Manitoba chief calls for government help with drug crisis after death of two teens
Posted March 24, 2023 3:06 pm.
The chief of a remote First Nation in northeastern Manitoba is urging the federal and provincial governments to help with the growing drug crisis in the community after the deaths of two teens.
RCMP say two 14-year-old girls were found outside a home in St. Theresa Point First Nation earlier this month.
Chief Elvin Flett says the girls likely died of hypothermia as temperatures dipped to -23 C overnight, but believes drug use played a role in their deaths as well.
The community is calling for a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of the two teens and for an investigation from an external policing agency.
They are also asking for Manitoba’s justice department to work with them on conducting airport searches to prevent the flow of drug trafficking in the community.
Flett says the province told them that First Nation officials cannot conduct the searches because the airports are under provincial authority.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2023.
