On this Day in our History: Grandmothers of Frog Lake shine a light on drug use

Frog Lake First Nation in Alberta, led by the grandmothers of the community, held a march Sept. 19, 2014 to shine the spotlight on drug and alcohol use.

Each participant, about 200 in all, was provided a purple light bulb that would illuminate outside their homes to signal the that household would not tolerate drug and alcohol use in their homes, said Lourraine Hosack.

“It’s marking your house as a place of safety.”

Organizers chose family allowance cheque day to hold their march to encourage people to be responsible when spending the money.

Elders were concerned with the choices younger people were making and wanted to stand up for the changes they wished to see.