State of emergency over substance abuse in Shamattawa leads to vehicle searches, patrols of snowmobile trails

A northern Manitoba First Nation is cracking down further on drugs and alco‐ hol after declaring a state of emergency over bootleg‐ ging in the community.

Leaders in Shamattawa First Nation have made a band council resolution to give local and hired security officers the power to search vehicles, people's luggage and, if necessary, their homes, says a band council resolution posted to social media.

"Me and my husband came in and we were searched," said Sheri Schweder, a Shamattawa res‐ ident who wasn't happy about getting stopped March 5 after a 22-hour drive home from Winnipeg via the winter road.

They didn't have banned substances in their vehicle, she said.

"Part of the reason I got mad was because I don't en‐ gage in bootlegging. I never sell anything. I don't do drugs."

Shamattawa, which is sup‐ posed to be a dry commu‐ nity, is the latest First Nation to impose searches to stop the flow of illicit drugs and al‐ cohol amid concerns about substance abuse.

Walter Wastesicoot, grand chief of the Keewatin Tribal Council, which represents 11 northern Manitoba First Na‐ tions including Shamattawa, said bootlegging and sub‐ stance abuse issues get worse during the winter road season.

"People are dying, people are overdosing," Wastesicoot said.

KTC declared a regional state of emergency last March over "system-wide fail‐ ures in public safety, health and infrastructure," he said.

Shamattawa is a remote community in northeastern Manitoba connected to the rest of the province by its air‐ port and by winter roads.

It hired Anishinaabe Am‐ bassadors Inc. to help train band constables and security officers to monitor outgoing and incoming traffic on the winter road to the commu‐ nity and search all vehicles and traveller luggage enter‐ ing the First Nation, the band council resolution says.

People who don't comply with the rules or a search re‐ quest may be denied entry to the community, the resolu‐ tion says. People's homes can also be searched if di‐ rected by chief and council.

Shamattawa First Nation Chief Jordna Hill didn't re‐ spond to multiple requests for comment from CBC this week.

James Favel, president of Anishinaabe Ambassadors, said his company is support‐ ing the Shamattawa council resolution against drugs and alcohol.

"We work under the band council resolution that allows us to do the work that we do," Favel said. "We're going in and we're searching in‐ coming traffic on the winter roads … just any point of en‐ try. We're also watching SkiDoo trails.

"What typically happens is somebody will bring it to one of those points, off load it on‐ to a Ski-Doo, and then they come in through a different route."

Favel said 10 staff are presently stationed in the community. He said they've been directed to stop all ille‐ gal drugs and alcohol from entering the community, as well as legally purchased cannabis and alcohol.

"They're asking for a total ban right now," Favel said.

So far, a small amount of hard drugs, some cannabis but mostly alcohol has been seized, Favel said.

"We seize the contraband, prepare a report and pass it off to chief and council," he said. "We're not there to criminalize people."

He said the ambassadors work alongside and support safety officers in First Na‐ tions who contract their ser‐ vices.

"Essentially what we're trying to do is foster a sense of stakeholder mentality, pro‐ vide wraparound supports. It's not enough to just come in and go after drugs and al‐ cohol," Favel said.

Drugs are either de‐ stroyed or turned over to the RCMP, Favel said.

RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel said the Mounties are aware of the contracted com‐ pany and the band council resolution, but Shamattawa RCMP is not involved in searching people entering the community.

As with every community in the province, drugs are present, and the RCMP is pa‐ trolling and following up on tips, Seel said.

The Mounties have also deployed their north district crime reduction enforcement support team to help track

down people involved in the illegal drug trade in Shamat‐ tawa.

"The RCMP appreciates that the winter road does provide an opportunity for wider access to remote com‐ munities, and our enforce‐ ment strategies align with the increase in that activity," Seel said.

Other First Nations within the province are also con‐ ducting searches of vehicles entering their communities.

Angela Levasseur, the chief of Nisichawayasihk Cree

Nation, said the community tried a complete ban on drugs and alcohol temporar‐ ily last year, but people re‐ sorted to other substances that were more harmful.

"It was a real health haz‐ ard," Levasseur said.

They now allow people to bring a limited amount of legally purchased alcohol and cannabis, but they still search vehicles coming into the community.

"If you go above that limit, then it's confiscated by the FNSOs (First Nations safety officers)," Levasseur said. "Some people don't like the law.

"One person suggested we double the limit."

That would require amendments to the current rules.

"That's something we may or may not do," she said.

Similar to Shamattawa, people who don't comply with searches can be fined or denied entry into the com‐ munity.

"They can take the nation to court if they feel that we're doing is a violation [of] rights and unconstitutional, and that hasn't happened yet," Levasseur said.

Ian Bushie, Manitoba's municipal and northern rela‐ tions minister and MLA for Keewatinook, where Shamat‐ tawa is located, is generally supportive of the First Na‐ tions' actions.

"It's imperative that they're thinking outside the box, in some cases, to be able to address the safety concerns in their community and the addictions and the crisis that they're going through today," Bushie said in an interview with CBC ear‐ lier this week.

"It's something that we need to address an ongoing basis."

Schweder understands chief and council is just trying to find ways to prevent harm to people but she worries banning drugs and alcohol will have the opposite effect.

"Forcing them to just quit cold turkey isn't a good way to go," she said. "They turn to other things, like, for in‐ stance, sniffing to get their high. They'll turn to anything.

"It's just really out of hand."