Peguis reviewing legal options after sale of former golf course to past adviser
CBC
The chief of Manitoba's most populous First Nation says his band is exploring legal options after its real estate trust sold most of a former golf course near Winnipeg to a property developer who used to advise the band and the trust.
Peguis First Nation Chief Stan Bird said he's seeking accountability after the 2021 purchase of the former Meadows golf course in East St. Paul and the 2024 sale of most of that land to a numbered company controlled by developer Andrew Marquess.
"We are currently reviewing our legal options around this sale," Bird said in a Nov. 22 video address on Facebook.
Marquess received at least $4.4 million between 2021 and 2023 for consulting work he conducted for Peguis and its real estate trust, according to documents obtained by CBC News and a list of payments provided by the band's chief and council.
That work included the 2021 purchase of the Meadows land, utilizing $10 million worth of money Peguis received to settle broken treaty promises along with a $5.5-million loan from a numbered company controlled by Marquess's wife, Maureen Diamond, according to court records.
Marquess's numbered company received 90 per cent of the Meadows land in 2024 in exchange for a promise to pay Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust $10 million within seven years, according to a purchase and development agreement obtained by CBC News.
In his Facebook address, Bird raised several concerns about the sale and said some of the former trustees of the Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust "must be held accountable" for a lack of transparency.
Bird said band members should have had a chance to vote on the transfer of $10 million from the Peguis Treaty Land Entitlement Trust — which governs funds the band received to settle the federal government's historic land debt to the First Nation — to the real estate trust, which bought the Meadows land.
According to the Peguis Treaty Land Entitlement Trust agreement, transferring funds from one trust to another trust requires band member approval.
"This did not happen, and it is in breach of the treaty land entitlement trust," Bird said in the video, referring to a provision that requires a vote involving 90 per cent of eligible band members, and a 75 per cent supermajority, to approve transfers of funds from the band's Treaty Land Entitlement Trust.
Bird also said trustees did not deliver audited financial statements or report to the band, as required by their trust agreement.
An August 2024 letter to the real estate trustees — provided to CBC News by lawyer John Gailus, who represents Peguis First Nation — stated the trustees "must comply with the terms of the trust agreement" and provide council with 2023 audited financials, plus written annual and activity reports for 2021 through 2023.
Gailus said Peguis's chief and council never received those documents.
The real estate trust eventually posted audited financial statements for 2021 and 2022 to its website. The documents are dated 2024, and it's unclear when they were added to the site.
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