A northern Manitoba First Nations leader believes he was beat up in Winnipeg on Wednesday because of his get-tough drug policies.

Chief Marcel Balfour of the Norway House Cree Nation was in the city for a meeting at about 8 a.m. Wednesday when he said he was assaulted by two men near his parked car.

"These two guys came from over here and asked me, 'Are you Marcel?' And then I was walking back and they took a swipe at me after I said, 'Yes,' " Balfour said.

The men beat Balfour, leaving him with a black eye and a cut to his head that required 14 stitches.

Balfour believes the attack was intended to scare him from his battle to reduce drug use on his reserve, located about 460 kilometres north of Winnipeg at the northeastern tip of Lake Winnipeg.

"We'll be looking at our drug bylaw that was instituted last year or the year before, but has not been enforced, and I want to make sure it is legally binding so that we can actually enforce it locally," he said.

"They explain what they're doing in Norway House, how long they're going to be in Norway House, where they're staying, and we're registering their vehicle and [they're] telling us what their business is," he explained.

Wednesday's attack won't scare him away from making those changes, he said, adding that something must be done to stem the flow of drugs into the community.

"It's a very serious problem, and we see the effects of it within the homes and families, and the direct effects on people who do use drugs as well," he said.

Balfour's attackers fled the scene when an onlooker called police.

Northern chiefs' group to offer protection from similar attacks

The attack on Balfour was "very outrageous," said Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch of Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin, the group representing northern Manitoba chiefs.

Garrioch said Thursday he is aware that First Nations leaders may face danger as they try to implement anti-drug policies.

"Our leaders are trying to do what they can to deal with this problem," he said.

Garrioch said northern chiefs are concerned about the growing availability of drugs on their reserves, and the organization is developing a set of drug strategies and community policies to address the issue.

He said northern chiefs will be offered protection before they are asked to introduce any anti-drug measures.

"It's scary, no doubt. Our leaders are very concerned about this approach," Garrioch said.

"Certainly we'll try to do what we can to make sure the safeguards are available for our leaders when they start attempting to clean up this mess of problems that we are having."

Garrioch said MKIO's new drug strategy will be finalized shortly.