Híɫzaqv leaders take RCMP to court, say police discriminate against the nation’s laws

Hereditary and elected leaders of Híɫzaqv Nation are taking the RCMP to court, saying the police force refuses to enforce the nation’s bylaws — including a law expelling drug dealers and sexual offenders from the community.

The lawsuit says this had led to “an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness” on reserve that put members’ safety at risk. 

It further states that the case has broader implications around whether “Canada” respects Híɫzaqv jurisdiction on their own territories.

K̓áwáziɫ Marilyn Slett, elected chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, said at a press conference Tuesday that the RCMP’s lack of action means “drug dealers and sexual offenders can act freely without fear of enforcement.”

“We’re facing a critical problem,” she said.

“The only barrier appears to be the racism and discrimination that sees them ignoring Indigenous bylaws while enforcing all other federal laws.”

The Charter challenge, filed in the B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, alleges “Canada” is discriminating against Híɫzaqv by ignoring its council’s right to pass laws protecting Híɫzaqv’s most “vulnerable persons on reserve land.”

Bylaws tackle drug overdoses and sexual violence

The nation is asking a judge to declare the nation’s democratically passed council bylaws “are valid federal laws” the RCMP must enforce on reserve lands — where the force oversees policing — including removing drug dealers deemed a danger to the community. 

“By refusing or otherwise failing to enforce … Heiltsuk Bylaws in Bella Bella, while enforcing property laws in non-Indigenous communities, the RCMP has engaged in unequal and discriminatory treatment which infringes the equality rights of Heiltsuk,” the court filings argue.

Located around the “B.C.” Central Coast community of Bella Bella, nearly 150 kilometres north of “Vancouver Island,” Híɫzaqv — also known as Heiltsuk Nation — is home to roughly 2,500 people.

But as more First Nations struggle to protect community members’ health and public safety amidst the toxic drug crisis, the Charter challenge could have implications for Indigenous communities far beyond the coast.

“Bella Bella, like many Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous communities alike, is experiencing a crisis in public safety and in well-being due to violence and to addictions exasperated by drug dealing,” Slett told reporters in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and səlilwətaɬ territories. 

“These harms — from drug overdoses to sexual violence — have been made worse by the RCMP’s refusal to enforce our bylaws, as drug dealers and sexual offenders can act freely without fear of enforcement on reserve.”

RCMP in ‘discussions around band bylaw enforcement’

According to the statement of claim in the nation’s lawsuit, the specific bylaws in question relate to removing trespassers from reserve lands for activities harmful to the community.

Híɫzaqv Nation’s Dangerous Persons and Trespass Bylaw, passed in August 2022, allows Council to “regulate the conditions under which a dangerous person” under the Criminal Code “may be ordered to leave Heiltsuk reserve lands,” the nation’s legal filings state.

People who Híɫzaqv deems “dangerous” — as defined by the federal Criminal Code — could include both “visiting or resident individuals engaging in violence,” the lawsuit notes.

Slett said even though her nation’s bylaws were passed through proper process under the Indian Act, the RCMP allegedly “offered excuses ranging from confusion to saying our bylaws need to go through the RCMP legal services for review.”

The lawsuit states that the police detachment in Bella Bella, when fully staffed, hosts up to six officers. But when council “repeatedly requested that the RCMP enforce trespass laws,” the documents state, the requests were all “categorically refused” — and the police allegedly responding with a “lot of confusion” about whether their bylaws could actually be enforced.

The B.C. RCMP’s assistant commissioner of criminal operations and core policing said the force has “actively engaged in discussions around band by-law enforcement” with Híɫzaqv and other First Nations for many years.

“Our efforts, as it relates to band bylaws, are guided by the law, training, case law and best practices,” John Brewer said in a statement provided to IndigiNews. “We encourage anyone that has been the victim of a crime or has information about a crime to please contact us.”

‘Discrimination from the RCMP’

But according to one of Híɫzaqv Nation’s hereditary leaders, some people in the community have become increasingly distrustful of the police — making residents reluctant to come forward as witnesses or to report crimes.

He recounted the RCMP’s history of enforcing residential “school” attendance, and more recently failing to respond to some community members’ calls for help.

“I’ve witnessed and experienced discrimination from the RCMP for the way that they carry out and enforce the rules for Canada,” said Hím̓ás Wigvilhba Wakas (Hereditary Chief Harvey Humchitt).

He said in the absence of adequate policing, the nation felt forced to protect its own members using bylaws as well as community-led patrols — and now this court case.

“If the RCMP is not going to do it, we’ll have to find ways to do it ourselves,” he told reporters. “We’re asking them to make an extra effort to protect our young people and our citizens.”

Under the Indian Act, reserves are deemed private property overseen by First Nations councils. Slett said police are applying trespassing laws “unequally” compared to non-Indigenous private property.

“In non-Indigenous communities, if a business owner or a property owner has a trespasser, the RCMP go and they implement those provincial laws to remove them,” Slett said. “If it happens on a reserve like Híɫzaqv, they don’t do anything.”

‘Losing so many of our precious young people’

Controversial efforts to remove drug dealers and others deemed to pose a danger to reserve residents appear to be gaining traction among other First Nations in the province. 

Slett said she discussed the public safety crisis in her community earlier this month at a meeting of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) members, where she is the organization’s secretary-treasurer. 

She said the response from the UBCIC’s province-wide Chiefs Council was “unanimous support.”

“So many of the leaders from different communities across B.C. talked about the similar issues that they’re facing in their communities,” she said.

The crisis affecting First Nations is deeply personal for Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC’s president.

His own son died from carfentanil poisoning, one of the most deadly synthetic opioids which has infiltrated the already toxic drug supply. 

“He was the apple of my eye,” Phillip said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I lost him on his birthday.”

He recounted frequent struggles to maintain public safety while chief of SnPink’tn (Penticton Indian Band), and said many First Nations are grappling with the toxic drug crisis and organized crime — “the pain of violence, of drug-related homicides, assaults, home invasions.”

The grand chief lamented “losing so many of our precious young people” killed by toxic drugs, with Indigenous people making up a disproportionate number of the province’s drug poisoning deaths.

Indigenous people are nearly seven times more likely to die from toxic drugs than the rest of the province’s population, according to the First Nations Health Authority — a number that increased last year from the previous year’s data.

“This is such an incredibly important issue for our First Nations communities,” Phillip said. “And we’re virtually defenseless. That has to stop.”

IndigiNews requested comment on the lawsuit from the Attorney General of Canada — the defendant named in the Charter challenge, representing the RCMP — but did not receive a response by time of publication. Neither agency has officially responded to the lawsuit yet.

But the RCMP’s Brewer said the force “will remain open to continuing the dialogue about police service delivery in the community.”

‘We’re trying to protect ourselves’

But according to the Charter challenge lawsuit, the issue of “unequal and discriminatory” RCMP enforcement is about much more than trespassing bylaws or drug trafficking. 

It’s also about whether Canada respects Híɫzaqv inherent right “to make decisions about their own families and lands” in accordance with Ǧvi̓ḷás, Híɫzaqv laws rooted in the land and kinship that “focus on the peace and harmony of the community.”

This week’s Charter challenge comes on the heels of a major legal development long in the making for Híɫzaqv Nation.

After extensive work among community members, the nation passed its own official constitution on Feb. 20, laying the groundwork for asserting its self-government and sovereignty — including over the urgent areas of public safety and well-being.

“It was decades in the making,” Slett told IndigiNews. “And it’s written by our people.”

She explained the constitution was created out of extensive discussions amongst the nation’s hereditary leaders, matriarchs, knowledge keepers and other community members.

“It’s based on our values, our laws and our beliefs as Híɫzaqv people,” she said. “So for us, that is not new — that has been there since time immemorial — but we felt that it was important to develop that written constitution so people know how our decision-making is made, who we are as Híɫzaqv people, and what guides us.”

Ǧvi̓ḷás, the nation declared in its court filings, gives leaders “the authority to control or resist access to Heiltsuk territory,” whether for the nation’s members or outsiders, “for the safety and well-being” of the community.

UBCIC’s Phillip applauded the Híɫzaqv document as trailblazing, saying it shows how Indigenous people can gain a “full measure” of law and order by “developing our own laws” and justice systems.

“I’m very, very proud of the Híɫzaqv people for showing us the way,” he said.

For Hím̓ás Wigvilhba Wakas, both the Híɫzaqv written constitution and the new Charter challenge lawsuit showcase his nation standing up for its “rights and responsibilities.”

“We have tried many times to make things right for our people. This is one of the reasons why we’re here today,” he said. “We’re trying to protect ourselves.”