‘THERE ARE MANY DUSTINS OUT THERE’

Dustin Monture wasn’t — and isn’t — the only person on Six Nations who has battled drug addiction.

“There are many Dustins out there and there shouldn’t be,” said Gail Whitlow, who offers addictions counselling at her Chiefswood Road clinic.

Like other Indigenous communities, Six Nations members are struggling with the echoing trauma of colonization, including residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and loss of cultural identity. Not everyone who falls into addiction realizes the underlying cause could be intergenerational, Whitlow says.

“People aren’t always aware that it’s ancestral trauma.”

If you didn’t know Six Nations had a drug problem, roadside signs leave little doubt.

“Illicit drugs” with a red strike through them are followed by “zero tolerance on our territory.”

Like anywhere else in North America, there has been a rise in opioid abuse on that First Nation, which is the largest in Canada with roughly 12,000 members on reserve.

“It’s just become an escalating problem in the recent year,” Staff Sgt. Marwood White said.

Fentanyl — a powerful prescription pain medication used in hospitals but sold on the street in bootleg form — is cheap and easy to distribute, White said.

In February, police responded to two reports of overdoses possibly involving fentanyl that had been mixed with cocaine at a Fourth Line home. One of the men died.

With such potentially fatal mixtures, users don’t know what they’re getting, White said. “There is no consistent way to say if it’s safe or not.”

A major barrier to enforcement is convincing people to come forward with information, he said.

“Our problem here is that people here aren’t always the most eager to talk to us.”

White said that reluctance is, in part, caused by familial and social ties between those with information and suspects.

Six Nations borders Brant County, which is dealing with a massive opioid crisis.

Statistics from the county health unit, which includes Six Nations, show 25 emergency department visits were related to opioids as of March 2017. That’s a rate of 16.8 per 100,000 population, considerably higher than Hamilton’s 8.2 cases and Ontario’s 3.7.

Following the February overdoses, the Six Nations High Risk Committee issued a public notice asking the community to be “substance aware” and for at-risk members or their relatives to pick up naloxone kits — an opioid antidote — at the local pharmacy.

The committee, which includes police, health services, social services, education officials, child welfare agencies and family assault workers, was formed in 2014 to address violence and abuse.

In the fall, Chief Ava Hill reiterated Six Nations’ “zero tolerance policy” for illicit drugs and urged residents to support police by offering information about suspected illegal activity.

“You have a duty to support our law enforcement, and to lend a helping hand to individuals in need of support services.”

New Directions Group, a division of Six Nations Health Services, offers addiction services in the heart of Ohsweken.

Officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Whitlow, who operates Ancestral Voices Healing Centre, explained how trauma passed on from one generation to the next can lead to addiction and criminal activity to feed it.

She referred to a young man whom she called “one of the best car thieves” around. He’s desperately trying to change his life.

“When he gets out, there’s no support for him.”

Sexual abuse, suicide, crime and drugs have become an accepted norm for many young people, Whitlow said. It’s hard to break the cycle when you’re surrounded by those involved in crime and addiction.

“You’re going to be forced back into that life because there’s no other alternative.”

Whitlow says the shame associated with addiction can prevent people from seeking help. She doesn’t believe the zero-tolerance signs are sending the right message.

“You want more positive reinforcement, but those signs appear to do the opposite.”