Dear Peguis First Nation Community Members,
In accordance to our long-standing commitment to accountability and transparency, I am writing to you today on behalf of Chief Peguis Investment Corporation (CPIC) to provide an update to community members in regards to the conclusion of the Inspectorship conducted by Deloitte Restructuring Inc. (Deloitte) as part of our ongoing settlement with Peguis First Nation (PFN). In the interest of providing some background for how this settlement and subsequent Court ordered inspectorship arose, Peguis First Nation and CPIC came to an agreement in November 2023 to settle litigation commenced by PFN in July of 2022 at the direction of the former Chief and Council.
As part of this settlement, both parties agreed to appoint an independent accredited accounting firm to be appointed as Inspector to provide a report for PFN and CPIC following a review of CPIC’s business and financial affairs, which can be filed with the Court upon request. CPIC welcomed this court ordered inspectorship as part of the settlement process as we had already made repeated documented and unsuccessful attempts to former Chief and Council representatives offering to provide unfettered access to our financial records months prior to the unnecessary Court action taken against CPIC. Based on best available information and communications, CPIC is confident that a final report has now been completed by Deloitte Restructuring Inc. and should be in the process of being filed with the Courts as part of efforts to conclude the settlement between PFN and CPIC.
Upon review of the final Inspector report as presented, CPIC are pleased to share this report provides a sweeping vindication of countless unsubstantiated accusations made against CPIC Board and Executive that largely resulted from the Court Action taken by former Chief and Council in July of 2022. Over the course of 18 months, Deloitte conducted a thorough review of any transaction over $5,000 made by CPIC which included approximately 94% of Debit Transactions and 92% of Credit transactions of all available CPIC financial records. CPIC believes that this report provides unequivocal evidence that there were no findings of intentional misconduct and virtually all funds have been accounted for with reasonable explanations. One of the prevailing accusations that is still being shared in the community today is that CPIC made investments and/or took out loans on behalf of PFN without the knowledge or consent of former Chief and Council. This report provides categorical proof that any investment that has been under the management of CPIC were created at the direction of PFN’s investment instructions. In addition, this report also shows that there is no evidence to support the claim that CPIC had the ability to take out loan facilities on behalf of PFN.
One topic of concern we are glad to have been raised in the final report regards CPIC rental income streams required for the property management of 1065 & 1075 Portage Ave and 1386 Main St in Winnipeg as well as 620 Manitoba Ave in Selkirk which are three commercial properties owned by Peguis First Nation in Manitoba. The report outlines that Mr. Jamie Kagan, former counsel to PFN, informed the Inspector that some tenants owned by PFN had been withholding rent payments pending the resolution of the dispute between CPIC and PFN. CPIC can confirm to the community that current and former PFN tenants have accumulated over $2.3 Million in unpaid lease payments at the time of this report. CPIC had made repeated attempts to warn former Chief and Council representatives that this action is detrimental to both CPIC and PFN as it concerns the preservation and maintenance of PFN Commercial properties under management. We are pleased with the Inspector report findings that agree that the ongoing and sustained withholding of lease payments to CPIC poses a risk that is detrimental to both CPIC and PFN. Despite nearly 40% of rental incomes required to support property management operations, CPIC is proud to inform the community that with great effort and cost reduction measures we have been able to meet all obligations and expenses required to keep PFN commercial properties operational.
As outlined in the final report, these efforts are simply not sustainable without the required rental income and common area maintenance fees required to support property management operations. At the time of this letter, these ongoing lease payments due from PFN tenants have yet to resume pending the completion of our outstanding audits and coordination with the current Chief and Council as we continue ongoing and positive discussions.
Chief Peguis Investment Corporation is no stranger to the fact that there are many areas of improvement for our organization and you will find criticisms of CPIC found in the Deloitte report, however, we believe that this report proves there are no significant negative findings to suggest any misconduct occurred or any funds has gone unaccounted for under our management. CPIC believes that we have been champions of proper adherence to policy & procedures, good governance, and the continuous effort to maintain best business practices. In Carol Anne Hilton’s book Indigenomics: Taking A Seat at The Economic Table she outlines that “…Indigenomics is about future pacing the economic reality of this country to get ready for the emerging $100 Billion Indigenous economy”. CPIC knows that Peguis First Nation can be a community that leads the way towards the emerging $100 Billion Indigenous economy but only if we continue to strive towards community collaboration, good governance, and the implementation of best business practices in our economic development activities. CPIC is confident that if given the opportunity, our organization can provide significant revenues back to our sole shareholder, Chief Peguis Investment Trust, whose mission is to keep business and politics at arms length, and re-distribute monies from PFN businesses back to the community. Although this is possible, we continue to encourage that an election be called in PFN to fill the vacant positions of CPIT trustees as required under the CPIT Constitution and By-laws (2015).
In closing, we are more hopeful than ever that Peguis First Nation is moving in the right direction under leadership that understands the importance of good governance, transparency, and accountability. We are encouraged by the current Chief and Council’s ongoing efforts to reestablish and adhere to the Peguis Financial Administration Law (FAL) and we look forward to continuing to work with them resolve any outstanding legal disputes between CPIC and PFN. CPIC extends its gratitude to the Chief, Council, and their representatives for their time and cooperation in clarifying crucial audit items that required coordination with PFN. This collaboration has enabled our auditors to proceed with completing the outstanding audits, which we anticipate will be finalized by the end of July 2024. CPIC remains committed to our goal to support the economic prosperity of our Nation and working in collaboration with PFN to find solutions to the issues facing our community today.
Chi-miigwech, Ekosi and Yours Faithfully,
Don Wilson
Interim CEO and Board Chair
Chief Peguis Investment Corporation (CPIC)