People travelling to this northern First Nation will be searched for booze, drugs

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A remote northern First Nation is taking steps to seal the community off from alcohol, both by land and by air.

On Monday, Manto Sipi Cree Nation (MSCN) Chief Michael Yellowback joined Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Inc. Grand Chief Garrison Settee to announce that under updated legislation, First Nation Safety Officers have the authority to check bags and people who arrive at the Gods River Airport, which services the community located more than 580 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

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Signs are also now posted at the Perimeter Aviation terminal in Winnipeg to remind passengers of the new policy.

MSCN has been under a complete alcohol ban through their own bylaws for decades, but Yellowback said community officials have spent decades trying to get RCMP and other levels of government to recognize their laws, and assist them in enforcing them.

He added the winter road into the community is only open for two to three months every year, depending on the weather, so bootleggers often get alcohol into the community by air and often bring it in from Winnipeg.

“We have known for a long time that people are smuggling in alcohol through the airlines despite our ban, and we’ve been basically powerless to stop it,” he said. “What good is a bylaw if you can’t enforce it?”

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Yellowback said there was a “breakthrough” in those enforcement efforts in July, when Justice Minister Matt Wiebe signed an updated agreement allowing First Nations Safety Officers to conduct searches of people, carry-on bags, and checked bags arriving in the community.

According to Yellowback, the community and the province were pushed to take action and increase enforcement of their alcohol ban in response to an increasing number of alcohol-related deaths in the community, including the death of a young woman last year who left behind a one-year-old child.

“We knew we had to act and something had to be done, we don’t want to lose any more lives,” he said.

Yellowback said they will also take steps to keep alcohol out during the winter ice road season by posting First Nation officers at check stops to search any vehicle or person heading into the community.

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“We have a lot more power for enforcement now, and we’ve been asking for this for a long time,” Yellowback said. “So now whether you’re driving on the winter road or flying in, we can check every person and every bag, and that is going to make it a lot harder for the bootleggers to get that alcohol in.

“We believe this is going to be a strong deterrent.”

Yellowback said any alcohol found in the community or headed to the community can be confiscated and anyone caught with alcohol could face criminal charges and fines.

Under the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act it is considered an offence to deliver or attempt to deliver alcohol or illicit drugs to any location in Manitoba where alcohol and drugs are prohibited, and punishable by a fine of $2,500.

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In a Monday media release Grand Chief Settee applauded the new powers now given to First Nations Safety Officers and said he hopes to see more Manitoba First Nations communities get the enforcement powers they need to enforce their laws.

“The Chief and Council of every single MKO First Nation which is served by an airport has been urgently calling for their First Nation Safety Officers to be empowered to exercise their duties at the airports,” Settee said.

“This is certainly a milestone in exercising our sovereignty and making decisions that benefit our people and our First Nations.”

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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