Northern chiefs fight to search mail, luggage for drugs

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This article was published 03/09/2019 (1977 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Chiefs of remote northern Manitoba First Nations say they should have the right to search for drugs at airports and Canada Post centres.

“It’s a very daunting fight, this battle that we are engaged in,” said David McDougall, chief of St. Theresa Point.

His community is among a handful of fly-in reserves where drugs arrive in air-passenger luggage and personal mail.

Two weeks ago, northern chiefs passed two resolutions. One asked Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak to reach out to Canada Post, and the second was a protest against the provincial government kicking band officers out of airports.

In February, Manitoba Infrastructure sent letters to band councils of fly-in communities demanding they stop their safety officers from screening incoming passengers for contraband. The letter cited “safety, liability and legal concerns.”

McDougall said since then, there seems to be an increase in drugs entering his community and the other fly-in reserves of the Island Lake region.

He said that has led to more patients being sent out on costly medical flights for treatment, due to overdoses and violence caused by drug users.

Manitoba Infrastructure asserted Friday that it’s “working with several communities to find ways to meet their needs” regarding contraband arriving through airports, but refused to give details.

In the province’s northwest, Barren Lands First Nation Chief John Clarke said he asked Perimeter Aviation to add more sniffer dogs at departure terminals in Winnipeg and Thompson.

The airline serves many of the remote communities where drug use is rising, something Clarke fears will happen to his community. “Once the hard drugs start coming, there’s no way of stopping it, so we need to be a little more proactive,” he said.

On Thursday, when God’s Lake Narrows First Nation declared a state of emergency after four young people died by suicide, the band council specifically cited the increase in meth reaching its fly-in reserve.

MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee wrote that an increasing amount of opioids are being mailed to First Nations, who are trying to reverse that trend.

“The mode of transport and trafficking is unfortunately done through the mail system, and we need to find solutions fast,” Settee wrote.

Sayisi Dene Chief Tony Powderhorn said Canada Post is being used to bring in substances, both legal and illegal.

The main culprit is a yeast product called Turbo Brew, which forms an alcoholic base.

Powderhorn said people are combining that drink with the anti-anxiety medication Xanax and opioids such as codeine.

Those products come in by post, said Powderhorn, who suspects the internet is facilitating that traffic.

“It’s been here for a long time, but… in this day and age, it’s more young people finding more ways to transport stuff,” he said.

In St. Theresa Point, band members are stationed at the post office when a package addressed to a suspected dealer has arrived; he said that has led some traffickers to abandon their parcels.

“We don’t screen people’s mail, but we try to make sure someone’s present when they’re opening it,” McDougall said, noting Island Lake is going through a meth crisis.

Canada Post said it’s trying to work with Indigenous communities to craft policies that respect reserve bylaws.

“Postal inspectors have the authority to inspect mail, and if illegal items are found, they are removed from the postal system and turned over to law enforcement,” wrote Dale LeClair, the agency’s director of Indigenous affairs.

“Canada Post does not have enforcement authority in the community; however, we want to do everything possible to help contribute to safe communities,” he wrote.

LeClair cited a pilot project with a northern Ontario reserve to intercept alcohol without breaching federal laws. The details of that project are being kept confidential so drug dealers don’t undermine their progress.

Powderhorn wants the agency to play a role in scanning or inspecting mail — though this would likely violate federal laws.

Canada Post refuses to ship illegal drugs, but has limited means of checking for them because of strict privacy rules. Police officers are prohibited from opening mail unless they have a warrant or there are obvious signs of drugs.

A set amount of cannabis can be mailed from one person to another if it isn’t for the purpose of being resold, though postal staff can’t always tell why people are mailing pot.

Similarly, it often falls on airport staff to flag a suitcase or mail parcel for evidence there is alcohol inside when it’s headed to a dry community.

Meanwhile, spirits of more than 24 per cent alcohol can only be shipped by ground and not on flights.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Manitoba Infrastructure airport-search letter