamond North Credit Union and credit approvals are managed exclusively through the Diamond North Credit Union lending team. The Board is accountable for leading and nurturing the long term strategic direction of the credit union while creating and maintaining value for our members and the communities in which we do business.

LOUISE NICKLENOccupation: FarmerElectoral Region: White Fox Term Expires: 2017Years of Service: 1.25

RICK LINDSAYOccupation: FarmerElectoral Region: Arborfi eldTerm Expires: 2017Years of Service: 12

GREG PAGANOccupation: Bison RancherElectoral Region: Choiceland Term Expires: 2018Years of Service: 6

John Shenher, CEO

honoured to present Andre Laforge of Zenon Park with the Saskatchewan Credit Union Director Order of Merit Award.

Andre is a devoted community supporter; he was a director of both the Carrot River & District Credit Union Ltd. (7 years) and Diamond North Credit Union (6 years). Andre has also served on many other boards, often as chairman, president and vice-president. He donned a Santa Claus suit for 24 consecutive years for various community groups. He and his wife, Betty, have recently opened a new business in Carrot River called Prairie Angel Bakery & Patisserie.

Communities working together for the common good have always brought great satisfaction to Andre. This was never more evident during the 13 years he spent as director on the Carrot River and Diamond North Credit Union Boards.

Diamond North Credit Union is grateful for all Andre has done for his credit union and his community.

Community Involvement

Our communities support us; at Diamond North Credit Union we believe in supporting those communities right back. The most eff ective way we can show this support is through volunteerism and monetary donations. From 2015’s Community Investment Fund, we donated approximately $94,000 (or 3% of our pre-tax profi ts) and over 3,400 hours of volunteer time to events and projects in our communities.

Without the willingness of our staff and the strength of our membership, we would not be able to give back as we do. Through donations of funding and volunteerism, we can return the support you, our members, have shown us. We are proud of our communities and want to see them grow and thrive. When we support community improvements and activities, we are creating something much bigger than ourselves.

ARBORFIELD CURLING CLUB

TRI-TOWN THUNDER

NIPAWIN NUTRITION FOR KIDS

CARROT RIVER TOWN SQUARE

NE OUTREACH & SUPPORT (NEOSS)

Coming

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Recognizing Andre Laforge

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We donated over3,400 hours

of volunteer time and over $94,000

to our communities in 2015

Andre (Andy) Laforge has always believed that individuals’ collective eff orts strengthens their co mmun i t i e s . Diamond North Credit Union is

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ALBERTVILLE Box 99Albertville, SK S0J 0A0 P: 306.929.4714

ARBORFIELDBox 265 Arborfi eld, SK S0E 0A0 P: 306.769.8581

ARCTIC200A, 28th St W Prince Albert, SK S6V 4S9 P: 306.922.8252

CARROT RIVERBox 639 Carrot River, SK S0E 0L0 P: 306.768.2703

CHOICELANDBox 39Choiceland, SK S0J 0M0 P: 306.428.2152

NIPAWINBox 2074 Nipawin, SK S0E 1E0 P: 306.862.4651

WHITE FOXBox 310 White Fox, SK S0J 3B0 P: 306.276.2142

ZENON PARKBox 160 Zenon Park, SK S0E 1W0 P: 306.767.2434

Member Testimonial - River’s Edge Seeds Ltd.When faced with a challenge and opportunity, Agricultural Account Specialist Jerry Palagian and the team at Diamond North Credit Union showed a strong interest in our ideas and creating a fi nancing package that worked for us. I was very impressed with Jerry’s in-depth knowledge of the ag industry; I greatly valued his insight and appreciated the ideas he suggested in building our new business, River’s Edge Seeds Ltd.

We have been growing hemp for eight

research, we designed a plant that has the capability to process crops such as hemp, borage, quinoa and other specialty crops more effi ciently. This new plant, called River’s Edge Seeds, will also be able to clean traditional cereals and pulses in the Carrot River area.

On top of the ability to clean traditional and non-traditional crops, the new plant incorporates the latest in color sorting, dust fi ltration, sampling methods and state-of-the-art control systems. All of these enhancements will help us to obtain Hazardous Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certifi cation, a certifi cation being demanded of cleaners now that hemp is considered a raw food product. Another endorsement we are working on is organic certifi cation.

The hemp industry has seen continual growth. The Carrot River area is well suited to growing hemp - its hemp-seeded acres grew from only a few quarters in 2008 to over 20,000 acres this year. Hemp use is growing, primarily in the edible food market but it is also valued for its fi bre and pharmaceutical properties.

At River’s Edge Seeds, we operate a fourth - soon to be fi fth - generation farm in the Carrot River area. We seed roughly 6,800 acres with a variety of crops.

Since 1996, Diamond North Credit Union has been an integral part of helping us expand the farm, implement the latest

techno logy and purchase the right equipment to be effi cient. From the b e g i n n i n g of our farm, we worked with Neal Wasko (who has since

facebook.com/DiamondNorthCreditUnion @DiamondNorth Diamond North Credit Union

Marcel and Charlene EnnsMile South Farms Ltd.

River’s Edge Seeds Ltd.

years at River’s Edge Seeds but it is always challenging to fi nd a company that has the ability to clean our product effi ciently. When cleaned in traditional facilities hemp often gets damaged and excretes oil; this causes trouble with traditional seed.

The idea of building our own cleaning plant stemmed from this constant problem. We spent many

hours speaking with experienced hemp cleaners to fi nd out what the challenges they faced when cleaning hemp. After this

retired) and the team at Diamond North Credit Union. One aspect that I value with the credit union is that they are open to investing in good people and good ideas instead of focusing strictly on ratios and balance sheets. At Diamond North Credit Union, you are not just treated like a number out of a head offi ce in Toronto.

My family and I have been involved in a few community projects (like the building of a hotel and restaurant in Carrot River) and Diamond North Credit Union was the fi rst one to set up to off er fi nancing options for this community project. This was a service that was greatly needed in the area and are already seeing the benefi ts of this facility. This project was made possible by the citizens of Carrot River and Diamond North Credit Union working together to make it happen.

We look forward to future opportunities and working together with the team at Diamond North Credit Union.

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“I was very impressed with

Jerry’s in-depth

knowledge of the ag industry;

I greatly valued and appreciated

his insight and appreciated the ideas he suggested in building our

new business, River’s Edge Seeds Ltd.”

“One aspect that I value about the

credit union is that they are open to investing in good people and good ideas instead of

focusing strictly on ratios and balance

sheets.”