WITH SIGNS saying "We smoke oolichan, not marijuana" and "Alcohol does not buy my food," people of all ages took part in the Take Back the Village march put on by youths in Gingolx last weekend.
The young people of the village took it upon themselves to organize the march to show their desire to get rid of the drug dealers and bootleggers in the village.
Elders and the RCMP marched along with the youths. Many people wore their regalia as they all marched from one end of the village to the other.
Gingolx village councillor Nelson Clayton said he was glad the young people planned and did the march.
"They did a really good job for getting people out to march against drugs and bootleggers," he said, adding quite a few people came out to march.
"We've been dealing with bootlegging and drug dealing for a long time."
The village has run into a stumbling block or two in its attempt to stop the illegal activity but the councillors are determined to find a way to get around the obstacles to target the dealers and bootleggers without their families getting hurt, he said.
"I think this helps now that the school kids have taken it upon themselves to let the dealers know what they think of drugs and bootleggers in the community. I told them we support them 100 per cent so that's really good and I hope that the dealers and bootleggers really listen and stop what they are doing without us having to come and tell them," said Clayton.
"It takes these young schoolchildren to let us know, the leaders, that they're really concerned with what happens. They're the future leaders so I told them we will deal with it (illegal activity) all the time. Every public meeting we will see what we can do.”