Blood Tribe launches initiatives to combat drug crisis

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 18, 2023.

Blood Tribe chief and council are investing more than $1 million into two new initiatives to address drug trafficking and the opioid crisis. Herald file photo

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Blood Tribe chief and council are taking new actions to address drug trafficking and the opioid crisis.

Chief Roy Fox, in a special announcement on the tribe’s YouTube channel on Monday, said more than $1 million is being invested in two new initiatives.

They include funding for a police task force and renovations to abandoned houses that are being used for drug purposes so those homes can be utilized by needy members without housing.

Fox said council sought recommendations from key administrators and frontline workers “on the actions that could be taken in curbing and alleviating the sale and use of those illegal and dangerous drugs. We are all aware of the increase in overdoses and deaths amongst our people, resulting from the use of opioids and other harmful drugs and we need to make the necessary decisions to reduce the harm we are experiencing.

“We have made previous decisions regarding the trafficking and use of harmful drugs on our lands. And our administrators and front-line workers have responded to the best of their abilities. We commend the work that is being done towards treatment and recovery over the last few years. However, we will need to focus on preventing those dangerous drugs from reaching our lands and our people,” said Fox.

The Blood Tribe has utilized its own funds from various sources over the last few years towards alleviating the harm members have suffered because of drug abuse and dependency, he said.

“We will again use our own source revenues in combatting the resurgence of the drug abuse crisis and we will also leverage those amounts in convincing other governments to help in our fight to save our people,” said Fox.

The tribe is acquiring more of its own funds and should have a total of more than $1.5 million by the end of this month to begin some of these new measures, said Fox.

Blood Tribe police need additional human and financial resources in combatting the distribution and use of opioids and other drugs within tribe lands and jurisdictions, he said.

The Police Commission along with Acting Police Chief Grant Buckskin have developed a special task force that will focus entirely on preventing the sale and misuse of drugs and increasing the surveillance of trafficking activity on reserve lands, said the chief.

More funding will be sought from other sources, he said.

There are more than 100 vacant and abandoned housing units in the rural area and to start 20 units will be restored in Standoff, said Rachel Tailfeathers, Blood Tribe Housing Director.

Tailfeathers said vacant and abandoned units have increased due to social issues.

“Housing is networking and identifying the gaps in regards to prevention and after-care of the unit with the family members that are affected. So Housing has been working with other departments such as Social Services, Children’s Service and Health,” she said.

Abandoned homes, primarily in townsites, are being used for illegal drug purposes and those homes will be renovated so deserving homeless families can have houses. Repairs will be done with an initial amount of money and will continue as the tribe negotiates with other governments for more funding, said the chief.

In addition, “we will use the trespass law more diligently” so that criminals can be apprehended, convicted and/or expelled from the reserve, Fox said.

He said rewards will be increased to help with arrests and drug convictions.

“The drug crisis has negatively affected our people,” Fox added.

Buckskin said when departments were asked what they were going to do help with the drug problem on the reserve he met with his management team and the decision was made to start the task force.

“When we first brought up that up, we looked at the cost and the cost compared to what we’re going to do, there was no question we were going to do it,” Buckskin said.

Tribe funding “is going to go a long ways to helping us combat this,” said Buckskin.

The Acting Police Chief said for a long time, police did a lot of its work in the shadows quietly “but this one, make no mistake we’re coming. This has gone on way too long, we’re not hiding, we’re not going to be sneaky about it. We’re coming.”

Buckskin said ideally the initiative will be sustained until the community reaches a point where it’s healed enough and can deal with its problems without having “to go with such strong enforcement.”

Blood Tribe councillor and Police Service council representative Travis Plaited Hair said he remembers back in 2013-14 when the tribe first declared a State of Emergency. He was part of that initiative and “we did a lot of good work. The work continues.”

In recent months, Plaited Hair said he’s attended too many funerals and being a member of the police commission “we’re well aware of the trafficking of the illicit drugs that are coming onto the reserve.”

One of his main concerns in young people, Plaited Hair said, adding “a lot of children are not in a good place.”

He added administration is “well aware of the tremendous task that is here. We’ve been fighting it for a long long time. In the last little while, it seems to have gotten really, really bad.”

Plaited Hair, who beat his own addictions, said “we need to break the cycle.”

Derrick Fox, CEO of the Blood Tribe Department of Health, said his department was given the task of looking at the gaps in the community in relation to the continuum of care of members seeking their recovery journey.

At the start of 2018, the local state of emergency was reaffirmed for the addictions and mental health crisis the tribe was facing. It was determined a detox centre was needed so the Bringing the Spirit Home program was created for members seeking additional supports. Eight beds were opened and they quickly filled up.

A huge wait list existed and in the summer of 2020, the province announced support for a 75-bed therapeutic recovery centre on the reserve. Construction is ready to start on that facility, Derrick Fox said.

He said members will be able to stay in the centre for up to a year.

“It is about helping members transitioning, reintroducing back into the community with the support from the Kainai transition society,” Fox said.

While the 75 bed unit is being built, with support from the province and council, COVID isolation units are being repurposed for post-detox, pre-treatment supports for members. Approval has been granted for up to 20 additional spaces “so we’re really looking at reducing the wait list at the Bringing the Spirit Home detox centre to help members further seek that support,” Fox added.

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