EDMONTON — Aboriginal people can wrest control of violence-plagued reserves in Alberta's Hobbema area by having zero tolerance for gangs and by banning drugs and alcohol from homes, says a former gang member who is now a member of the Saskatchewan legislature.

Serge LeClerc, a former drug dealer and addict of aboriginal descent, turned his life around while serving hard time in prison. Now he's legislative secretary to the minister of corrections and policing in Saskatchewan.

LeClerc says the reserves must also help children by offering cultural and spiritual-based programs to strengthen families and by co-operating with the RCMP and the courts.

"They have to send a message loud and clear to the gangs -- you are not tolerated,'' he says. "If you are caught with colours on, you will be charged. You need to go after the gang leaders who are making money using the kids and drugs to do it.''

"It takes the whole village. It has to be zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs. You have to stop the recruitment. We are doing this for the kids who are not caught up in this yet.''

LeClerc has been invited by the Samson Cree First Nation to give advice on how to thwart the 13 different gangs that have been waging war on four reserves 70 kilometres south of Edmonton.

The reserves have faced dozens of gun incidents and stabbings over the past few years, including homicides. But when 23-month-old Asia Saddleback was wounded earlier this month in a drive-by shooting, horrified residents said enough is enough.

Asia's mom, Candace Saddleback, has said she is too scared to ever go back to her home on the reserve.

First Nation leaders, the RCMP and community residents have formed a task force to come up with ways to thwart the gangs. Meetings are planned in Hobbema in mid-May.

LeClerc, who spent 21 years behind bars -- including a stint in Quebec's tough St. Vincent-de-Paul penitentiary -- says residents can't just rely on the Mounties to solve the problem. There must be a broad-based approach.

He said the First Nations in Hobbema, among the wealthiest in Canada, must also look at changing the way royalties from the oil industry are distributed to residents when they turn 18. Giving teens thousands of dollars to spend would create problems for any community from any culture, he says.

"There has to be a focus on education,'' says LeClerc, who holds an honours degree in sociology from the University of Waterloo. "This handing out of money as soon as a kid turns 17 or 18 _ that has got to stop. They have got to have a hook -- 'the only way you are going to get this is if you go to school _ this is going to pay for you to go to school -- and if you don't go to school, you are not getting it.' ''

Michael Chettleburgh, another expert who has conducted surveys on gangs for the federal government, has also been asked to give advice to the First Nations in Hobbema.

Chettleburgh says aboriginal gangs are the fastest growing gangs in Canada. Young people are attracted to them because they offer excitement, a sense of belonging and access to the lucrative drug trade.

In many cases such gangs are linked to organized crime.

"RCMP have to be front and centre to take out the leaders of these gangs. About 20 per cent of these gang members are probably responsible for about 80 per cent of the violence,'' LeClerc says.

"But the community needs to own this. We can't arrest our way out of this. It's a complex problem. We can never eradicate gangs -- you can just mitigate the spillover affect into the community.''

The federal and Alberta governments have posted 41 RCMP officers to police the four reserves, which gives the Hobbema communities a police-to-resident ratio of one to 238. By contrast, the police-to-resident ratio in Calgary is one to 630.

RCMP Cpl. Darrel Bruno said since the Saddleback shooting, police have stepped up patrols on the reserves and firearm and violence incidents have been reduced.

He adds that officers have been confronting gang members in their hangouts.

On Thursday RCMP arrested two suspected gang members and seized crack cocaine as well as shotgun and rifle ammunition.

LeClerc, who has visited the reserves before and plans to do so again later this spring, says he is hopeful the community can turn its gang problem around.

"I think they have a wonderful opportunity now from this horrible tragedy,'' LeClerc says. "I think the community will see this as a wake-up call to really come out of the ashes like a Phoenix and begin to bring back identity and faith.''