Peguis trust built daycare on $12.3M property more than 150 kilometres away from First Nation

A daycare owned by an enactment created to payment Peguis First Nation promises dozens of caller daycare spots for families erstwhile it opens its doors — but not for the First Nation successful Manitoba's Interlake region, which is successful dire request of kid care.

Instead, the project, touting 74 caller spaces for children, was built successful East St. Paul, northeast of Winnipeg and much than 150 kilometres southbound of Peguis.

"Why wouldn't you bring it to Peguis present and physique it here, erstwhile we request it here?" said Bruce Sinclair, a Peguis elder who is acrophobic by deficiency of daycare spots connected the First Nation.

The daycare, which is inactive not operational, is built connected portion of a crippled of onshore that was formerly a backstage play people called The Meadows successful East St. Paul.

The 75-hectare parcel of onshore was purchased successful 2021 by the Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust, an arm's-length entity formed to get existent property for concern and lodging for the payment of set members, according to its founding documents.

The Peguis daycare successful East St. Paul is portion of a task initiated by Manitoba's erstwhile Progressive Conservative authorities to physique much than 2 dozen daycares. The existent NDP authorities has asked the province's auditor wide to reappraisal whether that task followed procurement rules.

It's unclear erstwhile the East St. Paul daycare volition unfastened its doors. With the task experiencing "significant delays," according to Education Minister Tracy Schmidt, backing for the East St. Paul task stopped flowing successful November 2024 successful bid to implicit a review. 

"We discovered some, what I would call, irregularities successful the medication of the contract," Schmidt said astatine a property league astatine the Manitoba Legislature adjacent the extremity of April.

In summation to the acquisition department's concerns, the builder filed a lien for $2.4 cardinal against the property.

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The trust's erstwhile seat says the daycare gathering is finished and the state is holding up the opening. 

"It is completed and acceptable for occupancy. We conscionable request the state to finalize the outgo to [the builder] to get it operational," said Greg Stevenson, who was the seat of the Peguis spot from July 2021 until aboriginal January 2025.

Why Peguis spot owns the land

Initially, the Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust wanted to physique a 2,000-home mixed-use improvement connected the erstwhile Meadows play people successful East St. Paul, combining lodging with commercialized businesses.

With guidance from Winnipeg developer Andrew Marquess, the spot purchased the erstwhile people for $12.3 cardinal successful 2021.

The spot had been acceptable up little than a period earlier. Former Peguis main Glenn Hudson and the set assembly astatine the clip appointed its archetypal 5 trustees, who were replaced by an wholly caller committee successful January. 

The onshore acquisition utilized $10 cardinal from a $64-million colony awarded to the set by the national authorities successful 2008, according to a connection of assertion filed successful an unrelated lawsuit.

Extra wealth for the improvement came from a $5.5-million indebtedness from a institution owned by Maureen Diamond, Marquess's wife, aft the spot could not get financing from a slope oregon recognition union, according to tribunal documents. The aforesaid tribunal filing shows presumption of the indebtedness requiring monthly interest-only payments of $26,000 per month.

But the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul didn't o.k. the lodging project. It had suspended each caller developments backmost successful 2020 due to the fact that of a deficiency of infrastructure. 

In March 2022, the municipal assembly voted down the trust's proposal due to the deficiency of sewer capacity, among different issues.

Nine months later, the spot decided to proceed with the daycare project.

During a two-year span, which includes erstwhile the daycare woody was being made, Winnipeg developer Marquess was being paid an mean of $158,000 a period arsenic a advisor for Peguis First Nation, according to a database of payments provided to CBC News by the band's existent main and council.

'Not a bully deal': elder

Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust signed a woody with the state successful November 2022 that required the spot to supply 15 years of escaped rent to a non-profit child-care provider, positive wage for snow-clearing, according to the backing statement that CBC News obtained done a freedom-of-information request. 

Elder Bruce Sinclair, who is portion of the radical that opposed the re-election of Glenn Hudson successful 2023, says helium questions what Peguis members get retired of this daycare deal. 

"It's not a bully woody for Peguis," Sinclair said. "Why should we person to beryllium paying and paying?"

Family members transportation successful to instrumentality attraction of his great-grandchildren, ages 1 and two, portion his granddaughter works arsenic a caregiver astatine Percy E. Moore Hospital adjacent Peguis. 

His great-grandchildren were connected the waiting database for the existing 42-space on-reserve daycare until past month. According to its director, the daycare has 29 children waiting to get in, with a hold clip of 1 to 3 years. 

The children were offered spots astatine the on-reserve daycare past month, but were forced to diminution due to the fact that the daycare lone gave them a week pb clip to commencement attending — thing astir intolerable for the family, who have been living successful Winnipeg since being forced retired of their location during the 2017 flood. 

Sinclair is besides upset that $10 cardinal successful Peguis onshore colony wealth is tied up successful the East St. Paul land.  

"That's not right. I don't cognize however they tin accidental they're close successful what they're doing."

The East St. Paul daycare is 1 of 22 daycares that were project-managed by JohnQ Public Inc., a institution owned by 12 agrarian municipalities.

WATCH | A look astatine the Peguis daycare:

The terms tag for the daycares was astir $100 million, according to the province.

Last month, the NDP authorities asked the province's auditor wide to reappraisal each the JohnQ daycares.

Deputy acquisition curate Brian O'Leary said successful an April 16 missive to the auditor wide that the task "may not person followed mean provincial oregon municipal procurement practices," and asked for a reappraisal of that, arsenic good arsenic however child-care spaces were doled out, fixed nary were successful the metropolis of Winnipeg.

Auditor General Tyson Shtykalo said helium is reviewing the petition and has asked for much accusation earlier determining what action, if any, his bureau volition take.

The 22 JohnQ daycares were portion of a larger effort by Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives to get 25 child-care centres built successful the province. 

JohnQ and the spot awarded the declaration for moving the Peguis daycare successful East St. Paul to Created 4 Me Early Learning Centre, a section non-profit, successful October 2024.  

It already operates a 36-space installation successful the country and has an existing database of 500 children who person been waiting up to 3 years for a spot. Kids connected that waitlist volition get spaces astatine the Peguis daycare erstwhile it opens.

"This volition let for 74 much spaces successful our assemblage to unfastened up, gathering that need," enforcement manager Laura Van Landeghem said successful an interrogation with CBC News. 

The daycare is inactive going done the licensing process. There's nary acceptable day for opening.

Daycare volition make revenue: erstwhile spot chair 

The Peguis spot was tipped disconnected successful the summertime of 2022 that the state had caller backing for daycares.

In a study to Peguis's existent main and council, obtained by CBC News, Marquess said his "contacts astatine the province" told him astatine that constituent they were moving guardant with a daycare program.

In an emailed connection sent to CBC via his lawyer, Marquess has since backtracked from this statement. He present says it was Colleen Sklar, JohnQ Public's main enforcement officer, who informed him astir the programme to physique daycares.

Sklar did not respond to a petition for comment. 

Stevenson, the former chair of the Peguis trust, corroborated Marquess's account. 

"Andrew [Marquess] past told america determination was a anticipation that [the trust] could get a daycare. We liked the thought and talked to main and council, who besides liked the idea," Stevenson told CBC News successful an email.

He said Peguis's erstwhile main and assembly approved the project, adjacent though the daycare would not beryllium built successful their community.

"We understood from JQ Public that the daycare was for the East St. Paul area," Stevenson said.

When asked however the daycare benefits Peguis members successful airy of its region from the reserve, Stevenson said Peguis received a $5-million gathering "that outgo thing to physique from the trust" and volition make rental gross successful 15 years, aft the rent-free play for the child-care supplier ends.

Stevenson said the benefits to the assemblage spell beyond the daycare itself, due to the fact that the extremity of the spot is to make onshore and instrumentality profits to Peguis.

"Since we owned the onshore successful [East St. Paul], it made consciousness to enactment a gathering determination to commencement the process of our imaginativeness for that land," said Stevenson. 

He said the archetypal trustees took connected the relation due to the fact that they believed that the spot could go "one of Manitoba's competitory developers" arsenic it grew successful cognition and experience. 

The state said it dealt with the spot alternatively than the First Nation due to the fact that erstwhile Peguis main and assembly passed a solution successful favour of that statement successful November 2022, according to a connection from an unnamed provincial spokesperson.

Marquess says his engagement successful the daycare task was constricted to informing the trustees and erstwhile main and assembly astir the accidental to get 1 of the projected daycares, and providing proposal to the trustees from clip to clip arsenic the task progressed.  

"I besides encouraged them to prosecute the task due to the fact that I believed it was a win-win for the trust, Peguis First Nation and the assemblage of East St. Paul," Marquess said successful an email from his lawyer. 

"I had nary engagement successful the operation of the daycare," Marquess said successful the email. That was handled by JohnQ and the wide contractor, helium said.

Builder says it's owed millions 

A Winnipeg institution called Pretium Projects Ltd. won 2 tenders issued by JohnQ to physique 22 astir identical daycares. The structures were mostly prebuilt and past assembled connected site.

Peguis's daycare started with a fund of conscionable nether $4 million. In August 2024, past acquisition curate Nello Altomare approved a fund summation to $5.5 million. 

Pretium said it's inactive owed wealth by the Peguis spot for its enactment connected the daycare. It has placed a $2.4-million builder's lien connected the property.

While the daycare occupies astir a hectare, the lien is applied against astir of the astir 75-hectare parcel of onshore that was formerly the Meadows play course.

A lawyer for Pretium said the wealth owed is owed to operation alteration orders communicated and authorized done the due channels anterior to the commencement of construction. 

"The Peguis [trust's] daycare was past constructed wrong budget," said Pretium's lawyer. 

The commencement of operation was delayed by the spot by 18 months, according to the lawyer.

There were nary construction-related delays and the daycare was delivered 1 period up of schedule, the lawyer said.

There are differing accounts connected however JohnQ and Pretium were selected for the Peguis project.

Former spot seat Stevenson said JohnQ, Pretium and the state ran the project, not the Peguis spot — and the spot didn't take JohnQ. 

The operation task "was already structured and operational anterior to the spot having it awarded to america from the province," Stevenson said. 

Meanwhile, the state says each 22 of the communities with daycare operation projects tally by JohnQ chose the institution arsenic task manager.

An unnamed provincial spokesperson said the Peguis spot fto the state cognize it selected JohnQ successful August 2022. 

Province to blame: erstwhile trustee

Stevenson besides accused the state of holding up the certification, licensing and permits for the daycare. 

"The state discontinue backing the operation invoices astatine the extremity of task but ne'er told [the trust] that they were withholding backing for the project," wrote Stevenson successful an email to CBC News. 

Naline Rampersad, the spokesperson for Education Minister Schmidt, said the state "formally advised" Stevenson astatine the opening of November that it was starting "a owed diligence process." 

The lawyer for the recently elected committee of trustees of the Peguis existent property trust, Sonny Cochrane, did not respond to requests for comment. 

John Gailus, the lawyer who represents Peguis First Nation and its members, said helium has thing to accidental due to the fact that helium hasn't been kept informed of the trust's activities.  

Peguis First Nation "has been kept successful the acheronian connected this (and other) projects," Gailus said successful an email.