Northern First Nations mull stricter substance bans even as some leaders feel 'prohibition doesn't work'

A snowmobiler wisps through the woods smuggling bootleg alcohol into a remote northern Manitoba First Nation.

There's demand and people willing to take risks in dangerous winter conditions to get liquor or drugs into the community. 

It's not an uncommon scene, and not something checkstops and local bylaws limiting or prohibiting even legal substances can always deter. Some chiefs acknowledge this yet feel the social issues radiating out from substance misuse so urgently need addressing that something must be done to stop or slow the flow.

It's a dilemma as several northern communities consider an escalation in enforcement of "dry" policies from a sense of desperation and hope it does some good.

"When you make alcohol … hard to come by, bootleggers tend to drive up their prices and sometimes people resort to substances that are very dangerous, and so … this a very contentious issue," said Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Chief Angela Levasseur.

"The root causes of addiction must be addressed and we know historically speaking that prohibition is not the answer, prohibition doesn't work."

Despite that, NCN instituted a two-week ban on alcohol and drugs in the community March 24, namely so children could have a decent spring break, said Levasseur. 

Leadership will seek feedback at a local band meeting this month to explore ways forward, including whether to maintain an all-out ban. 

Levasseur says intergenerational trauma from residential schools and other colonial policies underlying substance misuse were further exacerbated by the pandemic.

NCN has its own permanent checkstop at the Highway 391 junction. First Nations safety officers enforce a bylaw allowing residents to bring limited amounts of alcohol into the community — the equivalent of a 26 (700 ml bottle) of liquor, a case of beer, a box of wine. Cannabis is allowed in limited quantities.

That isn't necessarily the case with some of the 11 northern First Nation communities that declared a regional state of emergency last month, citing suicides, suspected drug-related deaths, inadequate emergency and health services, concerns around mental health, substance misuse and violence. 

• If you or someone you know is affected by these reports, scroll to the bottom of this article for links to support networks.

Several have had local bylaws in place for decades prohibiting the sale and use of intoxicants. 

The partial limits Nisichawayasihk has had in place have an impact, but residents are also an hour drive from Thompson, 65 kilometres to the east, where NCN bylaws don't apply.

Sometimes drugs come in the mail. Sometimes, as in the south, street drugs contain toxic concoctions that can lead to overdoses.

Bootleggers find ways in through the bush.

"We've had people literally risk their lives bringing alcohol in," Levasseur said. "It's very difficult for us to make the decision: where do we draw the line?

"One of the big issues becomes harm reduction," she said.

Dr. Barry Lavallee, a proponent of safe drug supply and consumption sites, empathizes with what Levasseur and other northern leaders are faced with.

He said he does not believe in prohibition because the clinical and population-based evidence doesn't support it. It suggests, for example, that even asking some people "to go abstinent can actually increase their suicidal ideation," he said.

Lavallee nonetheless supports those chiefs and councils who feel prohibition is appropriate in this moment.

"They have to come to something as definitive as just banning alcohol [and drugs] because they don't have at the receiving end a way to support people effectively, that's what they're stuck with," he said. 

"We're just at this time where you have this pinnacle of activity of lots of loss of lives and destruction and no services and no resources, and the federal and provincial systems are stuck too, so it's a horrible position to be in a post-pandemic."

Lavallee is chief executive officer for Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin, the health and wellness agency for Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, which represents 26 northern First Nation communities.

Lavallee said there is opposition to some harm reduction models in the north, but on the whole maybe more openness than in the south.

He cited an example of a community struggling with a crystal meth issue that introduced a medicinal cannabinoids program as a form of harm reduction.

Lavallee was also involved in a managed alcohol program on an isolated northern First Nation in recent years. Some participants cut back on how much they were drinking and mended fractured family relationships. They entered counselling. Within a month, half were able to go back to their jobs with supports in place, Lavallee said.

"There's a huge volume of potential years of commitment to community if we can accept the fact that we can't change a person to stop drinking, we can't change a person to stop using meds, we can support them to be as well as well can be," he said.

"Every day you've got to know that when we don't provide harm reduction services people are dying unnecessarily."

Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook said she thinks it's only a matter of time before the north has its first safe consumption site.

She points to the success of a managed alcohol program in Thompson during the pandemic as what she hopes to see more of in the north.

She thinks Thompson could act as an incubator to test out harm reduction techniques that leaders in surrounding areas could then apply within their own communities, even if there is some resistance.

"Sometimes when you're doing something for the good of others, maybe not everybody appreciates it, and I think that's where us leaders have to evaluate the whole situation and maybe it is a smaller core we start with and to prove that we know what we're doing," she said.

"Managed alcohol or drug use, if that's pertinent in the area, I am all for it."

Smook and Levasseur plan to meet in the coming weeks to discuss the results of the Nisichawayasihk alcohol ban in both communities. 

"I would rather see people use safely and to receive help to be healed from their addictions rather than use in ways that are unsafe," said Levasseur.

"I believe it is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed from a variety of angles and … exclusively busting people for bootlegging alcohol and selling drugs will not solve the problem. It'll be a Band-Aid solution." 

If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help:

• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text between 4 p.m. and midnight ET).
• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.
• Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.
• This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.

As well, a national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.