Two people removed from Sheshatshiu as Innu combat drug crisis

Sheshatshiu Community Security Officers are overseeing checkpoints to the community. *Heidi Atter.*

Two people were escorted out of Sheshatshiu and a home was boarded up on Tuesday afternoon, after the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation Band Council, Innu Nation and RCMP were brought together by a group of mothers concerned about drug use on the reserve.

“All the mama bears came out yesterday,” said Yvette Michel, an Innu mother, on Wednesday.

Michel was one of about 60 Innu who attended a meeting Monday evening, after which the Sheshatshiu band council installed check-points at the two entrances to the community.

More Innu attended a Tuesday morning meeting between Innu and RCMP. Following that meeting, Sheshatshiu Chief Eugene Hart and others went door-to-door, asking the estimated 26 drug dealers to leave the community.

The campaign to rid the community of drug dealers resulted in two individuals being escorted out of the community. Boards were then placed over the doors and windows of the First Nation-owned home they were staying in, Michel said.

The effort was prompted by the Monday meeting, during which mothers shared the pain they were feeling watching their own children and community struggling with drugs, Michel said. Now, it’s “overwhelming to see so much action.

“I’m hoping that this movement won’t stop here,” she continued. “It’ll keep going until we got all the drug dealers out [of] our community, to have our community be safe again, to have it drug free and have our children to play in the streets. Because It hasn’t been safe for anybody.”

In an emailed statement to The Independent, RCMP spokesperson Jolene Garland said the force’s members were pleased to join the community meeting on Tuesday for the discussion, and to listen to people’s experiences and concerns over drug use in the community.

RCMP in Sheshatshiu are cooperating with community leaders on Innu-led efforts to crack down on drug dealing. *Heidi Atter.*

Garland said RCMP senior management spoke about a number of issues, including community collaboration and the type of information needed to further police investigations. Garland said although the RCMP’s investigations are not always public knowledge, drug enforcement in the community is ongoing and the force investigates all information it receives.

The information and experiences shared during the meeting was “heard and appreciated,” and will be helpful to assess policing needs going forward, the statement said.

Compassion and understanding needed: Michel

Throughout the discussions, Michel said some people shared their personal experiences of why they turned to drugs and dealing drugs. It’s complicated and deeply intertwined with the intergenerational trauma Innu are living with amid the ongoing impacts of colonialism, she said.

“There are people that have come forward and said that we’re going to stop dealing, but we need help,” Michel said. “That warms my heart, you know, to hear somebody say that to me, and I know that it’s not easy.”

If people see a way out, a way to get help, it would be an even larger success story for the community because it would stop drug trafficking while helping someone reconnect to their culture and their people, she said.

“In the beginning, [they] didn’t start that life right away; we don’t know on the other side, what [they’ve] been through,” Michel said. “They were people of compassion. They just lost their way, and we need to show them.”

Yvette Michel, left, was one of around 60 community members who attended a meeting earlier this week to discuss solutions to the drug crisis. *Heidi Atter*.

Land-based detox centre a potential solution

One of the ways to show people an alternative future is by taking them out on the land. Michel and her sister have previously taken at-risk youth for trips out on the land to improve their mental health. Michel said that’s an idea she plans to bring forward for people needing to detox.

“I feel like this is where the people need to be outside the community, in our culture, how it used to be.”

More meetings are expected in the community days and weeks.

Michel dreams of a future where her grandchildren can grow up without being surrounded by drugs and the community is safe, she said, adding the action and support shown so far this week has been uplifting.

“Everything is up in the air right now, and every day is going to be a challenge, and there’s going to be new ideas,” Michel said. “I see that vision. it may not be tomorrow, may not be next week, but it’s coming.”