Pubdate: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 Source: Chronicle-Journal, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 The Chronicle-Journal Contact: http://www.chroniclejournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3155 Author: Carl Clutchey DRUG INFLUX WORRIES CHIEF The chief of a remote Northwestern Ontario aboriginal community says drug dealers will continue to have the upper hand until a regular police presence is re-established on his reserve and others like it. "The drugs have been coming in for a long time," North Spirit Lake First Nation Chief Isaac Linklater said Friday. "The police really should get on it, because it's hurting our children." North Spirit Lake, home to 300 Oji-Cree an hour's plane ride northwest of Sioux Lookout, hasn't had police constables posted there since the reserve's police office burned down two years ago. Linklater said drug carriers routinely bring in drugs from Manitoba by plane. "Every welfare day, a drug dealer comes in," Linklater said. "It's not just happening here -- it's all around us (at other remote reserves)." Police did make an arrest this week, apprehending a 20-year-old North Spirit man who allegedly was caught with more than $6,000 worth of crack cocaine and marijuana. The man was to have appeared for a bail hearing Friday in Kenora. But Insp. Rob Davis of Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service said a constant police presence on North Spirit won't likely be in place until some time next year. Modular police offices equipped with jail cells and interview rooms have been ordered and will be transported to North Spirit and other reserves in need of them as soon as seasonal winter roads are up and running, said Davis. "We have a lot of dilapidated buildings that will be replaced as soon as the roads are ready," said Davis, who is based in Sioux Lookout. Davis said it's not safe for police officers to reside in a remote community unless they have access to a holding cell. Having an officer living in a native community won't eliminate drug problems, but it should serve as a deterrent, Davis added. For Linklater, having an officer based on his reserve can't come soon enough. He said he has heard of cases in which residents have sold their furniture in order to buy drugs. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman