{"id":89865,"date":"2025-02-25T16:58:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T21:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=89865"},"modified":"2025-02-25T16:58:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T21:58:04","slug":"b-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/b-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. First Nation files Charter challenge over RCMP refusal to enforce bylaws"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>-CP-A small First Nation on British Columbia\u2019s Central Coast is taking the attorney general of Canada to court, arguing its Charter rights have been violated because the RCMP refuses to enforce its bylaws. The Heiltsuk Tribal Council says in its lawsuit that the police are \u201cemboldening drug dealers\u201d and other wrongdoers to enter and stay on reserve lands by refusing to enforce its bylaws banning people engaged in dangerous activities. Elected Chief Marilyn Slett says her community in Bella Bella, B.C., is experiencing a crisis due to drugs and drug trafficking and that harms from overdoses and sexual violence are made worse because of the police refusal to enforce Heiltsuk law. Slett says if a non-Indigenous municipality, landowner or business asks for enforcement of a property law, the RCMP takes&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F02%2F25%2Fb-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-CP-A small First Nation on British Columbia\u2019s Central Coast is taking the attorney general of Canada to court, arguing its Charter rights have been violated because the RCMP refuses to enforce its bylaws. The Heiltsuk Tribal Council says in its lawsuit that the police are \u201cemboldening drug dealers\u201d and other wrongdoers to enter and stay on reserve lands by refusing to enforce its bylaws banning people engaged in dangerous activities. Elected Chief Marilyn Slett says her community in Bella Bella, B.C., is experiencing a crisis due to drugs and drug trafficking and that harms from overdoses and sexual violence are made worse because of the police refusal to enforce Heiltsuk law. Slett says if a non-Indigenous municipality, landowner or business asks for enforcement of a property law, the RCMP takes... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F02%2F25%2Fb-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>B.C. First Nation files Charter challenge over RCMP refusal to enforce bylaws - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/b-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"B.C. First Nation files Charter challenge over RCMP refusal to enforce bylaws - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-CP-A small First Nation on British Columbia\u2019s Central Coast is taking the attorney general of Canada to court, arguing its Charter rights have been violated because the RCMP refuses to enforce its bylaws. The Heiltsuk Tribal Council says in its lawsuit that the police are \u201cemboldening drug dealers\u201d and other wrongdoers to enter and stay on reserve lands by refusing to enforce its bylaws banning people engaged in dangerous activities. Elected Chief Marilyn Slett says her community in Bella Bella, B.C., is experiencing a crisis due to drugs and drug trafficking and that harms from overdoses and sexual violence are made worse because of the police refusal to enforce Heiltsuk law. Slett says if a non-Indigenous municipality, landowner or business asks for enforcement of a property law, the RCMP takes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/b-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T21:58:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/25\\\/b-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/25\\\/b-c-first-nation-files-charter-challenge-over-rcmp-refusal-to-enforce-bylaws\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"B.C. 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