BEATING GANGS AND CRIME

Aboriginal leaders are gathering in Abbotsford to combat the presence
of gangs, drugs and organized crime on Fraser Valley reserves.

Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation said gangs in the Valley
are actively trying to conscript aboriginal youth, while competing
with one another to secure the drug trade on reserves.

"Chiefs are worried there's a recruitment process going on.
[Criminals] get youth involved in the drugs, who get in debt to
dealers, and must do some duties with the gang to pay it off. Before
you know it, they are totally involved and a part of it," he said.

Silver and other chiefs in the Upper Fraser Valley are teaming up with
police, community agencies and school districts at a forum being held
at the Ramada Plaza and Conference Centre today.

Participants hope to take away effective strategies to tackle the
growing presence of drugs and gangs in their communities.

"It seems some dealers are in competition for customers on reserves,
and we're afraid they'll bring their fight out to our communities,"
said Silver.

Dial-a-dope operators make trips out to the Sumas reserve located just
east of Abbotsford, he said.

"There's concern the young people are being exposed to this, and
Abbotsford is a short distance away and [the drugs] are readily
available there," he added.

"It's a real serious problem and growing concern, but we're a little
lucky in that maybe we can nip it in the bud, and get through to our
youth early."

One key to battling the lure of gangs' easy money and fancy cars is to
develop the pride aboriginal youth have in their heritage, he said.

"Exposing youth to cultural practices and identity, and instilling
pride in them, and showing them the real way of our people was to be
drug- and alcohol-free [is critical]."

Sumas members are increasingly comfortable with the RCMP, and the band
hopes to set up an aboriginal community policing office to act as an
added deterrent, he said.

Cpl. Chris Gosselin, who heads the RCMP Upper Fraser Valley Policing
Unit, said the problems faced on reserves are the same as in
communities like Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Surrey.

They also face problems associated with the drug trade such as
drive-by shootings and clandestine drug labs.

However, given their smaller size, aboriginal communities tend to feel
the impact of crime more acutely, said Gosselin.

"If you have a house shot at, a meth lab, or a [drug] overdose, no
doubt the loss, pain and fear is tenfold it would be in other places
because everybody is related."

Criminals are mistaken if they think they can escape police by
operating on reserves, Gosselin said.

"We want to break the perception out there that these communities are
safe havens for criminal organizations," he said.

"The same laws apply in these communities that apply in Chilliwack,
Surrey and Abbotsford. And the assumption that there won't be
cooperation by the First Nation community with the police - that's so
not true."

The conference is all part of the larger goal of educating aboriginal
communities about drugs and gangs, and to allow them to devise
effective strategies.

The issues can't be solved by enforcement alone, said
Gosselin.

"This is a police problem, a school problem, and a First Nations
problem. It's a collective problem, and requires a collective approach
. . . from lots of community organizations and all levels of
government."