Anchorage, ALASKA - Born again into a saving grace revealed to him in "the unity of the drum," Mi'kmaw musician Paul Pike is encouraged to offer himself "in any way I can" to help the troubled youth of Innu Labrador.

The Corner Brook-born leader of the native American band Medicine Dream claims that the hurting people of Shitshatshui and Davis Inlet are victims of cross-cultural influences who need "positive role models" to help them overcome addictive behaviors that are devastating their communities.

"I haven't been talking to the Innu Nation (leaders), but when the kids get back from their treatment, I'd like to do something up there," Pike said as he prepared in early December to return to his beloved Ktaqmkuk (the Mi'kmaq word meaning Newfoundland) for Christmas and the New Year. "To help them build up their self-esteem, to build up their culture and let them know that we care for them."

In fact, much of what Pike and his band do with their music is for elimination of the substance abuse among individuals and cultures on the fringes of societies everywhere. Proceeds from their first and second albums have been directed into education and treatment programs for vicitims of alcohol and drug abuse.

The decisions to direct any profits toward such causes is in keeping with native tradition to "give away the first thing you make that is good."

Medicine Dreams third album is expected to be released next summer, probably in time for a promotional tour into Labrador.

"I am glad to help out in any way I can," says the multi-talented musician.

Innu children in the two northern Labrador communities have year been plaqued by problems related to parental alcoholism and their own subsequent choice to become involved in solvent-abuse practices. Gas-sniffing among aboriginal youth has reached crisis proportions in Sheshatshui and Davis Inlet in recent years.

In November, Innu leaders there called on provincial authorites in Newfoundland to remove problem children, some of them as young as seven years of age, from their family homes. Pursuant to fulfilling certain legal obligations, many of the children were referred into protective custody and have since been enrolled in abuse treatment programs.

The provincial and federal governments have since allocated funding that will allow for the construction and operation of a permanent treatment and rehabilitation centre in that area.

Pike, who saw first hand the impacts of addiction following the suicide of a friend to whom he later dedicated his first album of recordings, says it is "horrible that nobody ever does anything until things come to a crisis."

"Substance abuse is a problem all over the world," he says, decrying stereotypes he says are otherwise attached to native aboriginals. "It's not just in Labrador."

"It's been going on in a lot of places, for a long time," he says, recalling his own childhood when he said he witnessed young non-aboriginals abusing solvents. "It happens."

Pike should know. Outside his music and in conjunction with it, he works as an (addictions counsellor??) with a government-run anti-abuse program in Alaska.

Racism and isolation impacts negatively on native populations, Pike claims, adding that the mainstream media is partly to blame in that it rearely focuses on aboriginal cultures "except when the news is bad."

For his own part, that is what Pike and the Medicine Dream eight are helping turn around, giving native America a more positive face, a recognizable presence that their music and spiritual beliefs entwine. The band maintains a strong stance against the use of alcohol and drugs, refusing to make appearances in bars and places where there is a likelihood that people may be using them.

Pike promotes use of indigenous language and lauds the oneness of mankind through his spiritual take on the culturally-significant aboriginal drum. Since the band's launch in 1996, Medicine Dream has continued to create a captivating blend of rock and progressive sounds with Native American flute and traditional singing and drumming.

On the band's website, where fans flock to write in the quest book and to order the contemporary native American music they enjoy, the essence of "the drum" taught by tribal elders is described in prophetic detail.

"Everything is connected....Over generations, as people pass, their molecules go into the earth, nourish the trees that become the drum, as the four-legged animals become the drum. It is part of us in some way," Pike relates in media interviews. "The drum is a way of life, a connection, a tie....it is timeless .... "

Bringing that message to the rest of the world has been easier throught the music, says Pike, who reports that tracks from the band's first album, entitled Identity, and its now one-year-old second collection, called Mawio'mi, is "being played on radio stations everywhere, even in Sweden.

Pike, who laughs modestly at the notion of being an international star, says he is glad for the success the band has enjoyed so far, even garnering three nominations in the Native American Music Awards (dubbed the NAMMYS), including best new group.

While his work causes him to spend part of the year in Alaska, Pike is also glad to still call Elamastukwek (Bay of Islands) home. Again, next summer, he is looking forward to participating in "the Elmastukwek Mi'kmaq Mawio'mi." The Bay of Islands Mi'kmaw Gathering is a show designed to bring native and local cultures together in "a hope for greater acceptance and understanding of all people," he says.

Medicine Dream is regularly featured on American Indian Radio on satellite. The octet is considered the #1 Native American group played on Anchorage, Alaska's KNBA (Native Broadcasting of Alaska), 90.3 FM.

The band released its newest CD Mawio'mi on the Canyon Records label November 1st, 1999.

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