RESCUE FOR INNU KIDS?

Gas-Sniffing Crisis In Labrador Prompts Plans For Quick Action

Dozens of troubled kids -- one as young as six -- may soon be removed from
their homes in a Labrador Inuit community as leaders there plead with the
province to step in and help.

It would be a remarkable development, as the community of Sheshatshiu tries
to save about 40 kids who are addicted to sniffing gas.

Social workers are expected to begin evaluating the young people -- aged
six to 16 -- this morning, with hopes of deciding their fates by this
afternoon.

"It's unclear when they could be taken out of the community, but things are
working very fast -- things have to work fast because we've reached a
crisis point," said Innu Nation president Peter Penashue last night from
his home in Sheshatshiu, Labrador's largest Innu community , which has
1,200 residents.

"Something has to be done."

He and others want all kids found high on gas to be taken from their homes
for their own safety, even if their parents protest.

"Some would be put in other homes in the community, but others would have
to be taken to a detox centre somewhere," Penashue said, adding it's the
first time they've ever asked Newfoundland to take such a drastic step.

"You now see a kid with a gas bag in one hand and a lit smoke in the
other," he said.

Residents have long wrestled with substance abuse and suicide among their
young people, but he said the numbers are rising. So is the tension.

'GETTING WORSE'

"You now see kids sniffing in the middle of the afternoon -- they just
don't care," said RCMP Cpl. Rod Tiller, a police team leader for
Sheshatshiu. "It's a real problem. I think it is getting worse."

However, Newfoundland Health Minister Roger Grimes worried that officials
could find themselves in court if social workers try to remove kids without
their parents' permission.

"You can't just take a child without some justified cause," he told a news
conference.

Unless parents voluntarily give up custody, an assessment is required to
determine whether the child is in a safe environment, the minister said. If
the home is deemed unsafe, then the child can be forcibly removed.

However, Grimes said he knows he must act fast: "The (Innu) must really
feel there's a need for some extraordinary action."

Paul Rich, the Innu chief in Sheshatshiu, said gas sniffing has become
commonplace in his home town. "Some carry a cigarette in one hand and a gas
bag in the other. It's a deadly combination," he said.

A survey by a public-health nurse found more than half of all teens in the
small community sniff gas, take drugs, drink or have thought about
committing suicide.