The chief of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation is appealing to youth in his community to stop using drugs and alcohol to mask pain.
Chief Jason Henry made a public plea via Facebook Sunday, after speaking with a mother whose child nearly overdosed.
"No one's perfect, imperfection is what's perfect," said Henry. "We all have skeletons in our closet, but our kids don't, our kids inherit that from us, so we need to stop passing that on to our kids and for those of you out there in the community that have addictions, young people, if you're hearing me, it's not worth it."
He's encouraging youth to find help.
"You can talk to your mom and dad, if you can't, you can talk to an aunt or uncle, if you can't, I'm sure you've got a grandma or grandpa out there, if not, you can talk to somebody like me, other community members that you know have a good, healthy, life. Talk to your friends, your true friends, not the ones that put a joint in your hand, or a pill in your hand, or pass you a drink and say, 'just have another one buddy, you'll be ok.' There's lots of good people that care for you, for who you are."
Chief Henry also delivered a stern message to youth selling drugs at the First Nation.
"You young people, 19, 20, 21 years old, that think you're cool for selling drugs to people in the community, shame on you," said Henry. "You're killing kids. You're killing kids so you can feel cool, so you can feed your own addiction. It's not cool."
"Stop hurting your own people. Stop hurting people in general. Take care of yourself, and stop hurting everybody around you. Stop sharing drugs. Get help. Share help, don't share hurt."
Kettle and Stony Point Health Services helps coordinate professional counselling to those seeking mental health and addiction services.
The department can also help refer individuals to treatment centres.
More information can be found here.