Airport baggage search pilot project hopes to tackle alcohol and drug smuggling into Manto Sipi Cree Nation
Baggage searches at Gods River Airport in Manto Sipi First Nation will be done in a pilot project that leaders hope will be a model for curbing drug and alcohol smuggling into Indigenous communities from Winnipeg.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, a political advocacy organization representing 26 First Nations in the northern part of the province, announced the pilot project at a news conference on Monday.
Michael Yellowback, chief of Manto Sipi Cree Nation, said the death of a young mother last year prompted the creation of a more concrete plan to address drugs in the fly-in community.
The First Nation first enacted intoxicant bylaw legislation under the Indian Act, stating the use, possession and selling of intoxicants on Manto Sipi reserve was creating misery, disorder and devastation to their citizens.
“We have lost lives that could have been prevented,” Yellowback said. “We did not want to lose another young life.”
Yellowback’s community previously had a bylaw prohibiting the possession and sale of alcohol and drugs for a few decades, but it was never enforced, he said.
Now a sign has been placed at Perimeter Aviation’s airport terminal in Winnipeg to inform travellers flying into Gods River Airport that their bags will be searched upon arrival by trained First Nation safety officers from the community. Cargo will also be searched.
Currently there are eight safety officers in Manto Sipi Cree Nation; six of the eight have been certified to do the searches, with the remaining two scheduled for training by the new year, Yellowback said.
Alcohol that is found in the searches will be destroyed by safety officers and drugs will be locked in a safe for RCMP collect.
Anyone who is caught having drugs or alcohol when entering the community will be charged under the intoxicant bylaw and required to participate in the restorative justice programs the community has in place, Yellowback said.
‘Empowering community’
MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee said the new bylaw and safety officers are empowering leadership and the people.
“This is a very important project, and it is the First Nation of Manto Sipi that is leading the way to addressing the situations that their community faces when it comes to drugs and alcohol,” he said.
Manto Sipi Cree Nation is one of the 11 nations that make up Keewatin Tribal Council, which declared a regional state of emergency in March 2023 to draw attention to what Grand Chief Walter Wastesicoot called “dire” situations in northern Manitoba communities, including deaths due to drugs and suicide.
“All of these intoxicants are used by our people to alleviate the pain that they carry from the trauma imposed by Canada’s legislation in this country,” Wastesicoot said.
“Anything we can do to support their efforts to remove drugs in their [Manto Sipi] community is a giant step.”
The project was created through a partnership between MKO First Nations, the province, Indigenous Services Canada, Canada Post, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, Justice Canada and RCMP D Division.
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