Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2006 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: Anne Kyle DRUG DEALERS TO BE BANISHED First Nations Community Takes Tough Stance To Fight Illegal Drug Use The Pasqua First Nation leadership recently served notice that any band members involved in illegal drug activity will be banished from the reserve. The chief and council passed a band council resolution in December instituting a traditional method of sanctioning troublemakers within the First Nations community -- banishment. The passage of the resolution comes on the heels of Chief Elaine Chicoose's warning in September that illegal drug activities on the reserve would not be tolerated and those involved would be dealt with harshly by the community. Chicoose said severe penalties would be levied against anyone involved in the sale, possession, cultivation, manufacture or promotion of illegal drugs in that community. The warning was in response to an Aug. 21 RCMP drug bust on the Pasqua First Nation. Drug enforcement officers who uncovered a marijuana grow-operation on the reserve seized 7,592 marijuana plants with a street value of about $7.5 million and charged six men, ranging in age from 18 to 57, with a number of drug offences. In September Chicoose said the band was looking at sanctions against any resident band member charged and convicted of a drug offence including loss of employment, termination of any benefits provided by the band, eviction from band-owned housing, public posting of names of offenders and, in severe cases, banishment from the Pasqua First Nation. The Pasqua band council resolution has been received by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, but department spokesman Trevor Sutter said the banishment resolution may not be enforceable. "It is pretty complex," said Sutter. "It is different than a bylaw. A BCR is generally an expression of the will of a band council, it is not a permanent rule of government, unlike the smoking bylaws that had to be considered (and approved) by the minister. First Nations can pass BCR, but the question arises are they enforceable. Enforceability is an issue." If it was a bylaw, for instance, the Indian Act doesn't allow for banishment as a penalty, he said. "But this wasn't a bylaw. This was a BCR, and in terms of a bylaw only a court of competent jurisdiction can consider its validity and either uphold or reject it," he said. Pasqua First Nation is not the first band to try to use pressure from the community to fight the growing problems of drugs and gang activity on reserves. In 2003, the Grand Rapids First Nation in Manitoba banished gang members after passing a drug bylaw. The action is also now being considered by the Samson Cree First Nation in Hobbema, Alta. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman