Deloraine ponders next move amid Nygard saga

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This article was published 28/02/2020 (2302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Deloraine is contemplating its next steps following Winnipeg fashion mogul Peter Nygard’s sudden fall from grace.

The Deloraine-Winchester rural municipal council held an in-camera session Wednesday during its regular meeting to discuss its continued involvement with the Nygard name.

While he wasn’t at liberty to reveal what was discussed in-camera, Deloraine-Winchester Reeve Gord Weidenhamer said Thursday the matter has been deferred while they look into the municipality’s naming-rights policy.

The policy states that 10 years is the minimum to change naming rights on an entity in the community, while 25 years is the maximum, he said. 

“We actually are, at this point, seeking legal advice on the matter, just so that if any decision is made in the future that we make the proper one, by that standard,” Weidenhamer said.

Nygard moved to Deloraine from Finland with his parents in 1952. The family later moved to Winnipeg, where Nygard founded Nygard International in 1967. 

A park in Deloraine, located approximately 115 kilometres southwest of Brandon, was dedicated in his name in 2002. Nygard attended that ceremony. 

Since then, the park, which also holds a flags of the world display, has been a draw for tourists and has been used for local fashion shows.

“It was a rags-to-riches story, and it was a great advertising for our community and grow publicity,” Weidenhamer said. “But at the same time, what’s come forward in the press is … overwhelming, I guess, for anyone.”

Deloraine and District Chamber of Commerce chairwoman Jaydra Gervais declined to comment on the Nygard situation and its possible effect on local business when contacted by the Sun on Thursday.

Major U.S. retail partner Dillard’s department store announced Tuesday it is pulling Nygard’s label from its shelves. The same day, U.S. federal agents and New York police raided Nygard’s Manhattan office. Nygard stepped down from his company later that day.

A class-action lawsuit was recently filed in New York City alleging the 78-year-old Nygard lured women and girls under the age of 18 to his estate in the Bahamas so he could allegedly assault, rape and sodomize them, as well as engage them in unwanted “deviant” sexual acts, as part of a decades-long sex-trafficking scheme.

Nygard’s companies are also being sued because the court documents allege its accounts were used to pay for the drugs, alcohol, entertainment and food used at his so-called weekly “pamper parties,” which he allegedly used to find his victims, as well as the money used to pay for the commercial sex acts.

» brobertson@brandonsun.com, with files from the Winnipeg Free Press