Drug abuse is the main cause behind a staggering increase in crime which led to a state of emergency declaration in a fly-in First Nation community says its chief.
Eabametoong First Nation chief Lewis Nate declared the state of emergency Thursday. Nate said since January, the community has faced three murders, 63 assaults, 47 arson cases and 35 structural fires. The main cause is an epidemic of prescription drug abuse Nate said.
"Right now people are living in fear in terms of the house fires and the violence," Nate said. "It’s really devastating our community and we need help in any way we can. Not to say that we’re not going to help ourselves but we just need tools to start rebuilding our community…it’s taking over our lives."
Nate said the homicide rate in his community would have been greater after the most recent case of arson when something was thrown through the window of a family home and the house caught fire. Luckily, the father of the family was awake at the time and managed to get his family to safety Nate said.
Nate said Eabametoong needs money to employ at least 12 hour security shifts and to purchase radios and other equipment to patrol the 1,200 person community. Health and social workers are also needed to implement drug and crime prevention strategies Nate added. But for the long term, Nate said his community has to start implementing back to the land programming and giving Eabametoong youth hope.
"We left the creator. We turned our backs on the creator and that’s the ultimate thing," Nate said.
Matawa CEO David Paul Achneepineskum said the Eabametoong chief and council are exhausted and on the verge of breaking down trying to combat their community’s drug problem. The drugs, and the people controlling them, have taken over he added.
"It has gone to a proportion where it’s uncontrollable the chief and council cannot enforce the community laws at all," said Achneepineskum. "The people that take advantage of these vulnerable people are the ones running this community more or less."
Achneepineskum said crime in Eabametoong is not just being committed by adults but by children who have drug-addicted parents.
"The parents are very into the drug abuse so the little kids are left on their own at all hours of the night," said Achneepineskum.
While the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service has put a dent in tackling drugs coming into the fly-in community, Achneepineskum said it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
"Because of the lack of resources they’re not able to handle 100 per cent of the traffic coming into the community," he said. "There’s now way that they can check every box and the criminal people know that."
While the community has five officers, including a full-time drug resource officer, NAPS media relations officer Jackie George said NAPS fully supports Eabametoong’s request for more support.
"We support the efforts of the chief and council in their request for additional support and resources," George said.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada say the health and safety of First Nations communities is its primary concern but have yet to receive an official declaration of emergency from Nate.
INAC and Health Canada officials will visit the community Oct. 26 said an INAC representative via email.
