Public Notice: Community Safety Initiatives

The Opaskwayak Chief and Council are reminding the public of their duty to protect everyone who resides within the community. This includes a coordination plan with policing to ensure that enforcement of policies, by-laws, and any Band Council Resolution (BCR) are followed.

This is to guarantee the safety of all citizens of Opaskwayak from gang and/or drug related activities.

Back in June 2003, a BCR was signed by former Chief Frank Whitehead and his council members due to the escalation in violence including assaults, vandalism, theft, fighting, drug abuse, home invasion and dangerous driving to name a few.

That Chief and Council directive is also known as BCR 003-073. Click here to see the full BCR.

The BCR allows enforcement from Chief and Council on:

Housing Evictions
Curfews
Banishments
Drug Testing of Employees

With the violence continuing to escalate in our community, the current Chief and Council will begin handing out letters to citizens in Opaskwayak that continue to partake in illegal activities.

Chief and Council have also started the process of hiring more security guards to patrol the community. There are also plans in place to install security cameras in and around Opaskwayak in the near future.

In the meantime, Chief and Council are urging the public to call 911 immediately when seeing suspicious activity. Let’s work together to keep our community safe.

Ekosi,
Chief Sidney Ballantyne

Councillors
William J. Lathlin
Edwin Jebb
John-Paul Martin
Derek Constant
Dale Knutson
Maureen Brown
Mike Bignell
Joel Pelly

This Public Notice was also posted on the Opaskwayak Communications’ Facebook and Twitter pages on Friday, May 12, 2023.

You can download the PDF version here: Community Safety Initiatives