First Nations to fight N.S. pot monopoly
Dispute over cannabis jurisdiction rules raises constitutional issues
HALIFAX— Nova Scotia First Nations appear poised to take on the province’s marijuana monopoly — including one Mi’kmaq community that has enlisted Olympian Ross Rebagliati to roll out a “seed to sale” cannabis operation.
Sipekne’katik First Nation in Indian Brook, N.S., has plans to grow cannabis and sell it directly to consumers, while Millbrook First Nation is considering retail locations, bypassing the provincial Crown corporation slated to control sales once the drug is legal on Oct. 17.
The government says selling cannabis from a privately owned storefront will remain illegal in Nova Scotia, but Rebagliati argues that First Nations lands are federal jurisdiction and they are within their rights to set up dispensaries.
The disagreement could set the stage for a constitutional showdown over cannabis sales.
“This is precedent-setting,” Rebagliati, a gold-medal snowboarder, cannabis expert and entrepreneur said in an interview this week after his second visit to the Mi’kmaq community formerly called the Shubenacadie First Nation. “It’s rather unfortunate (the province) is taking that route.”
Canada’s provinces and territories have opted for one of three retail models for cannabis sales: private, public or a hybrid of the two.
In Nova Scotia, sales will be government-controlled.
“We have said all along that our approach to legalization is through a public health lens and that we will start wellregulated and tightly controlled,” a Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement. “At this time, we are not considering a retail model outside of the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation.”
The province’s stringent stance doesn’t appear to deter First Nations communities, with the Assembly of Nova Sco- tia Mi’kmaq Chiefs indicating it is exploring the economic opportunities of cannabis.
Rebagliati said the Mi’kmaq community in Indian Brook has a strong plan, and he’s put together a “gold-medal team” to help them reach their goal.
“The model is to go seed to sale and that boosts the margins quite substantially and gives them a competitive edge,” he said from B.C. “They came to me with their ideas and they are super progressive.
Chief Bob Gloade of Millbrook First Nation said the community has invested in a cannabis company and is considering opening a storefront.
“We’re focusing on the retail side of it going forward and we’re working on details in that respect,” he said, saying for now the community isn’t launching its own production.
McGill University constitutional law professor Mark Walters said the situation raises important and controversial legal and constitutional issues.
He said the “orthodox” legal answer would be that provincial laws will apply on reserves, unless a First Nation could show that regulating the sale of cannabis was a custom, practice or tradition integral to its distinctive culture. However, he said there’s a strong argument that federal law protects a much broader right to Indigenous self-government than the courts have so far acknowledged.
“There is considerable room here for an interpretation of the law that would acknowledge Indigenous rights of selfgovernment over this issue.”