Cannabis to be sold at Eskasoni’s NSLC store
RCMP crack down on privatelyoperated dispensaries
ESKASONI FIRST NATION — Police appear to be cracking down on cannabis businesses in First Nations communities in Nova Scotia, while plans for the first provincially authorized cannabis retailer on a reserve move ahead.
Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. spokesperson Jennifer Grey confirmed a new corporate store, which will include the sale of cannabis products, has received approval from NSLC and will be the first corporate store on a First Nations community in the province.
An agency store in the Bayside Travel Centre in Afton Station is operated by Paqtnkek First Nation.
Grey said the liquor corporation is currently negotiating the terms of the lease for the location in the Eskasoni strip mall, which got a $1.5-million expansion this year and includes the Foodland and the Eskasoni Gaming Centre. All new NSLC potential operators are screened through a request for proposals process and the store must be at least 13 kilometres away from another corporate store.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS
The NSLC location is expected to open as early as January 2022 and fulfils a promise made by Chief Leroy Denny to open a band-operated cannabis retailer, something he said would give the community a way to regulate and control the products as well as the revenue generated, and would eliminate “illegal illicit drugs.”
The chief expressed concern over the unregulated sale of cannabis in the community in early 2020 after two incidents involving the accidental ingestion of cannabis products, both involving children.
At that time, Denny issued a statement noting unregulated cannabis may be unsafe and contain other substances or drugs and that chief and council did not approve or authorize any privately-owned cannabis dispensaries and added Eskasoni would soon launch its own community retailer.
Denny did not respond to a request for comment.
POLICE RAIDS
Eskasoni has had a handful of private dispensaries operating in the community and some have run into trouble with the RCMP.
Bear Buds Trading Post, a small cannabis shop, was raided in December 2020 and charged with violating federal laws. The company will be in court to enter a plea on Aug. 10.
On Friday, RCMP raided a storefront on Shore Road and seized “a significant quantity of cannabis, including edibles,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall, adding increasing complaints and concerns about the products potentially being sold to youth led to police action.
The investigation began on March 25 and Marshall said officers visited the location multiple times and “engaged with the operator of the unlicensed storefront in an effort to resolve the matter and have them cease operations voluntarily.”
Police conducted a search of the property on Friday under the provincial Cannabis Control Act. Charges were laid and the investigation is ongoing, he said. The name of the person charged was not released.
The storefront is located within 200 metres of a school, which was a major cause for concern, Marshall said.
Earlier this month, five people were charged after three dispensaries were raided by RCMP in Millbrook First Nation near Truro.
SELF-REGULATION
First Nations privately-owned dispensaries have been a legal grey area from the beginning, with questions around the province’s authority to oversee cannabis sales on reserves.
Each province has its own rules regarding cannabis, including the legal minimum age, where it can be sold and consumed, and maximum quantities allowed. Under Nova Scotia’s Cannabis Control Act, recreational cannabis may only be sold at select NSLC outlets. The Cannabis Act, the federal legislation that made cannabis legal in 2018, regulates the production, distribution, sale and possession of the drug while making it illegal to sell to minors.
First Nations communities were cut out of the cannabis industry with the federal Cannabis Act distributing revenue from the taxation of cannabis between the top two levels of government, with 75 per cent going to provincial and territorial governments and 25 per cent to the federal government. The regulations do not allow for self-regulation of the industry in First Nations communities.
Under the Indian Act, band councils have jurisdiction to make their own community bylaws regarding “intoxicants,” a rule that some First Nations in Canada have used to prohibit alcohol on reserves. Some communities in Nova Scotia, including Millbrook, have been asking the government to work with them to create opportunities to benefit from the sale of cannabis in their communities, which, until now, has been done through privately-operated dispensaries.
In a written statement, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs said the Mi’kmaq have the right to self-govern under Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982.
“The assembly has been looking at ways to address the health and medical issues associated with cannabis and into the development of educational and intervention programs for our Mi’kmaw communities. Each community has the right and the authority to decide what is best for their members, and how their laws are developed and enacted. What happens in the communities is under the leadership of their own chief and council.”