New chief of Peguis First Nation questions flip of desirable Wellington Crescent land

The new chief of Manitoba's most populous First Nation wants to know why riverfront property it purchased in one of Winnipeg's most desirable residential neighbourhoods was flipped to a private developer instead of becoming part of its reserve lands.

Peguis First Nation acquired nearly three acres of land on the north side of Winnipeg's Wellington Crescent from the province in 2022 for $350,000, a sale price one real-estate professional calls "ridiculously low."

Less than a year later, that land was sold to a private developer who's now planning to build upscale condos along the Assiniboine River.

Peguis Chief Stan Bird said he's investigating the sale and resale of the land at 611 Wellington Cres., among other actions involving the Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust, which has the stated goal of creating housing and engaging in off-reserve development.

"We're looking at financial records. We're looking at past correspondence, documentation, whatever we can get our hands on to shed light on why things were done a certain way or why certain deals were even carried out," said Bird, who was elected chief of the northern Interlake Cree and Ojibway community in April 2023.

"Our land is very much tied to our identity as a people. I mean, our language comes from the land, and without land, there is no culture. Without culture, of course, there is no identity, right? So our land is our identity."

The initial sale of the Wellington Crescent land took place in July 2022, when the province of Manitoba sold 2.8 acres of land on the river side of the leafy, mansion-lined boulevard to a numbered company owned by the chief and council of Peguis First Nation on behalf of its members.

The sale price: $350,000, or close to the value of an average single-family home in Winnipeg at the time. 

The province says the transaction fell under the treaty land entitlement process, a mechanism intended to settle the land debt owed to First Nations that didn't receive all the property they were promised by the Crown.

The sale price was heavily discounted due to what the province described as the distressed state of the property, which required riverbank stabilization, asbestos removal and the demolition of an old hospital.

Unlike dozens of previous acquisitions under the treaty land entitlement process, Peguis did not apply to incorporate the Wellington Crescent property into its reserve, Indigenous Services Canada said.

About six months after the Peguis-owned numbered company purchased the Wellington Crescent land, that company was sold to a private developer who now plans to build 14 luxury homes on the property.

The Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust declared on its website the land was sold for $2.8 million but pegged profits on the land flip at $1.8 million.

Chief Bird said he's investigating the transactions because he doesn't know why the riverfront plot was flipped.