ManitobaMore than two dozen people have been charged in connection with an alleged drug trafficking network operating in a northern Manitoba community.$1.2M in drugs, alcohol, weapons seized as months-long investigation unearths criminal organization: RCMPBryce Hoye · CBC News · Posted: Dec 12, 2025 11:39 AM EST | Last Updated: 11 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.The new band office in Bunibonibee Cree Nation burned down in April. A drug trafficking investigation was launched after reports of arson and ‘intimidation tactics’ in the community, Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy said Friday. (Submitted by RCMP)More than two dozen people have been charged in connection with an alleged drug trafficking network operating in a northern Manitoba community.A months-long investigation called Project Derry into a drug-trafficking network in Bunibonibee Cree Nation resulted in charges against 27 people, RCMP announced during a news conference on Friday.”I applaud the efforts of local enforcement and the RCMP in coming together to take a piece of the criminal element down that’s hurting our communities,” said Walter Wastesicoot, grand chief of Keewatin Tribal Council, which represents 11 northern First Nations, including Bunibonibee.”My hope is that this effort, where they’re taking down this network, will impact other First Nation communities in the north in a good way, because I am sure there are other co-ordinated efforts through the same group in other communities.”Project Derry was launched after reports of cases of arson and other “intimidation tactics” used against community members this spring, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy said Friday at a Winnipeg news conference. The April fire that destroyed the new band office in Bunibonibee was arson, RCMP said.”There’s an escalation in violence in many of our First Nation communities in Manitoba, and the majority of these instances are tied to the drug trade,” said McMurchy.”[Traffickers have] no regard for the safety and well-being of community members.… They are only about making a profit, no matter the consequence.”The 27 suspects have been charged with 51 offences after RCMP seized $1.2 million in drugs, weapons and contraband in Bunibonibee, said RCMP Supt. Jeff Asmundson. There are warrants out for four of the 27 who haven’t been arrested, RCMP say, while 22 of those arrested remain in custody.Asmundson said 18 of the suspects are from Bunibonibee, which is about 575 kilometres north of Winnipeg, and the rest from Thompson and Winnipeg. The suspected leader was arrested last month.About two kilograms of cocaine bagged and ready for sale was seized as part of the investigation, police say. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)The criminal organization was also bringing alcohol and weapons into Bunibonibee, RCMP allege.In collaboration with local First Nation safety officers and police in Oxford House, Selkirk, Winnipeg and more, RCMP seized two kilograms of cocaine, hundreds of pills of oxycodone and fentanyl, a small amount of carfentanil, and hundreds of bottles of alcohol, said Asmundson.”More arrests and charges will be laid as we continue to dismantle this criminal organization,” he said. “This was about partnerships in the community. We heard their calls to target drug traffickers and bootleggers, and our officers worked incredibly hard to make that happen.”Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe thanked RCMP and First Nations safety officers on Friday for their efforts to take down a drug trafficking network operating in Bunibonibee Cree Nation. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said there’s a longstanding issue of drug trafficking into northern communities that has brought violence, overdose deaths and “despair for many communities.””They often get in the hands of young people,” he said. “That too often puts them on a bad path and makes the issues grow.”Reducing drug crime requires boots on the ground in the north, targeted interventions to prevent root causes of crime and “appropriate sentencing and rehabilitation to put people on that better path,” Wiebe said.The Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team is part of that equation, he said. This investigation included First Nation safety officers and RCMP from four different communities.”The success of this project is proof that with the right support … we can fight back against the drug traffickers and make a difference,” Wiebe said.RCMP seized these bullets and shells during the Project Derry drug trafficking bust in Bunibonibee Cree Nation. (RCMP)Grand Chief Wastesicoot said the 11 nations affiliated with the Keewatin Tribal Council came together in March 2023 and declared a regional state of emergency due to “systemic failures in public safety, health and infrastructure.”Despite the latest bust, Wastesicoot says the fact that network took root in Bunibonibee suggests there continues to be inadequate resources within northern First Nation communities to head off the issue.”A number of our First Nations do not have local RCMP detachments, so I think it demonstrates the need that exists in our communities for added resources, more investments in public safety,” he said.”Without the adequate resources … this problem will persist into the future. They’ll be replaced by others.” WATCH | 27 charged in connection with northern Manitoba drug trafficking network:27 charged in connection with northern Manitoba drug trafficking networkAn investigation into an alleged drug trafficking network in Bunibonibee Cree Nation, launched after reports of cases of arson and other ‘intimidation tactics,’ has led to the arrests of more than two dozen people, Manitoba RCMP say.ABOUT THE AUTHORBryce Hoye is a multi-platform journalist with a background in wildlife biology. He has worked for CBC Manitoba for over a decade with stints producing at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Front Burner. He was a 2024-25 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is also Prairie rep for outCBC. He has won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for a 2017 feature on the history of the fur trade, and a 2023 Prairie region award for an audio documentary about a Chinese-Canadian father passing down his love for hockey to the next generation of Asian Canadians.Selected storiesEmail: bryce.hoye@cbc.caFacebookMore by Bryce HoyeWith files from Gavin Axelrod
Arson, ‘intimidation tactics’ spurred investigation into northern Manitoba drug trafficking network
