DRUG SALES RATTLE RESERVE

Musqueam band member June Sparrow is taking a stand against the drug
dealers she says are running a booming business on her reserve and
targeting vulnerable children.

Sparrow and her husband Sylvain Delorme, who run an East Vancouver
group home for at-risk aboriginal youth, say they are fed up with
being "intimidated and bullied by drug dealers who openly use and sell
drugs at Musqueam, not only to adults, but to kids as young as 11 or
12."

Said Delorme: "We're confronting drug dealers here and telling them to get
out if they don't quit selling to our children and youth -- we want to work
on an intervention strategy before the kids wind up downtown."

Delorme yesterday erected a giant sign on a house on the Musqueam
reserve which Sparrow co-owns with her son, who rents out the ground
floor.

The sign says, "There are many Drug Dealers in our Community" and "Our
Children are Our Future."

Sparrow says she can't rent out the top half of the house because of
alleged harassment and drug use.

"We have tried to show the house to prospective tenants several times
in the last two weeks but the music downstairs has been so loud the
floor vibrates and there's always a heavy pot smell coming up from
below," she said.

Delorme said he has complained about the music and the
marijuana.

Const. Sarah Bloor confirmed that a tactical squad went to the home on
Oct. 20 and that a police liaison officer has tried to mediate
disputes about drug use and noise.

She noted that no weapon was found and no arrests for drug use or
possession on the Musqueam reserve have been made recently.

Kriston Palmer, who lives downstairs in Sparrow's house, denied he
sells drugs.

"Sure I smoke reefer, but who doesn't?' he said. "I used to be a drug
dealer but I don't sell anymore. My wife and I have a five-year-old
girl in a private Catholic school and we're trying to get our lives
back on track."

Musqueam maintenance worker Calvin Sparrow pointed out homes of at
least a dozen suspected drug sellers. He said open ground-floor
windows of five or six houses are "drive-through" drug marts, with
foot and car traffic.

Rose Point, a resident, said: "I strongly support the stand June's
making here because there are so many drugs here, pot and crystal
meth, crack and coke, and it's so addictive and available that our
kids and grandkids are in danger."

"There are two or three drug dealers on this street alone," she said.
"And the chief and council won't do anything."

Musqueam Chief Ernie Campbell admitted "we have our share of
bootleggers and drug dealers, like any native or non-native community
- -- drugs are rampant, but it's very hard to prove what they're doing
and then stop them."