Davis Inlet Innu begin treatment

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Innu from the troubled community of Davis Inlet in northern Labrador have arrived in Alberta to begin treatment for substance abuse.

A group of 40 Innu adolescents, Elders and parents made the trip to Poundmaker's Lodge, a Native-run facility north of Edmonton, in mid-February.

But the treatment won't start until the Innu are settled, the lodge's executive director said.

"Right now we're just making assessments," said Pat Shirt. "We're getting people comfortable. It's difficult for some of them to be in a new place."

The group of adolescents, along with their parents, will spend the next 90 days in group and individual treatment designed to replace substance addiction with self-esteem, Shirt said. The program involves addiction counselling, learning about life skills and taking part in Native spiritual ceremonies.

The group of 40 were not the first of the Davis Inlet Innu to arrive in Alberta. A group of 16 adolescents, accompanied by Elders from Davis Inlet, arrived earlier in the month, Shirt said.

Not all the Innu undergoing therapy will stay at Poundmaker's in St. Albert. Some will go out to an adolescent treatment facility near St. Paul, 150 kilometres east of Edmonton.

The community of Davis Inlet, located 300 kilometres north of Goose Bay, Labrador, became the centre of media and government attention early last month. Six solvent-addicted children were discovered by police in an unheated shack on the government wharf, nearly comatose from sniffing gasoline. The five girls and one boy were all threatening to commit suicide.

The following week, five more children were found sniffing gasoline under a house.

Solvent abuse is rampant among youth in the community. Native leaders said of the 340 kids in the village, 42 are chronic abusers, in various stages of addiction. Another 17 are addicted. The youngest is four years old.

Shirt and Nechi Institute executive director Maggie Hodgson travelled to Davis Inlet to meet with Innu chief Katie Rich and Assembly of First Nations grand chief Ovide Mercredi in January.

On Feb. 5, chief Rich presented federal and provincial officials with her plan to deal with solvent abuse and community disintegration. Her demands included the treatment of solvent-addicted children at Poundmaker's and the relocation of the village

to a new site.

Talks are now underway between Innu and government negotiators.