A Winnipeg developer has filed a second lawsuit against Peguis First Nation, this time accusing its leaders of breach of contract for what the court filing describes as sharing confidential information with the media.
Andrew Marquess filed the statement of claim seeking damages in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench on Feb. 27, naming as defendants Peguis First Nation, Chief Stan Bird, Couns. Mary Tyler Bear, Dennis Cameron, Linda Sinclair, Terrance Sinclair, Donna Sutherland and the estate of the late councillor Kelvin Charles Wilson, who the lawsuit says died in December.
The lawsuit says Marquess provided consulting services to the First Nation from 2021 until just after its April 2023 election — when Bird was elected as chief — and Peguis’s agreements with Marquess, made under previous chief Glenn Hudson, were terminated.
Litigation between Bird and Hudson over the disputed election remains before the Federal Court of Appeal, the lawsuit says.
During the time before those consulting agreements ended, Marquess sent and was paid for a number of invoices by the First Nation. The lawsuit says those invoices were sent under consulting agreements that included confidentiality obligations, and alleges the defendants shared them with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, violating confidentiality requirements.
“The conduct of the defendants … was high-handed, malicious, arbitrary and/or highly reprehensible misconduct that departs to a marked degree from ordinary standards of decent behaviour,” the lawsuit says.
The statement of claim comes after Marquess filed another lawsuit against Peguis First Nation for defamation two weeks earlier, alleging comments the First Nation’s lawyer made in CBC coverage of a land deal between the community and the developer were “harmful and libelous.”
Alleges ‘disclosure of CBC’s source’
The court filing focuses on several CBC stories that touched on Marquess and his financial dealings with the First Nation, including a February 2024 article that refers to records CBC obtained from a confidential source.
The statement of claim also refers to a July 2024 article that quotes Peguis’s lawyer as saying the First Nation was not aware of the identity of CBC sources.
The lawsuit says a third article, published in May 2025, contains what it alleges is a “disclosure of CBC’s source,” pointing to a paragraph that cites “a list of payments provided to CBC News by the band’s current chief and council.”
The court filing alleges the defendants “discussed the continuing obligation of confidentiality imposed” by the consulting agreements, “discussed whether or not to disclose the confidential information to the CBC” and “agreed to the disclosure of the confidential information to the CBC.”
It also refers to a letter the lawsuit says Marquess’s counsel sent to Peguis’s lawyers in March 2024, which said Peguis was contractually obligated to disclose the names of those whom confidential information was shared with, and provide copies of all written communications with those people under the terms of their consulting agreements.
Two months later, the lawsuit alleges, Peguis’s lawyer emailed back, saying “we have checked with our clients and they are not aware of anyone within Peguis First Nation that may have disclosed information — confidential or not — in relation to your client’s business arrangements or compensation from Peguis First Nation.”
The lawsuit alleges the defendants never shared any names, provided any copies of communications or made “any efforts at all to resolve the dispute arising from the disclosure of the confidential information.”
It also alleges Peguis’s “refusal to make reasonable efforts to resolve the dispute and to provide the requested information and documentation” breached obligations to “make reasonable efforts to resolve disputes by ‘good faith negotiations’ and provide ‘open and timely disclosure of relevant facts, information and documents to facilitate these negotiations.'”
The statement of claim says Marquess has suffered “loss, harm and damage,” and that his relationships with financial institutions and public entities that provide funding for development activities have been impaired, causing him to pay additional fees, interest and costs associated with getting finance and credit.
It also alleges the defendants’ actions have impaired Marquess’s relationships with members of Peguis First Nation and other First Nations and their members, and his ability to work with other First Nations.
Marquess’s lawyer said he had no comment on the lawsuit. Peguis First Nation and its lawyer did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.