Pair of First Nations in northwestern Ontario declare joint state of emergency over drug trafficking

Two neighbouring First Nations in northwestern Ontario have declared a joint state of emergency “due to the rising crime and violence trespassing into their communities.”

Long Lake #58 First Nation and Ginoogaming First Nation are located about 300 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay off Highway 11.

Ginoogaming first declared a state of emergency in May 2024 “due to an increase in violence and drug and alcohol-related crime in the community, which has overwhelmed leadership and is causing community members to fear for their safety.” 

At the end of January, Long Lake #58 issued its own emergency declaration over similar challenges related to “drug traffickers who are supplying to vulnerable members in our community.”

The joint state of emergency, declared Monday, comes with calls for both the provincial and federal governments to “provide the necessary interjurisdictional supports to protect and enforce the peace and public safety required on the ground” immediately.

Sheri Taylor, chief of Ginoogaming First Nation, mentioned a fatal shooting in October as well as a significant drug bust last week as just a couple examples of the incidents her community is dealing with.

“It just seems like things are getting out of hand and getting worse,” Taylor said. “We decided now as a community that we need to take things a little bit more further because people are not taking this serious enough.”

Roughly 200 people live in Ginoogaming and more than 550 people live in Long Lake #58. The First Nations are located within the Thunder Bay district, which continues to have the highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario at more than five times the provincial average.

“In addition to policing, security and intelligence supports, Ginoogaming and Long Lake #58 First Nations also require a comprehensive mental health, addictions and child-youth-elder focused treatment, recovery and aftercare plans,” says a joint statement issued Wednesday.

“A holistic and full-spectrum effort is required on behalf of all Treaty partners – Canada – Ontario and the First Nations to help these communities for the short and long-term.”

Chief John O’Nabigon of Long Lake #58 stressed the importance of working together.

“Our joint declaration of a state of emergency recognizes the shared geography, kinship and common commitment to the well-being of our peoples,” he wrote Wednesday.

Meeting with provincial, federal governments 

A spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) provided an emailed statement to CBC News Friday, saying the department was participating in a planning call that day with Ginoogaming, Long Lake #58 and provincial partners, organized by the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre.

“The goal is to review the communities’ letter, hear directly from their leaders, and better understand what they need so that partners can respond in a co-ordinated way,” wrote spokesperson Maryéva Métellus.

“Policing in First Nations communities is a shared responsibility between the federal government (through Public Safety Canada’s First Nations Policing Program) and the Province of Ontario. ISC will work with Public Safety Canada and other partners, as needed, and will stay in regular contact with Long Lake #58 and Ginoogaming to help address their concerns.”

Ginoogaming is policed by the Anishinabek Police Service, while Long Lake #58 First Nation receives service from the Ontario Provincial Police.

CBC News has reached out to the Ontario government for comment and is awaiting a response.

Community bylaw brings in security group

Ginoogaming also passed a community protection order bylaw Tuesday and has hired a group called Anishinaabe Ambassadors Inc. to help prevent illegal drug-related activities.

Its work may include limiting travel in the First Nation, stopping and searching motor vehicles, snowmobiles, all-terrain or off-road vehicles, and searching band housing for illegal substances.

“They have done this work in other First Nations,” Taylor said. “They are certified, they are trained professionals, they’re able to set up security coming into the community.”

Failure to comply with the bylaw may result in community members or outsiders being banished from the First Nation. 

Marc Gibson is a senior associate with Pape Salter Teillet LLP who specializes in Indigenous rights and constitutional law.

He said it’s unfortunate that more First Nations are having “to use all the tools that are available … under the law to try to deal with a really complex problem.” 

“I think justice administered by the community for the community is usually the most effective kind of justice, and it can be the closest to traditional justice models and may be most effective for the community members,” Gibson said.

As long as these measures are taken in a way that’s fair, reasonable and accounts for the rights of all people involved, they are permissible under Canadian law, he explained.

That being said, “they only address one part of the problem.” 

“It’s like, ‘let’s get rid of the people that obviously don’t belong in the community,’ but then you still have the impacts of drug addiction and drug trafficking on other individuals and on the community at large,” Gibson said.

“Once you remove them in one way, they usually try to come back in a different way, and so the problem keeps evolving and the solutions have to evolve as well.”