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Correction: In our print version of this story, we included a reference as follows: "He (former chief Glenn Hudson) wrote that PFNRET Chair Maureen Diamond took on a loan from her numbered company to preserve the land for future development." This is in error. Maureen Diamond was never the chair or member of the Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust. We apologize for any inconvenience.
By Trevor Greyeyes
Peguis continues to wrestle with unanswered questions over the Meadows loan as former Chief Glenn Hudson responds to concerns raised about the deal and its fallout.
Hudson said Chief Stan Bird lacked the experience to manage complex development files. He wrote that Bird “doesn’t have the know how to deal with deals,” and said this was the real reason why things went bad. He added that Chief and Council had no authority over the Peguis Real Estate Trust or the Treaty Land Entitlement Trust. “Only Trustees hold that authority,” Hudson wrote.
Hudson said trustees moved to retain the Meadows land to avoid losing both the property and ten million dollars in TLE funds. He said no bank will deal with Peguis at this time “due to loans and business being halted.”
Diamond is not listed as a trustee or chair of the Real Estate Trust. Corporate filings show she is the sole director of a numbered company that loaned the Trust five point five million dollars. Her role appears financial and external. This raises questions about how a private lender connected to the developer came to be treated as a central decision maker in a major Peguis land transaction. It also highlights how blurred the lines of authority have become between elected leadership, trustees and outside business partners.
In the Peguis v Marquess civil action the judge dismissed all claims against third party trusts, agencies and lenders. This narrowed the dispute to the core parties in the development arrangements.
Read more: Governance at a Distance: Glenn Hudson Responds to Meadows Loan Controversy
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By James Wastasecoot
PEGUIS - Chief Dr. Stan Bird went on social media Saturday Nov 22, to update Peguis band members on the article published on the CBC news website Nov 18 about the sale of the Meadows property. Chief Bird refuted allegations from former Peguis Real Estate Trustees that he is responsible for Peguis losing land and $10 million due to a bad deal on the Meadows. He said several deals including Assiniboia Downs, the BFI loans, and Meadows were initiated - and failed - under the leadership of former Chief Glenn Hudson. Terra Indigena is reaching out to Hudson, and the former chair of Peguis Real Estate Trust Greg Stevenson for comment. We will update this story as more developments occur.
The following is the complete statement by Chief Stan Bird.
I want to bring greetings. Today is Saturday, November 22, 2025. I want to welcome you to another update. In this update, I want to respond to a CBC article that came out on Thursday, November the 18th, 2025 in this article, there seems to be a suggestion that I am responsible for Peguis losing the land known as the Meadows, as well as potentially $10 million of Treaty Land Entitlement monies. This is completely false. This unusual transaction is only the latest in a series of bad deals that were spearheaded by former chief Glenn Hudson, starting with Assiniboine Downs, the Bridging Finance debacle, the M Jardine investment that's seen us lose millions and many more. As a Chief and Council, we continue to do our best to clean up the mess that he has left behind. I want to clarify the background to the Meadows purchase and the eventual sale.
Read more: Chief Bird responds to allegations made in CBC story on the Meadows purchase
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By Trevor Greyeyes
WINNIPEG, Nov. 14, 2025 - A small group of Peguis First Nation members gathered on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature at noon today, calling for accountability, transparency, and an immediate meeting with the leadership of Peguis Child and Family Services (CFS).
In a handout, the group outlined a series of concerns they say have gone unanswered for months.
The protesters, many of them parents and caregivers, allege that Peguis CFS has drifted away from serving the community and is instead operating with little oversight, limited transparency, and questionable spending priorities.
Several held posters naming conflict-of-interest concerns, budget issues, and the lack of community consultation.
The handout distributed at the rally listed ten key allegations.
Among them is the claim that Peguis First Nation did not hold the required community vote to adopt Bill C-92 the federal "Honouring Our Children, Families and Nation Act" and that was before transferring child-welfare authority from provincial jurisdiction to a community-based system.
According to the document, no community ratification occurred, leaving many members feeling excluded from a decision that directly affects families on and off reserve.
Read more: Protestors rally at Manitoba Legislature over Peguis CFS
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WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
"Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends and country".
As we approach November 11, Remembrance Day, we will remember and celebrate our veterans from Peguis and St. Peters. These brave men who fought and died must be remembered for their sacrifice and bringing victory to our shores. We owe them our freedom and love.
In the two World Wars, our boys volunteered in large numbers, setting examples to all of Canada to unite and defeat the Nazi regime; Victory was theirs.
Many of us had relatives in the war. I had three uncles in the first World War, two who gave up their lives in France, fighting Germany. I heard many of the veterans' stories about the battles they fought to win the war. They even said the Germans were afraid of them.
We are approaching the times where all our second World War veterans are gone now: a few remain around the country and a few widows of these brave soldiers. We still have one widow of WWII, Isabel Bear, her first husband Wallace Sinclair fought and survived WW1 1 .
We had about 98 men and women who were in VVW1 and WWII: these are our veterans who we must never forget. It's our rich heritage and history, and our elders, parents and children must remember them. This history must be shared in school and other gatherings in the future. God be with our boys.
"They shall not grow old as we that are left behind grow old". LEST WE FORGET
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By James Wastasecoot
The Peguis CFS CFO told the AGM 2025 meeting that their board of directors is a “working board” and that its expense of $558,616 for travel and honoraria last year is a legitimate expenditure, honoraria payments are confidential, and detailed explanations are not forthcoming. The Peguis CFS Annual General Meeting was held at the Maamawibiway (former Shergold farm) east of Hodson on Thursday Sept. 25. The meeting was held under the recently constructed dome on artificial turf thoughout, an opulent setting where less than 50 band members were seated at the opening to hear reports and ask questions about the agency.
Days before the meeting, Peguis CFS posted a notice on their website asking people to pre-register because of “limited seating.” In reality, there was plenty of room. For many who were already uneasy with the agency, that message read like a barrier, not an invitation. It likely kept people away. That matters because confidence in Peguis CFS has been shaky. There was a protest at the CFS building just a few months ago. Many band members are hesitant to speak in public meetings at the best of times, let alone stand up to question a service provider about money and governance. If the goal is participation, you don’t start by narrowing the door.
Following the presentation of the 2024-25 financial statements by MNP, I asked a question about the Board travel and honoraria expense of $558,616 which is up from $391,444 last year. A rough calculation reveals this to be $111,723 per board member. Peguis CFS Chief Financial Officer Bev Stranger explained that the CFS Board of directors is a “working board” who meets more than once a month, and that “other costs that have to be allocated into that category. It's not paid to them directly.” She said this includes items such as meeting rooms which are at times not available in Peguis and must be rented elsewhere like Winnipeg, Selkirk, Fisher Branch.
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By James Wastasecoot
Wayne Stranger’s ambitious commissioned project to honour Chief Peguis is steadily taking shape in his studio in Peguis. The 18‑foot bronze statue—designed and crafted by Stranger and his team at Stranger Bronzeworks—will be the tallest public monument to any Indigenous leader in Manitoba’s history.
Read more: Forging History: Stranger Bronzeworks’ Monument to Chief Peguis Takes Shape in Peguis
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By James Wastasecoot
PEGUIS, June 5, 2025 — United Nations Ambassador Bob Rae visited Peguis First Nation today to discuss the persistent flooding that has repeatedly devastated the community. The meeting with Peguis leadership highlighted concerns over alleged human rights violations linked to the flood crisis.
In a powerful presentation, Chief Operating Officer Cindy Spence invoked the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), declaring, “The ongoing failure to address the flood crisis in Peguis is more than a matter of poor policy – it is a violation of human rights.”
Chief Dr. Stan Bird urged Ambassador Rae to take action, saying, “Peguis First Nation is formally calling on Mr. Bob Rae to investigate potential human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. We ask that he engage the Human Rights Commission and the Government of Canada to address breaches of UNDRIP.”
Rae, a seasoned lawyer and former Ontario premier who has worked closely with northern First Nations, acknowledged the severity of the issue. “Let’s be clear. I’m the president of the Economic and Social Council, but I’m also a public servant of the government of Canada,” he said. “I will use every opportunity to raise awareness of these injustices.”
The Economic and Social Council collaborates with the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, whose mandate includes recommending measures to prevent and remedy violations of Indigenous rights.
Peguis First Nation filed a $1-billion lawsuit in April 2024 against the federal and provincial governments, as well as the upstream municipalities of Fisher and Bifrost. The claim accuses the municipalities of constructing drainage works—supported by the province—that exacerbate flooding downstream in Peguis. The federal government has yet to file a statement of defense. In addition to the main lawsuit, Peguis has filed a class action on behalf of individual residents seeking compensation for personal property losses and damages caused by flooding.
For over two decades, Peguis has faced flooding every two to three years. The 2022 flood was the worst in recent memory, leaving more than 700 residents displaced and living as evacuees in Winnipeg. “They want to come home, but there is no home to come home to,” Spence said.
Lawyer Brian Meronek underscored the long history of inaction. “Since 1984, there have been at least a dozen engineering studies—it’s been studied to death. One study even listed ‘do nothing’ as an option. The government said that was not acceptable, yet decades later, that is effectively what’s happened.”
Meronek added that flood mitigation funds, tied to provincial flood forecasts, were often inaccessible when the forecasts were incorrect, leaving Peguis vulnerable year after year.
The community is currently producing a documentary to document how repeated flooding has devastated Peguis’s infrastructure and eroded the social and health well-being of its residents.
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Peguis First Nation Welcomes Northern Evacuees, Calls for Community Support
May 30, 2025 – Peguis First Nation
There are now 144 evacuees from northern wildfires registered at the Peguis Multiplex. After an urgent call went out for essential donations to support the incoming guests, the people of Peguis responded and soon the organizers posted a message that they had enough supplies. By Friday, cots were set up on the Peguis Multiplex arena floor and the kitchen was open serving meals.
Carlina Trout is from Cross Lake. This is what she told about her experience:
"So, when we first when we first got evacuated, we were sent to Norway house. We went by the private vehicle with my brother's vehicle, but others were able to be taken by bus or by plane. And once we got to Norway house, we were with friends. We were taken care of there at the arena, or private homes. When I was taken care of, at Norway, they opened their restaurant to the public.”
They also provided buses for the public to be transported to the airport.