Today, First Nations chiefs demanded the federal government to bring stiffer consequences to the people selling drugs that are taking lives in their communities.
Chief Angela Levasseur of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Manitoba says she brought the resolution forward at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Winnipeg because the opioid epidemic is taking the lives of members of her community. Joseph Fourre, whose son died of fentanyl poisoning after taking what he thought was ecstasy, spoke alongside Levasseur as they urged chiefs to support the resolution.
He says the RCMP told him that because his son agreed to consuming ecstasy, there was no way to hold anyone criminally responsible for his death.
Fourre says “Harlan’s Law,” named after his son, would take on the drug traffickers who have “targeted” First Nations communities.
The suggested law would sentence drug traffickers to a minimum of 15 years in cases where death happens from mixed drugs, and give law enforcement the jurisdiction to access victims’ phones to find out where the drugs were bought.
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