‘Years of history’: Who is the former drug dealer banished from Haida Gwaii? [Video]

Scared neighbours. An atmosphere of “fear, mistrust and continual disruption.” People “upset and anxious and worried in their own homes.”

As she listed Frank Young’s impacts on her small Haida Gwaii community, a Skidegate band councillor told a B.C. provincial court judge in 2020 that the First Nation wouldn’t rule out banishment if the system couldn’t protect residents from the harms caused by his drug dealing.

Michelle McDonald gave a community statement on behalf of the Skidegate Band Council at Young’s sentencing in November 2020 for a drug-related offence.

“Elders, youth and families are fearful of the accused and the type of people that are at the home. They fear retaliation when they speak out. They do not want contact with offender,” McDonald told provincial court judge David Patterson.

“They fear for young people who visit, that they will be exploited or preyed upon in the context of drug use …