By James Wastasecoot
Questions about the validity of Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) land purchases and the role of the TLE Implementation office were raised again at this year’s fiery TLE AGM held at Peguis Central School on May 22nd. Bruce Sinclair started the fireworks when he told the trustees they’re not telling the truth to youth who sat on the front row and came to support their friend Emma Bear who emceed the meeting. “You’re not supposed to be mortgaging land,” he said in reference to the Meadows property purchase which was bought with $10 million in TLE funds in 2019 and the MJardin property located at 1 Warman Road in Winnipeg, also purchased with TLE funds of $10 million. “There was money given for Meadows and there was money given for MJardin, all this money is gone children, we don’t have that money no more,” he said. He said the trustees should resign. TLE Financial trustee, Stephen Daniels, took exception. “Bruce, Let’s get something straight, we do not have any control over, once purchases are made once a purchase are made, we do not have control over that, that belongs to the Chief and Council and to the bank, not to the TLE.”
Then the lawyers spoke on the matter. Lloyd Stevenson, legal advisor to the Peguis TLE Implementation Office, said that all TLE purchases have to be able to be converted to reserve land under the Additions to Reserves policy. “But you look at the past number of years, a number of properties were done exactly the opposite because some of them had a third party on it, some had mortgages, and those do not qualify to be TLE converted lands.” Sangrita Bhalla of Royal Trust is also a lawyer, and sits as corporate trustee on the Trust.
She told the meeting that the Trustees have complied with the Trust agreement. She said: “We ensure that every criteria under the trustee is satisfied. Where we do have some concerns such as Assiniboia Downs or with Meadows, where the properties are structured in a slightly different way, we have gone to external legal counsel to ensure that we are acting in accordance with the trust agreement.”
Financial Trustee Carrie Sutherland urged band members to direct questions about the additions to reserve and why so few acres have been converted since the TLE Trust was set up, to the TLE Implementation Office. “The chief and council have an Implementation office, they know what’s going on there, they know who the employees are, they know where we are in transferring that land, If they’re here feel free to ask them.” She said the Trust provides $450,000 annually to the Implementation office. Don Wilson, chair of the Chief Peguis Investment Corporation, suggested there should be a separate report from the Implementation office. Chief Stan Bird was open to the suggestion that there should be an “audit from the implementation side.” He urged the meeting to have a healthy discussion on the matter and to be mindful of the youth in the room. “I think the community has to have more of a say in terms of our businesses conducted,” he added.
Terra Indigena newspaper reached out to TLE Implementation office manager, Myrna Hefferman, for a comment, but our emails went unanswered.
Both Peguis TLE and Surrender Claim Trust, have vacancies in their trustee positions which remain to be filled through an election. Until this is done, the trusts are unable to muster a quorum to authorize spending or disbursements. Accordingly, no funds were disbursed to band members and community projects in 2023. Peguis Council has appointed a Trust Nominating Committee which is in charge of vetting applications for trustee and conducting an election. Heather McCorrister, a committee member, said the election could be held in July or August.
The Peguis TLE Trust annual report can be read on the Peguis TLE website. Band members are able to pick up a copy of the TLE audit at the Trust office.