HAY RIVER - At 2 p.m. on Valentine's Day Hay River residents of all ages plan to gather downtown at the four-way intersection to send a message to drug dealers: "Not us!"

Filmmaker Jay Bulckaert reviewed literature and film addressing crystal meth and other drugs in preparation for shooting Sunday's Not Us Campaign commercial in Hay River for the GNWT Department of Justice. - photo courtesy of Jay Bulckaert

"I think it's wonderful," said Diamond Jenness Secondary School teacher and Arctic Winter Games coach, Chuck Lirette.

"There is a drug problem in Hay River and in many communities across the North and the first step is to talk about these issues and the options for better choices."

Lirette and a dozen young biathletes and cross country skiers from the Hay River Ski Club are joining with members of the Hay River Swim Club and many other students, parents and grandparents as the community comes together. Their words will broadcast across the territory online and on CBC television this spring as part of a GNWT anti-drug awareness commercial being choreographed by Yellowknife filmmaker Jay Bulckaert of Kellett Communications.

Bulckaert said he is encouraged that so many Hay River residents have already committed to show up to the hour-long video shoot on Feb. 14.

"We've managed to get an amazing amount of people who want to be part of it," Bulckaert said. "There is no acting required. All that is required is community pride, an adventurous spirit and a willingness to try something new on a Sunday afternoon."

The emerging Not Us campaign is focused on stemming hard drug use among youth. Crack, cocaine and ecstasy already afflict the North, but other dangers include heroin and a cheap, highly addictive, toxic substance known as crystal meth.

Crystal meth is a homemade stimulant, known as a methamphetamine, formed from a toxic brew of household chemicals such as drain cleaner and ammonia.

"Crystal meth has yet to be an issue that our members are seeing as a real problem," said Const. Todd Scaplen, speaking on behalf of the Yellowknife RCMP detachment's community policing division. "That's not to say it's not here and it hasn't been here."

However, other small Canadian communities have already been crushed by the drug. Last spring Bulckaert spoke with law enforcement officials in the Alberta towns of Drayton Valley and Hinton, which now serve as case studies for how the drug can tear towns apart.

"A lot of people think we should be focusing on crack or alcohol abuse," he said. "If crystal meth comes up North it's rampant. It's amazing the destruction it can do. Much more than other drugs. It's cheaper than crack or coke and it's almost instantly addictive. People have said it's worse than heroin – and these are people who have done both."

Last year the filmmaker held round table discussions with at risk youth and inmates of the young offender's facility in Yellowknife. He said he listened to heart-wrenching stories about parents addicted to cocaine and teenagers who tried crack for the first time at age 12.

He also met with inmates at the North Slave correctional facility.

One inmate in his mid 40s, who admitted to dealing crack and coke most of his life, helped to educate Bulckaert about the toll these drugs can take.

"He gave me a lot of insight into drug dealing in the North," Bulckaert said. "Ultimately he's in jail and it sucks, but he doesn't want to see youth get addicted. To be honest, he made it clear that when he gets out he would probably fall right back into the same thing, but that's his point. As much as he was self aware about how bad that was he also knew that he was stuck."

After discussing the issue with a wide variety of young people in Yellowknife and Hay River, Bulckaert concluded that what would be most effective would be an anti-drug message delivered by the very people it is intended to reach.

"I really took to heart that across the board people wanted to see locals, real people in the North," he said. "They didn't want to see some actor brought up from Edmonton."

The resulting commercial will star Hay River residents expressing their own personal anti-drug messages.

"The campaign is based around the idea of empowerment," Bulckaert said.

In addition to the scene of 100 or more Hay River residents massed together this Sunday, the one or two-minute TV commercial will highlight individuals and small groups of Northerners, including members of Chuck Lirette's Hay River Biathalon Team.

"I think they're quite proud (of participating in Sunday's video shoot)," Lirette said. "There's tonnes and tonnes of peer pressure and they're proud of who they are and they're proud of their accomplishments in sport."

The commercial will premiere in Hay River on March 29.