Kingfisher councillor starts 500km trek

Kingfisher Lake band councilor William Mekanak is on his way south, raising money for a prescription drug addiction treatment centre.
Mekanak, 37, and Kingfisher Lake youth Bryan Sainnaway, 16, began their 500 km trek from Kingfisher Lake to Sioux Lookout on March 14. The hike is an effort to raise money for a Suboxone Treatment Program to be operated by the community.
“My vision for this walk is to raise awareness of the prescription drug abuse that is destroying the lives of our young people, our children and our communities,” Mekanak said before leaving Kingfisher Lake. “It would be beneficial for the community and surrounding communities to have its own building – a building where clients can come together, talk, share and work together in their healing journey.”
The walk started earlier than planned, due to the unseasonably warm temperatures that have melted ice roads across the north. Mekanak originally planned to leave Kingfisher Lake on March 22.
As of March 20, the pair were north of Pickle Lake after walking for a week. They expect to arrive in Sioux Lookout either March 29 or 30.
Kingfisher Lake has had two intakes of detox programming using Suboxone, first in November 2011 when 23 clients went through the programming and the second in January that included 18 clients.
The programs have been run through the community’s nursing station, but Mekanak said the facility is not appropriate for clients undergoing drug treatment.
“It’s just a small room where they currently meet,” he said. “They say its pretty tough when you don’t have anything to do or any place to hang out with the other ones.”
The situation in Kingfisher Lake is similar to that in other northern Ontario First Nations, where rates of prescription drug addiction are high and resources to combat the problem remain minimal.
In 2009 Nishnawbe Aski Nation declared a regional state of emergency due to the addiction problem. Earlier this year Cat Lake First Nation became the latest community to declare its own state of emergency, as an estimated 70 per cent of members are addicted to prescription drugs.
The Ontario government has since de-listed oxycodone and replaced it with a new form of the opiate that is harder to tamper with. That move has led to fears that the effects of mass withdrawals in communities with be crippling for First Nations across the North.