Police arrested dozens of suspects in a massive drug crackdown Tuesday involving about 500 officers, including the RCMP, at Mohawk communities around Montreal.
A number of searches and arrests were made Tuesday in Kanesatake, Akwesasne, Oka and Montreal.
Police said the operation involved organized crime and drug-trafficking at 50 sites - but they couldn't immediately provide specifics on the quantity of drugs seized.
Marijuana was the main drug seized, but cocaine and designer drugs were also swept up in the operation.
Police said officers rounded up around 40 of the 55 people targeted in the busts.
The raids were aimed at individuals in Kanesatake, a community bedevilled in the past by violent responses to outside police forces operating within its borders. Kanesatake was also the site of the Oka crisis, the historic 1990 standoff between police and Mohawk protesters.
But Grand Chief Paul Nicholas said that, this time, many members of the community assisted in the police operation because they want illegal drug activities out of Kanesatake.
"The community's fed up with the drug use," Mr. Nicholas said Tuesday in front of the band council office, after police searched several sites in Kanesatake.
"So if this raid translates down to less drugs being available, a lot of people will be satisfied with what happened."
He said the problems reach beyond pot, adding that cocaine and pharmaceutical abuse have become a scourge.
When asked how he thought his community would react to the busts, Mr. Nicholas expressed confidence the situation would not get out of hand.
"The community is calm, it's quiet, it's not reacting negatively to what happened," he said a few hours after the operation began.
"Minor confrontations I can understand - I think a lot of tension boils at these events."
There were reports of at least one minor scuffle involving a reporter Tuesday, but no immediate word of any major incident.
Police said the raids dismantled a major organized-crime ring that had been operating inside the native communities and that they have Kanesetake residents to thank for the operation's success.
"The residents of Kanesatake delivered a clear message," Michel Arcand of the RCMP told reporters Tuesday.
"Organized crime does not belong in this community - violence and intimidation will no longer be tolerated."
Corporal Luc Thibault said RCMP and provincial police worked with native police forces to help ensure they could handle the delicate operations on native territories.
"It's always delicate, but we have good co-operation with the [aboriginal]police force and the people working there," Cpl. Thibault said. "We have to be careful, everywhere we go security is first for everybody, including the public."
He said the native communities welcomed the outside police help.
"We have a very good collaboration with aboriginal territories because naturally these people don't want drugs and don't want to see organized crime on their territory," he said.