Curfew in Lake Manitoba First Nation aims to keep children off streets at night

Vandalism, alcohol abuse and drug abuse. They are the problems all communities in Canada face, including First Nations.

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But one Manitoba First Nation hopes a new approach will help curb the problem behaviour and keep young kids from roaming around late into the night and hold their parents more accountable. 

The Lake Manitoba First Nation, located about 160 kilometres north of Winnipeg, has implemented a curfew for kids under 16. Be at home, out with parents or caregivers or supervised at the rec centre, or face banishment from public buildings in the community, the curfew orders.

"People would just come and drop their kids off and leave them unattended," said chief Cornell McLean. "We just wanted to make the parents more accountable for their [children's] actions."

McLean said kids as young as eight were roaming around the community late at night, hanging around near the school, the band office or other buildings. Vandalism was occurring and, in some cases, parents were dropping their kids off and leaving to go socialize elsewhere. 

"Our teachers were complaining that the kids were gambling at the school ... throwing rocks at the teacherages," said McLean, referring to the residences where visiting teachers stay. "Kids were being kids."

A community meeting was held earlier this month after several people were seriously injured at a wedding social in the community where elders raised the issue of the number of kids out late at night, according to McLean.

Curfew meant to keep kids safe

The curfew is not meant to be martial law, according to McLean, but meant to keep children safe and off the dimly-lit streets at night. Since being implemented on Oct. 19, there have been no complaints about kids breaking the rules.

A first offense could net a ban from the community's rec centre for one month, a second for three months and up to a year for a third offense. However McLean said those punishments are not set in stone. 

He said the curfew has been greeted with mainly good comments from community members so far. It's believed to be one of the first First Nations with such a curfew in Manitoba. 

Mixed reaction, but early results 

"Some are happy that it's there," McLean said. "Some caregivers ... certainly see it as maybe ... one comment was made [that it's] 'ludicrous.'"

But it appears to have made a difference already. McLean said noticeably fewer people are out after dark and those that are are taking part in programming at the rec centre like hockey games, drum lessons and gym activities. 

"We want them to use their energy in a little more positive [way]." 

"If something happened, if one of these kids went missing, it's going to fall on my lap and chief and council's lap at the end of the day," he said.