Innu in Natuashish, N.L., vote on banning alcohol from reserve

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This article was published 31/01/2008 (6777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NATUASHISH, N.L. – After suffering the ravages of alcohol abuse for generations, an isolated native reserve in northern Labrador has narrowly voted in favour of becoming a dry community.

The Innu of Natuashish, N.L., voted 76-74 on Thursday to outlaw the sale, distribution and possession of alcohol on their reserve, where bootlegging is rampant, profitable and the root cause of many of the social ills that plague their community.

“It’s a historic day for us,” Chief Prote Poker said in an interview from his home.

“Alcohol has devastated our lives in the past and I think it’s time to move forward and get on with healing.”

The vote came as police investigate the freezing deaths Tuesday of two young girls at a Saskatchewan reserve. Alcohol is said to be at the centre of the tragedy on the Yellow Quill First Nation, which failed to proceed with a ban after the proper paperwork was never filed with Ottawa.

News of the girls’ deaths may have played a role in convincing residents in Natuashish to support a ban. Band members printed news accounts of the tragedy and distributed them to residents before the vote, Poker said.

“It was unfortunate, but it may have helped us,” he said.

The Innu were a nomadic people until the mid-20th century. For 6,000 years, they lived off the land in Labrador’s rugged interior before Ottawa settled them in the ramshackle island village of Davis Inlet, where they were cut off from their traditional hunting grounds.

Housing conditions were compared to those in the Third World and the suicide rate was considered the highest in the country. Family violence and substance abuse tore families apart.

The federal government didn’t act on the conditions in Davis Inlet until a January’93 video broadcast around the world showed children sniffing gasoline from plastic bags and screaming that they wanted to die. The images caused international embarrassment for Canada and led to the relocation of the community.

In December 2002, the first of dozens of families moved to Natuashish, a $152-million settlement replete with insulated homes, running water, and health and recreational facilities.

But five years later, the Innu find themselves struggling with some of the same problems that haunted them in Davis Inlet.

While there is no store that sells alcohol on the reserve of 700 residents, bootlegging is a big business. Much of the booze comes from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, a two-hour flight away, and a 60 oz. bottle of liquor can fetch $300.

The Innu have held votes in the past on banning alcohol, but each time they’ve failed because of fierce opposition.

Poker acknowledged that some residents will continue bootlegging alcohol.

“I don’t think it will completely eliminate the bootlegging, but at least we have something,” he said.

The vote took place in a school gymnasium, where residents for and against the ban stood on opposite sides. There were several recounts before the band council finalized the tally, convened for a meeting and signed a bylaw immediately after approving the ban.

The bylaw will allow RCMP officers in the community to search anyone they suspect of carrying alcohol, and will be sent to the federal Indian Affairs minister, Poker said.

The minister has 40 days to accept or reject it.