Sechelt Indian Band members will be taking to the streets in a march to take back their community from drugs and alcohol and to send a message to dealers.
The march, set for Oct. 20, will make stops along to way to sing and drum and serve letters to alleged drug dealers' homes, according to SIB drug and alcohol counsellor, Howard Paull. The letters from chief and council will "tell all the dealers here in our community that we want them to stop what they're doing," Paull said. "We're going to be offering letters of support to them as well, informing them that there are services and programs available to them to help them there is going to be schooling available, there is going to be treatment options for them - anything and everything from the Band that we can offer them."
The march will begin at 1 p.m. outside the Band's health and social development building. Participants will walk down along the waterfront towards the church, then back up to the trailer court. Next the route will take them to Porpoise Bay, back along Wharf Road to Cowrie Street, where it will finish outside Sechelt Elementary by approximately 4 or 4:30 p.m.
Sunshine Coast RCMP constables, elders and students - since it falls on a professional development day - are expected to participate. Paull anticipates Chief Stan Dixon, Mayor Cam Reid and some Sunshine Coast Regional District directors will attend at the elementary school. He expects people will join in the march along the way and noted the march is open to everyone.
"The drugs and alcohol issue is not just a Band issue - it's a Coast-wide problem."
From the school, participants will head to the Longhouse for a potluck, again open to everyone.
A committee was formed within the Band earlier this year called Taking Back Our Community. The committee's idea for the march has been in the works for several months.
