The addiction crisis is taking a toll on some remote and isolated communities in northern Manitoba.
That's what Carol Kobliski sees in her Nisichawayasik Cree Nation community every day.
“I just don't want a kid to get hooked on meth or crack and overdose. That's what scares me the most,” Kobliski told Global News.
“If you have a little child, two or three years old, and they take it thinking it's candy… Is that what it takes to wake up society? It's scary.”
Kobliski stands next to a billboard she installed highlighting the influence of drug dealers on young people in the community. She says the sign had previously been taken down before it was moved.
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Kobliski is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Nisichawaisihk Cree Nation (NCN), leading a team of First Nations security officers who patrol the community, work to prevent crime, enforce bylaws and assist the RCMP in community policing.
“People want a safe community. They don't like what's going on, and we've never had that before. It's never been this bad, but since illegal drugs came in, it's getting worse,” she said.
NISCHAGEEHK CREE NATION is 80 kilometers west of Thompson, man.
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Nisichawaysihk Cree Nation.
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The Nelson House Cree Nation is a picturesque, close-knit community on the north shore of Footprint Lake, about an hour from Thompson, Maine.
Kobliski says NCN has been plagued by addiction, crime and violence in recent years and this is having a devastating impact on children and young people.
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“Our new cemetery is here, and it’s filling up quickly,” Kobliski said as he drove past the new cemetery in the community.
“We've had a lot of deaths in the community over the last five years. We constantly have funerals every month. Sometimes there are seven deaths in a month.”
Kobliski says too many children and youth are ending their lives due to addiction and violence permeating the Nelson House Cree community.
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Nisichawayasik has an RCMP detachment in the community and First Nations security officers operate a checkpoint, monitoring everyone who comes and goes. Kobliski says they regularly catch drug dealers and bootleggers smuggling drugs and alcohol into the community via cars, snowmobiles, ATVs or boats. Nisichavayasika has ordinances that limit the amount of alcohol people can bring into the community.
Security officers from the Nisichawayasik Cree Nation are conducting a checkpoint, monitoring everyone coming in and out of the community.
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Kobliski says she has also confiscated countless weapons from youth and community members, including machetes, homemade weapons, baseball bats and bear mace. These are just some of the items she confiscated last summer.
“Look how sharp this is,” Kobliski said, holding one of the machetes she had taken from local residents.
“They attack each other with this thing. You can kill somebody with this thing. People are evacuated from the community with 75 stitches in their head and skull.”
Kobliski shows a machete that was taken from members of the community by Indigenous security forces.
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Kobliski was presented with an award from the Manitoba RCMP for her work protecting the community as an Indigenous safety officer.
Iris Dyck / Global News
This problem is not unique to NCN, as drugs and crime affect many communities in northern Manitoba. This month, Manitoba RCMP announced a major bust following a six-month investigation dubbed “Project Derry” into a drug trafficking network in Bunibonibee Cree Nation that resulted in the arrests of 23 people.
“There is an opioid crisis in our First Nations communities, and it has spread throughout the north,” Manitoba Garrison Chief Chief Keewatinowi Okimakanak told Global News.
Grand Chief Setty says the issue is at the forefront of the minds of chiefs in northern Manitoba.
“I think young people get hooked on drugs earlier and it's very sad how it affects them. And I think the behavior that comes out when they take these drugs is very harmful to themselves and to other people.”
MKO's top garrison chief says the opioid addiction crisis is front and center of the problem for First Nations leaders in northern Manitoba.
Iris Dyck / Global News
Kobliski says being an Indigenous security officer comes with safety risks, but nothing will stop her from working to keep her community safe.
“This is what we're trying to prevent,” Kobliski said as he stood at the cemetery in Nisichavaiasik.
“By having our First Nations security officers in the community, helping our community, helping with the RCMP so we don't have to keep burying our young people. And it's sad that they just don't see it. Our community – they don't see what's going on.”
“I don’t want to see a child here,” Kobliski added, fighting back tears.
“The worst thing I'm afraid of is seeing a child buried due to an overdose… and I hope people wake up.”
