A new border control pilot program aims to prevent the smuggling of alcohol and drugs into five First Nation communities in northern Ontario.
The pilot, led by Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS), was launched Monday as Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) continues in a state of emergency over drug trafficking and related violence. NAN is a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nations across Treaties 9 and 5.
According to Chief Solomon Atlookan of Eabametoong First Nation, one of the communities in the program, people from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are finding creative ways to smuggle drugs into the remote Ojibway community in northwestern Ontario.
In some cases, they’re transported in float planes down the river. In the colder months, trucks are bringing them in on the winter road, he said. Oftentimes, traffickers are concealing the drugs on their bodies at the airport where they know there’s limited security.
“People that we don’t know come into the community and make friends with our members, and that’s how it’s delivered,” Atlookan said.
Other First Nations in the pilot are:
NAPS, the largest Indigenous police force in Canada, recruited special constables from the communities where they have been deployed to conduct searches of all travellers entering the five First Nations, based on rules set out by each community’s own Band Council Resolutions.
The concept dates back to August 2022, when chiefs with NAN directed NAPS to develop a dedicated search program to prevent illegal drugs from entering NAN communities.
“We have very limited resources and we do what we can to try to prevent all the drugs coming in,” Atlookan said. “We’ve had young people needlessly dying because of that, as well as families [that] are suffering, especially the little kids.”
Signage has been installed at airlines that fly into the five communities to inform travellers about potential searches.
“This works because it is built by communities, for communities — our chiefs mandated it in 2022 because they knew what their communities were facing. But border control should not be a pilot. It should be the standard. Every First Nation in NAN deserves this protection,” said NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler in a news release on Monday.
Eabametoong First Nation Chief Solomon Atlookan, centre, says addiction has taken a big toll on his community members. (Marc Doucette/CBC)
For Atlookan, the program is an important first step, but he also wants to see more addiction support in his First Nation.
“Right now, we have absolutely nothing except for the nursing station,” he said of current services available. “We [have] a detox centre in the community, but it’s not operating as well as it should.”
Elsewhere in northern Ontario, other First Nations such as Long Lake #58 and neighbouring Ginoogaming — both located along Highway 11 — say they have also been struggling with an influx of drug traffickers from the GTA.
A shooting death in Ginoogaming First Nation in October 2025 prompted NAN chiefs to declare a state of emergency over the flow of illegal drugs and deaths in northern communities.
Since then, Long Lake #58 and Ginoogaming have hired an Indigenous-run security company to run checkpoints in their communities.
Signage installed at airlines that fly into Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) communities alerts travellers about potential searches at community entry points for illegal drugs, paraphernalia, illegal weapons and related contraband. (Nishnawbe Aski Nation/Facebook)
Chief Matthias Anderson of Kasabonika Lake First Nation, a remote Oji-Cree community, said stories of escalating gun violence in First Nations along the highway are concerning.
While there haven’t been any drug-related shootings in his community, he worries about what might happen if illegal activities continue to escalate.
He said more than a dozen people from the GTA have been banished from Kasabonika Lake since he was elected as deputy chief last year.
“Most of the people that I expelled seem to be coming from the Toronto area.”
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Since becoming the community’s chief in February, Anderson said, the toxic drug crisis has been his top priority.
“The pilot program activated the moment we actually needed it. We’re looking to increase prevention of outsiders coming into our community.”
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It’s important for the special constables overseeing the border control program to be from the First Nation, he added, as this helps build trust with community members.
That sentiment is shared by NAPS board chair Frank McKay.
“They know their communities and its people and have a vested interest in helping to maintain its safety and security. They want to see a better future for their communities and are committed to be part of that positive change,” McKay said in Monday’s news release.
As NAN advocates for the pilot to become permanent, Anderson said he hopes it’s expanded to other First Nations in the region.
