Dakota Ojibway declare state of emergency to combat drug crisis

The Dakota Ojibwaytribal council says their communities arein the throes of a drug crisis and have declared a state of emergency to address the problem.

Robert Daniels, Dakota Ojibway's CEO, says the area's rising crime rate isthe driving force behind the declaration.

"There's been an increase in crime, break-and-enters and everything like that," he said.

"I think there's a lot of drugs coming in opioids, fentanyl, crystal meth, all kinds there's been an increase in crime rates in our communities, including Portage la Prairie," Danielssaid.

"There's also been an increase in suicides, homicides. So the chiefs [declared] a state of emergency because they want to come up with a strategy for all our seven communities in our tribal council."

For detoxification, treatment forfentanylabuse or any kind of crystalmeth, there's just no funding in our area.- Robert Daniels, CEODakotaOjibway

Dakota Ojibwaycomprises the Birdtail Sioux, Dakota Tipi, Long Plain, Roseau Rivver Anishinabe, Sandy Bay, Swan Lake and Waywayseecappo First Nations. Daniels says the seven chiefs, along with community and department representatives, will spend Wednesday in workshops to come up with a strategy to combat the problems and present it to the communities and the media Wednesday afternoon.

"One of the problems we're having is there's a lack of treatment resources," Danielssaid.

"It's very expensive to send somebody for treatment, and there is no treatment for those who do drugsthere's no treatment [nearby] available right now. For detoxification, treatment forfentanylabuse or any kind of crystalmeth, there's just no funding in our area.

"We'd like to call on the federal and provincial governments to help. They've announced anopioidstrategy at the federal and provincial levels, but we don't know what that entails.

"The underlying issues, I guess, are always there in terms of residential schools, the impacts. Instead of dealing with the symptoms, we need to get to the root causes of why people are in this state," he said.

Danielscouldn't say exactly how much the crime rate has risen in their communities in recent years,but RCMPare expected to give more details on Wednesday.

"They're going to give us the statistics, the data and what's been done in terms of the enforcement side."

The goal, Daniels says, is to come up with a strategy that will focus on education and prevention, treatment options, advocacy and support and enforcement, all within an aboriginal cultural framework.

It also needs to be done as a collective strategy for the entire area, he added.

"Even though they all have individual strategies on their First Nations, we need a collective strategy for the region.

"It's the first time we've ever called for this. We need to get back to our own cultural practices to deal with thisour own ceremoniesrather than the mainstream way of dealing with things. We need to get back to our own culture."

The tribal council will release their strategy Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Keeshkeemaquah Conference and Gaming Centre.