Pubdate: Fri, 14 Sep 2007
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Robert Freeman

CHEAM TAKE DRUG FIGHT TO COMMUNITY LEVEL

Imagine finding out your nephew, who lives just a few  doors away, is
making or selling drugs.

That's the challenge close-knit aboriginal communities  face as they
battle the spread of drugs.

On Monday, Cheam chief Sid Douglas and his councillors are being 
"stood up" in a ceremony organized by the  Sto:lo Tribal Council to 
honour the band's decision to  take up that challenge.

"We would like to show them that not only do we  appreciate what they
are doing, we also thank them for  their dedication in cleaning up the
community," says  Tyrone McNeil, STC vice-chair. "This cleanup also
affects many of our communities as some drugs were  coming into ours
and now the distributions are being  impacted."

Lt. Gov. Steven Point has been invited to the ceremony,  but could not
attend due to scheduling conflicts. He  has sent a statement instead
that will be read at the  gathering, which is expected to include
First Nations  leaders from around the province. The dinner, open to
the public, starts at 5 p.m. at the Cheam community  hall.

Not only native communities, but surrounding non-native  communities
stand to benefit from the actions taken by  the Cheam.

Thanks to an improved relationship with the police, a  major drug lab
located on the Rosedale was busted in  July by the RCMP.

Cpl. Chris Gosselin says the lab was large enough to  supply drug
markets here in the Fraser Valley, and  clear across Canada.

"The Cheam really have taken (the fight against drugs)  beyond what
other communities have done," he says.  "Cheam has set the bar
extremely high."

Two houses on the reserve were recently seized for drug  offences by
band officials and police, and a four-plex  once riddled with drugs is
now a community health  centre and an elders' gathering place.

Dianne Garner, a community development worker, says the  Cheam have
taken a leading role among First Nations in  the fight against drugs,
beefing up security on the  reserve and including youth in
decision-making.

It's the only local reserve where the youth have put up  signs warning
all who enter that the community has a  zero tolerance for drugs, she
says.

"They don't stop. They don't give in - and they listen  to the youth,"
she says about the Cheam. "Cheam think  of their future generations,
and they do want to turn  things around."

Gosselin says the police relationship in the past with  the Cheam was
"not the best ... but on this drug issue,  we're really working
together to be open to each  other's concerns and ideas on how to deal
with this on  a social, economic and even cultural
perspective."

"We're seeing more and more people willing to contact  us about drug
traffickers ... where in the past they  refused to call the RCMP," he
says.

McNeil says the isolated reserves, "relatively closed"  to the public,
are seen as ideal locations by  drug-makers for their illegal activities.

And aboriginal people especially vulnerable, he adds,  to the lure of
drugs because of the "weakened state"  they have been left in due to
the abuse suffered in  residential schools and by national
assimilation  policies that stripped them of their language and  identity.

Drugs are also a source of income for "impoverished"  band members who
see no other economic opportunities  open to them, he says.

The STC has organized three public forums,  well-attended by native
and non-native people, to  develop community strategies to combat
drugs,  especially crystal meth.

Gosselin says the Monday ceremony to honour the Cheam  is a chance
celebrate a victory, to turn around the  negative sterotype that has
grown around the band and  to renew spirits to continue the battle.

"It's a chance to celebrate the wins ... it rejuvenates  you," he
says. "It tells you, you're going in the right  direction."
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