Members of Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation are being asked to join a conversation about the growing drug crisis within the community on Wednesday.
A community engagement session will be held in the gymnasium at Hillside School from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on November 27.
Chief Kimberly Bressette said she and members of council, the health department, mental health and wellness hub, and Anishinabek Police Service will discuss their strategies and plans to address the issue.
"We put in a lot of proposals for different funding avenues for different strategies to combat some of the drug issues," said Bressette. "We've also strengthened our relationship with the Anishinabek Police Services (APS) and we hope to continue to strengthen that so that we can continue to work collectively with the service providers and the APS."
Bressette said community feedback is essential so they can support one another.
"We're just trying to get back on track and get our community back working together to try and combat this," she said.
Bressette said they've been experiencing ongoing issues as a result of increasing drug use and several young people have died from overdoses.
"We do have a lot of supportive programs for addicted people. [There's] regular programming, we have resources available, we have addiction workers in the community that are very helpful to our people... it's just trying to get them to help themselves at times," she said.
Bressette said the situation has escalated since the start of the COVID pandemic.
"I know it's a worldwide problem -- the drug crisis that we're all in -- but, we just hope to engage with the community and get some solid solutions we can move forward with," she said.
Bressette said the urgency to speed up implementation of some of their plans was heightened when a child was recently poked by a needle discarded on a playground at Hillside School.
"We have been and will continue to search the perimeter daily before business starts in our buildings," it read. "We will be installing new fences, ones that deter individuals from accessing use of the playground, and school yard area."
Bressette said security was hired immediately to monitor the school area at night.
A Drug Task Force Team was also implemented and the community is considering plans to restructure its harm reduction strategy and implement a needle exchange program.