1075 Portage Avenue Land Designation Newsletter

INTRODUCTION

As part of the TLE land implementation process, the Peguis First Nation acquired the land at 1075 Portage Ave as a private land acquisition and has since begun to convert the land to reserve. An important step in the process is to have the land “designated” for leasing purposes; according to the Indian Act a First Nation must designate a parcel of land through a community referendum to give permission to lease the land to outside third parties. The Peguis First Nation TLE Implementation Unit has identified the 1075 Portage property as priority and as such been working towards moving the land through the many steps in the reserve creation process. The designation of the land at 1075 Portage Ave is an important step and we encourage community members to stay informed and we look forward to answering any questions you may have about this process. The community referendum vote is scheduled for Wednesday, January 13, 2016 and we are looking for the community’s support.

Should you have any questions contact: If you would like an information package mailed Nathan McCorrister out to you, please contact: Peguis First Nation TLE Implementation Unit: Lynne Turcotte 628 Main Street Lands and Resources Selkirk, Manitoba Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada R1A 1T3 Room 200, 365 Hargrave Street Toll Free: 1-877-482-4613 Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 3A3 www.peguisfirstnation.ca Phone: 204-983-4260 PROPERTY BACKGROUND LAND DESIGNATION Peguis First Nation purchased 1075 Portage Avenue on May The intent of purchasing 1075 Portage Avenue was to convert 20, 2014 for $5,550,000 utilizing the TLE Trust funds. The it to reserve and create an economic development zone for Land Title is in name of 6223291 Manitoba Ltd., a land the benefit of Peguis First Nation. holding company on behalf of Peguis. Since June 2014, Peguis has been working with Canada, The property is located close to downtown Winnipeg at the Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg to create the reserve corner of Portage Avenue and Dominion Street and across through the Additions to Reserve (ATR) process. It is a long, from the RCMP ‘D’ Detachment. The land is approximately 3.7 complicated process with many steps. One of the many steps acres in size and is zoned C2 Commercial Community District. of the process is to accommodate existing interests. This is The property includes a large office building of approximately where the land designation comes in. 69,112 square feet in size. When Peguis purchased the property it had been vacant for most of five years. The main purpose of a Land Designation is to allow reserve land to be leased out to third parties. This will allow Peguis First Nation to gain profits from business entities that have PROPERTY MANAGEMENT interest in utilizing reserve lands for business or other speci- fied purposes. A designation is conducted in accordance with The property has been under the management of CPIC since the rules set out in Sections 37 to 41 of the Indian Act and possession. During this time the property has undergone the Indian Referendum Regulations. approximately in $1.8M in renovations. To date, over 70% of the building is leased out. Leases are fair market rent in In Peguis’ case, we have a Treaty Entitlement Agreement that accordance with an appraisal conducted by an accredited allows us to use a specific law (the Manitoba Claims Settle- appraiser in August of 2015. ment Implementation Act) to designate the land BEFORE it Current tenants are: becomes reserve land. This means that we can essentially • Peguis First Nation pre-designate the land before it becomes reserve which brings o Finance certainty to our tenants. o Illegal Surrender & TLE Trusts o School Board There are specific procedures set out which ensure that all o Training and Employment the First Nation members have the opportunity to vote on • Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce how the reserve land will be used. A designation occurs only • Cheryl Kretzmann if a simple majority of the electors (who come out to vote) • Chief Peguis Investment Corporation give their consent through a formal, official referendum vote. • Community Centred Therapy Program Peguis First Nation’s designation vote will be held on • Creative Retirement Manitoba Wednesday, January 13, 2016. • Dauphin River First Nation • First Nation Auto Inc. Before any vote on a designation is cast band members are • First Peoples Economic Growth Fund provided all of the facts of the designation process. Peguis • God’s Lake First Nation First Nation is working with Canada (INAC) to ensure • Indigenous Adoptees Movement members are informed. We are doing this by: • Modern Clan Marketing Communications • mailing information packages to off-reserve • Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation members, • Tipi Insurance • having the same packages available for pick-up at the band office to on-reserve members, • hosting information sessions where the bulk of our membership resides (Winnipeg and Selkirk), • having information packages available online (Peguis website and Facebook), • having a toll-free phone number to contact. YOU NEED TO KNOW: Designated land does not lose reserve status. 1075 Portage Avenue is not yet reserve land.

Peguis First Nation owns the land, but it is not yet reserve land. It’s a complex process converting land to reserve status. Designating the land is one of the many steps in the process of converting the land.