FIRST NATIONS FOCUS ON REDUCING GANGS AND DRUGS

About 100 people attended the first day of a two-day conference on gang
disempowerment and reduction at Keeshkeemaquah building at Long Plains
First Nation's urban reserve on Crescent Rd. W., just outside of Portage
la Prairie on Wednesday.

This is the second annual conference on the issue facing many First Nation
communiites in the local area and across Manitoba.

Long Plain Chief Dennis Meeches who spoke during the event said there
needs to be more help.

"We have a serious challenge and we need to work to come together
collectively to find some possible solutions," he said. "This problem we
have in our communities is going to be here for quite some time.

We recognize that and we can't be in denial of that, but we also need to
find a way to work with our communities and provincial and federal
government to partner to educate and train our people, to help our First
Nation youth regain thier identity ...."

The organizer of the event was Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council (DOTC).

Lorraine Pompana, co-chairwoman of the Gang Disempowerment and Reduction
committee with DOTC, based in Brandon, noted gang activity creates safety
risks for a community.

"The reality is in our communities gangs are encroaching into our
territories and recruiting our youth and getting them involved in criminal
activity," she said. "We had to make a start somewhere. So, we formed this
committee of people that are like-minded and we got the chiefs on-board
and they passed a band resolution to help us set up this committee and
seek funding, to go forth with any activities to reduce crime and gang
involvement."

The goal of the conference is to provide information about how drugs are
linked to gang activity and how area residents can work towards helping
prevent gangs and drugs from becoming a problem in their communities.

On Thursday the conference will continue with a focus on how drugs and
gangs impact the schools and education and ways communities can try to
help find solutions.