St. Mary's First Nation cracks down on drug-related crime

The chief and council of St. Mary's First Nation (Sitansisk) is introducing a sweeping set of security measures in an attempt to crack down on drug related crime.

The new measures follow an incident that saw at least one person assaulted Tuesday.

Chief Allan Polchies, who was elected in June, said drugs and mental health were recurring topics throughout the campaign, and the new administration was motivated to take action.

"There were a few incidents that happened in the community that set the spark on fire to get it done sooner than later," he said in a phone interview.

Polchies went live on Facebook Tuesday night with his council standing behind him to let the community know that they had signed a resolution to remove an "undesirable" person from the community.

It needs to start at the top. You need to lead by example when you're leading a nation.- Chief Allan Polchies

It was the third time in the past month councillors had passed a resolution to ban someone. None of the three people are band members.

Polchiessaid the latest person banned was roaming around the community and onto people's properties Tuesday afternoon.

The personwas confronted by members of the community who wanted to know what they were doing, and Polchies said that led to an altercation.

"They were just wandering, apparently looking for an individual who was not familiar to any of the community members at this point," he said.

"We're a community within a community and we've got non-Indigenous friends, but when you're questioned and you don't even know where you're going or what you're doing there, it becomes a safety concern."

New measures

Council resolutions banning people from the community are just one of the measures Polchies says will help keep residents safe. Council has also come up with a drug action plan to beef up security inresidential areas of the community.

The strategy will include increased tribal security monitoring, vehicle checkpoints, security cameras andcommunity watch.

Data collection will also be usedto identify unknown persons who may potentially be entering the community to engage in harmful or criminal behaviour.

Finally, a community meeting isplanned to help increase community engagement and awareness.

During Polchies' public address, he said that he and all 12 council members will take part in drug tests as a show of good governance and leadership.

"It needs to start at the top," he said. "You need to lead by example when you're leading a nation andif we're going to send a message, we want to send a message loud and clear and we would do it ourselves and show our citizens and all the folks looking in that this is a stance that we're going to take."

Polchies said Fredericton Police Chief Leanne Fitch met with councillors on Tuesday night and offered to support the strategy as part of the partnership between her force and the First Nation.