A cry for help and call to arms

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2023 (711 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are many ties of friendship, kinship and partnership between the City of Brandon, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation and our respective citizens.

From the Dakota Winter Festival held so long at the Keystone Centre in Brandon and the community’s teenagers who attend Sioux Valley High School within our city limits, to the Sioux Valley Housing Authority that owns residences in Brandon and locates its office within the SVDN Sub-Office in this city, to the many shared business and community interests that we enjoy, there is much that can – and does – unite us.

We must also acknowledge that there are shared histories that have served to divide us too – the legacies of the Brandon Residential School, and the divisive casino debates of some 20 years ago that caused friction along cultural and racial lines. There are others, of course. But some good and far-thinking community leaders in Sioux Valley, Brandon and so many other western Manitoba towns and municipalities are working toward trying to rectify bitter memories with better ones.

As good neighbours do.

But I bring these matters up because of a new law that was enacted in Sioux Valley which could have far-reaching consequences for both our communities.

In a community referendum back in July, the self-governing First Nation voted in favour of a law that allows for the banishment of people who have been deemed dangerous to the community by acting violently or by trafficking illegal drugs.

As we reported this week, those who have been judged by a new community safety board to be a serious threat to Sioux Valley will be prohibited from entering the nation’s lands under penalty of a two-year jail term or a $5,000 fine for each day that they defy the order. This new law, which has yet to be enforced, will pertain to both residents and non-residents of the community.

While banishment will be considered the absolute last step in dealing with someone harming the First Nation, recent community tragedies that took place about a year ago – a pair of homicides in both November and December of 2022 – prompted the community to create and enact this new law.

At the same time, Sioux Valley Chief Vince Tacan has pointed to the deadly spread of methamphetamine in the community that is ruining the lives of Sioux Valley residents and their kids.

“These children are trying to get an education. They’re trying to do well in school. But how can they do well at school when this is happening in the background in their homes?” Tacan told attendees during a community meeting last Monday.

Sioux Valley would certainly not be the first Indigenous community to try using banishment as a means to rid themselves of community problems – other Indigenous communities in Manitoba have used similar methods.

Back in 2017, for example, Pine Creek First Nation made headlines after it banished a community member who was suspected of dealing drugs. At the time, Marcia Anderson, an Indigenous physician in Winnipeg told CBC that banishment would likely not work very well, in that it would only serve to increase the stigma around drug users and “result in unintended harm.”

A better approach, she said, would be to take a harm-reduction approach to drugs.

“I would really encourage communities and the broader public to think about ways that we could reduce the demand for drugs,” Anderson said. “And then work on harm reduction for people who are … using drugs instead of trying to focus on these criminal justice-based approaches.”

While this is good advice, it’s also difficult for any small community – Indigenous or otherwise – to find the resources to address these kinds of social and drug-related issues.

It also must be said that Sioux Valley’s problems are also Brandon’s problems – in a very literal sense. Drug pushers, be they within the community or from outside sources, and dangerous offenders from the region no doubt make regular visits to Brandon as well. Anyone banished in the future from Sioux Valley could very well end up on Brandon streets, if they don’t live or operate here already.

Chief Tacan invited the Sun to cover Monday’s community information meeting about the law to help him spread word that Sioux Valley is struggling with addiction-related issues like other communities. And he wants people in neighbouring communities to know that some of these problems are coming to Sioux Valley from outside.

Essentially this is a cry for help – a call to arms from a fellow western Manitoba community that shares many of the same interests that we as Brandonites do.

Our city council already has many inter-governmental discussions with the leaders in Sioux Valley, and has done so for many years. But the growing drug problems that plague the First Nation are ours to deal with too, and we should be working more closely together to find better solutions that don’t involve banishment.

Tacan has vocalized his plan to put the creation of an addictions treatment centre back on the table. In his previous term as chief some years ago, he had hoped to turn the site of Brandon’s former residential school into a multi-bed healing lodge that would encompass drug and alcohol additions treatment.

Whether this is still his plan, or it has necessarily evolved, we should be helping to support Sioux Valley in their efforts to create such a facility. No doubt, it would not only serve to help the First Nation, but Brandon and other surrounding communities too.

One more reason to work together for our shared benefit. One more tie to bind us.

Matt Goerzen, editor