GAMES REFRESHER FOR CUSTOMS STAFF

That green, crumbly herb that Canada Customs officers could find in
medicine bundles of elders arriving for the North American Indigenous Games
is not what they might think.

It's sage, not marijuana.

That's part of cultural sensitivity training customs officers have
undergone to prepare for the Games. There are about 500 customs officers in
Manitoba. However, not all are front-line officers requiring the special
training.

"(The training) is not something unusual," said Emilia Kotris, Canada
Customs spokeswoman. "All our customs officers receive training in cultural
awareness and diversity."

Kotris said the training for the Games is just "a refresher course." Local
elders were brought in to assist, she said.

"There are different things. Like medicine bundles usually have things like
sage, sweetgrass, a reed bark willow," she said. Canada Customs already has
ion scanners and sniffing dogs to help them detect drugs anyway, she said.
The refresher courses help officers know what to expect, to speed up
processing visitors through customs, Kotris said.

Canada Customs also produced and sent out a handbook to non-resident teams
on regulations for entering Canada.