In a rare, but not unprecedented move, Alberta’s Blood Tribe council is implementing a trespassing bylaw by April 13 in collaboration with the Blood Tribe Police Service.
It’s been in the works since 2015, when the Blood Reserve ordered a state of emergency due to a fentanyl crisis in the community.
“We are hoping that now the Blood Tribe police will have something to cite in regards to stopping a lot of the individuals that they suspect to be illegally on the reserve,” Blood Tribe Councillor Dorothy First Rider said.
Some of the other reasons council provided for the trespass bylaw include illegal hunting and fishing on the reserve and the poaching of the mineral ammolite by non-band members.
The bylaw will have no impact on someone travelling through the reserve or attending a public event. Residency permits are now required for any non-tribe member living on the reserve and can be suspended or revoked at the discretion of council if illegal activity is taking place.
“It gives us the ability to withhold issuing residency permit to them,” First Rider said. “So they need to apply with our laws, our protocols, and our customs.”
The hope is to provide another tool for the Blood Tribe Police Service to deter crime.
“For example, on a routine police stop, asking them, ‘why are you on the reserve? What do you intend on doing on the reserve? Do you know somebody?’” First Rider said. “So at least this way they can ask if the person has a permit to be on the reserve and go from there.”
Global News asked the Blood Tribe Police for comment Friday, but was told no one was available for an interview.
Whether the permits will be a sticker for a car, or another type of physical pass will be decided by April 13.
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