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No drug dealers have been evicted from the reserve so far, but any living in Tk'emlups housing should be worried.

Chief and council voted to banish dealers from the reserve in June, whether they're members in Band-owned housing or non-member residents in areas like Sun Rivers.

The decision was announced through the Tk'emlups website on Aug. 2. Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir said Band leadership wanted to let their members know they are listening to their concerns, but the process to ban the dealers isn't entirely clear and details remain elusive.

"Our communities have been impacted so much with drugs and we see it as a crisis. Every single one of our families has been impacted," she said.

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Kamloops RCMP has not commented on how its rural detachment will help the Band, but Casimir said they are working with police to identify dealers on the reserve.

Distinguishing the difference between drug user and drug dealer will be up to police, while the Band's next steps will be to install signage so people are aware of the new risks to selling drugs on reserve, she said.

"We want to ensure that we're upholding the health and safety of our community and the people that reside here," she said. "And we want our families to feel like they've been heard. This has been quite painful."

The Band council is urging residents to call police if they have information about drug dealing in the community. It's not clear whether someone will have to be criminally convicted before they are banished from the reserve.

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It's also not clear how it will apply to non-members, but Casimir said people living in Band-owned housing will risk eviction under its housing bylaws if they are caught selling drugs in the community.

Interior Health has been critical of local governments aiming to ban public drug use since decriminalization came into effect earlier this year, but has not come out so strongly against the Tk'emlups decision.

"It is important to distinguish that decriminalization is not legalization. Decriminalization does not change or condone the criminality of specific illegal behaviours, such as drug trafficking," chief medical health officer Dr. Martin Lavoie said in a written statement. "We respect that the decision made by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief and Council is to ensure the health and safety of community members and their families."

The health authority asked local governments, like the City of Kamloops, to wait as they consider banning public drug use, claiming the bylaw will "perpetuate the harms" decriminalization was aiming to reduce.

It doesn't appear Tk'emlups is planning to ban public drug use on reserve, however. Instead, they are aiming at dealers in particular.

Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson would not comment when asked if he had any concerns about impacts on the city from the Tk'emlups vote. He said he was not aware of the decision.

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