'Enforcement is not enough': Sask. mayor calling for treatment — not jail — in dealing with drugs

A number of municipal leaders at the New North annual meeting have delivered passionate speeches on drug-involved crime and addiction in their communities.

La Loche, Sask., Mayor Robert St. Pierre said he wants harsher penalties for drug dealers but he also said that dealers and users are "all community members — they are all family."

His comments were made in response to a motion for New North to lobby the federal government and the province to give local governments more powers to punish drug dealers — including banishment.

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The motion was made by Ile-a-la-Crosse Mayor Duane Favel, who acknowledged the Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to banish people from municipalities, and later said he used that extreme example to stimulate meaningful dialogue.

People go to jail, but that doesn't change anything.- Duane Favel, mayor of Ile-a-la-Crosse

"We were at a stalemate. Hardcore drugs are moving into our communities and we need to address it," Favel told CBC.

The motion passed, but the idea of banishment was struck down.

Favel said he knows banishment won't work, a sentiment echoed by another Saskatchewan mayor.

Buffalo Narrows Mayor Bobby Woods said banishment just passes "off our problem off to another community."

"We're so closely knitted in our communities — we're often tied by blood — and we just realized it's too harsh," Favel added.

St. Pierre said treatment is a necessity for users and that "banishment doesn't cut it. We need to heal. If we want to move forward we need to heal."

While St. Pierre said more people need to speak up to RCMP about drug dealing, Sandy Bay Mayor Paul Morin said reporting crime is not easy when — as it often is in the close-knit communities — the offender is a family member.

"There's internal consequences that follow that," he said.

Favel said all communities clearly understand they need a well-rounded approach to addiction, which draws from law enforcement, preventative education and treatment — "and right now that's non-existent in our northern communities."

"We're still no closer to any type of a solution. This is good — it's stimulated discussion — but now we need the resources, as well as help from the ministry [of health and social services] and the federal government," Favel said. 

"Enforcement is not enough. ... People go to jail, but that doesn't change anything." 

He said in his decade or so with New North he's heard the same conversation on addiction and crime many times over, and his motion is intended to bring about action and more "frank" discussions with higher levels of government.