Long Lake #58 street patrol group highlighted at NADF Comprehensive Community Planning conference

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY – Long Lake #58’s development of a street patrol group was highlighted during the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) conference, held Feb. 13-15 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay. The 58 Protectors patrol group was developed last fall to deal with safety concerns over drug addictions and suicides after a meeting with community members.

“So that is a perfect example of how CCP can work in your community,” says Noreen Agnew, Long Lake #58’s comprehensive community planner, during her Feb. 13 Ear to the Ground keynote presentation. “We took the concerns from the people, who talked about safety issues that needed to be addressed. We developed it on our own and then later we asked the leaders if they were going to support us and help us. It is very important to get your leadership to support you through this whole process.”

Agnew says the 58 Protectors patrol group developed into a “very positive, strong initiative” in the community, which has 467 on-reserve citizens and is located about 300 kilometres north-east of Thunder Bay on Hwy. 11.

“The kids were in by 11-11:30,” Agnew says. “We had the centre open all night for youth that were suicidal — we had two people there always dispatching or giving them the support that they needed. We had coffee and snacks for them.”

Agnew says the patrol group never confronted the drug dealers during their patrols.

“It was important for us to not let the kids see the drug dealing going on,” Agnew says. “It was important for to us to make sure these kids don’t think that it is normal to buy and sell (drugs) and for parents to use all of their money on (drugs).”

Agnew says the CCP process also included the development of a timeline of the community’s history, including dates such as the Long Lake #58 blockade during the Oka crisis in 1990.

“It was really important that our community knows where they come from, where we are now and where we want to go,” Agnew says.

The CCP conference also featured presentations on CCP, Governance and Nation Building; CCP Implementation Story; Reconciliation and Leading Change in your Community. A Bonfire Chat on Starting Your CCP and a CCP Roundtable were also held during the conference, which was the third CCP conference held by NADF.

“What’s important to the communities, and they’ve been asking for this for a long time, (is) the assistance they need in planning for their communities, setting goals and priorities and learning off best practices (from) all across the country,” says Brian Davey, NADF’s executive director.

Liz Esquega, Fort William’s consultation liaison officer, says the sharing of stories during the conference was interesting.

“It gives us an idea of how we can implement CCP in our community,” Esquega says. “It gives us the tools that we need, it gives us a lot of good background information on where to begin.”

Esquega says the range of presenters from across Canada and representatives from communities across northern Ontario was the “best part” of the conference.

“We had B.C. presenters — it’s amazing work that they are doing in their communities,” Esquega says. “They’re the experts. They’ve already developed their plans, so it gives us something to go forward with.”