Violence has overrun the Stoney Creek Reserve, and the Saik'uz First Nation community wants to feel safe again.
The beating of Brandon Lee Thomas-Flurer, 17, brought community interests together for the first public forum on the matter. He was critically injured in an apparently random attack as he walked alone Friday night on the reserve.
"Brandon is not the first," said David Luggi, chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, of which the Saik'uz First Nation is a member. "He is the first to suffer that level of violence; he is the unfortunate high point and that motivated people.
On Sunday about 80 people joined RCMP and Aboriginal leaders at the community hall on the reserve, to channel the outrage over this latest incident.
"Consensus was, violence would only end when it was confronted," said Luggi.
"There are many origins of violence, but drug and alcohol abuse seems to top the list of culprits. The community is fed up with this. The status quo means none of them are safe. Really, with this meeting, they began to arrest the issue before it gets out of hand."
Thomas-Flurer mother said she was heartened to hear rally organizers Denise Raymond and Gladys Michell had issued a joint statement urging the community to come together following the beating.
"I was really happy and surprised to hear this was going on while I was at the hospital with my son," said Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, Brandon's mother. "It is something that has to be done. There is so much violence in the community and nobody follows up on it. There aren't enough resources or not enough programs."
"Why should we let our children and youth be scared of these individuals when they shouldn't have fear of our own people?" stated Michell and Raymond in the joint statement.
Following the meeting, Michell said the rally was a success, but only a first step.
"Stoney Creek used to be ahead of a lot of other reserves for [policing and more cultural activities], but it has sunk to the bottom. What we need to figure out and what we talked about today was where that went wrong and where do we go from here?"
Luggi said violence and substance abuse seems to be worsening for the Saik'uz, and agreed intervention was needed.
"This type of assault was not confined to an individual. They are assaults on everyone," he said. "They pit one family against another. It imposes fear on the whole community."
Staff Sgt. Dave Beach, commander of the Vanderhoof RCMP, said RCMP was well aware of the problem but for police to act takes evidence, which requires community courage.
"The community has to do the changing, and we are there to assist them," he said. "They want us to take away all the drugs on the reserve, but they have to take ownership of the problem and give us the information a police force anywhere needs to take law enforcement action.
"They can't keep running from the drug dealers and the bullies; they have to tell us who has the drugs. They came up with a few suggestions and I hope they go through with them."
A townhall meeting was held in May for general discussion between Saik'uz members and the police, and Beach had a meeting with Chief Jackie Thomas scheduled for Monday to continue planning the next steps for Mounties.
Michell said a potluck dinner was scheduled for Friday to build more grassroots relationships within the community.
