RCMP uncovers alleged plot by 2 Montreal men to illegally sell drones, equipment to Libya
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find disturbing.
Indigenous leaders of Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan say the community is struggling to cope with the intergenerational trauma caused by a residential school that once operated in the area, with many residents turning to drugs and alcohol to cope.
Keeseekoose Finance Director Amy Cote says drug addiction and death is an epidemic that has been a part of the First Nation for decades.
"The opioid crisis out here, like it’s huge. Everybody has been affected by it, there is not one person that is not," Cote said in an interview with CTV National News.
At least 12 people died by overdose and suicide in Keeseekoose First Nation last year, and since January, there has been six more deaths.
Cote says it's a harsh reality for a community with only 2,550 residents.
"I've lost a nephew and niece to the opioid crisis because it’s so much easier to go see a dealer than deal with the issue and seek help," she explained.
Chief Lee Kitchemonia recently lost his daughter to a crystal meth overdose.
"She was only 24 years old, she had an 8-year-old daughter. She’s definitely an effect, the residual effects, of, I would say, residential schools," Kitchemonia said.
The St. Phillips Indian Residential School opened in the area in 1928. Now, a memorial honouring residential school students stands in its place.
While the school is no longer there, survivors says the trauma from it has affected people in their community for years.
Residential school survivor and former chief Ted Quewezance says the trauma he experienced at the school still burdens him.
"The sexual abuse, the physical abuse, you will never forget that. You see an RCMP, there’s a memory there. You see a preacher, there’s a memory there. You see a brick building, there’s a memory. You have a shower, there’s a memory. There’s lots and I am just one. Imagine all the 750 kids that went to school here," he said.
Cote said many in the community have turned to drugs and alcohol to try to forget the trauma.
"It all started from being stripped away from your parents when you were a kid. It’s not easy and it’s not something you can get over," she said.
Zoey Sinclair-Straightnose, 16, has never stepped foot in a residential school, but she told CTV News that she lives with its impacts everyday.
"I have a mother that’s an addict, but she’s trying to clean herself up, but ever since I lost my brother, that’s when I lost my mother," she explained.
Sinclair-Straightnose said her grandmother has been her rock through it all. However, the matriarch acknowledges that she too has her own demons.
"I carry my dad's story. His sexual abuse started when he was eight, and I look at my little grandchildren – I can’t even imagine anybody doing that to them – and I think what my dad had to endure, and it’s very painful," Janice Straightnose said.
Chief Kitchemonia says he is trying to save what is left of his First Nation. He said the community needs trauma counselling, a methadone healing clinic and ambulance services but it’s difficult with little funding.
"We have one nurse for the entire community here and that’s not good," Kitchemonia said.
Instead, members are turning to their elders for guidance and they say regaining identity and returning to their culture and traditional ceremonies is the key to healing.
"Be proud of who you are. Don’t ever be ashamed, because that is what they try and do, they try and make us be ashamed of who we are," Straightnose said.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
A group of demonstrators were kicked out of the legislature after a second NDP motion calling for unanimous consent to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh failed to pass.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
Canadian pet owners are finding companionship beyond dogs and cats. Tigers, alligators, scorpions and tarantulas are among some of the exotic pets they are keeping in private homes, which pose risks to public safety and animal welfare, advocates say.
Police in the U.K. are searching for a group of suspects seen on video using a forklift to steal a cash machine from a bank.
A tower crane operator alerted emergency crews after noticing a fire on a construction site in Halifax Tuesday morning.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.