Initiated on the suggestion of Canada’s Secretary of State for External Affairs, the legal agreement was signed between Nelson Mandela and the fund in May of 1990 and the Fund was legally constituted the following month in April of 1990. The purpose of the Nelson Mandela Fund as set out in its deed of Trust, is to work towards the establishment, through peaceful means, of a non-racial, fully democratic South Africa by engaging Canadians. The Progressive Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Parties of Canada gave unanimous consent to the establishment of the Nelson Mandela Fund during a session of Parliament on the 7th March 1990.

The file contains three copies of South Africa Documentation, from April to November of 1991. This bulletin was produced by the Nelson Mandela Fund, which had offices in both Toronto and Montreal in the 1990s. Also included is: a copy of Nelson Mandela’s Statement of the Deputy President of the ANC at the Opening of the ANC National Conference in July of 1991, Statement of ANC President Oliver Tambo to the ANC conference in Durban in July of 1991; newspaper clippings; a working document by the ANC Constitutional Committee concerning the Bill of Rights for a new South Africa; an ANC Discussion Document concerning Constitutional Principles for a Democratic South Africa (n.d.); correspondence of the Nelson Mandela Fund; Information concerning the Fund’s Community band Citizenship Education Project; copy of a typed letter from Nelson Mandela to Archbishop Edward Scott dated the 14th January 1991; records concerning the proclamation of Nelson Mandela Day in Ontario (11 February 1991); budget information; information concerning the National Education Committee; as well as fundraising information. The file also contains the agreement signed between Nelson Mandela the Nelson Mandela Fund, dated the 16 May 1990.