Sask. First Nation reinstates state of emergency in response to drug, gang activity after elders assaulted
CBC
Warning: This story contains distressing details.
The chief of Buffalo River Dene Nation summarized the horrifying details of a weekend assault of an elder as she reinstated a state of emergency in the community and called for provincial and federal help on Wednesday.
The First Nation community of about 800 people in northwestern Saskatchewan had issued a state of emergency on June 3, 2022, in response to increased gang violence and drug activity.
Chief Norma Catarat reinstated that emergency declaration and asked for support for policing and mental health and addictions services in the First Nation, about 400 kilometres northwest of Prince Albert.
She said it doesn't have a treatment centre, detox centre or mental health unit.
The First Nation has mental health workers and workers through the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program, but those are "limited resources and they are overworked," Catarat said.
"We don't have the capacity in the community. People have to leave the community" for help, she said.
More immediately, she wants at least 20 additional security guards in the community and self-defence courses its members, especially for elders.
The security agency they're communicating with quoted them at $200,000 for three weeks of service, she said.
"The gangs and the drugs have come to a point in my community where my community is living in fear," Catarat said, adding that community members feel powerless.
She recounted a vicious assault on Friday night — one of two elder assaults this weekend, Catarat said — saying a woman kicked in the door of a woman's residence, pulled her from her bed by her hair and beat her.
The woman didn't even hear it coming because her hearing aids were out, Catarat said, and she was only rescued when the neighbours heard her screaming for help.
Catarat said the woman has bruised collarbones and two broken ribs, and is scared to return home, instead choosing to live with family out of province.
There are "gangs driving around with handguns, intimidating people; elders sitting at night with a gun loaded so their wife can sleep because their grandkids are affiliated with gangs," said Catarat.
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