Fisherman Cody Caplin is self-representing in a court battle over Mi’kmaq fishing rights; six days of trial are scheduled in December. CAMPBELLTON, NB – On October 12th, 2023, Mi’kmaw fisherman Cody Caplin appeared in court to fight an attempt by Crown prosecutor Denis Lavoie to summarily dismiss his constitutional challenge as “manifestly frivolous.”…
Posts published in “Constitutional Question”
Quebec decision on Mohawk tobacco trade a ‘game-changing advancement’ in Aboriginal law, says lawyer
Quebec decision on Mohawk tobacco trade a ‘game-changing advancement’ in Aboriginal law, says lawyer
Court proposes new test to determine existence of Aboriginal right based on Indigenous legal system From Canadian Lawyer Mag by Aidan Macnab November 7 2023 A Quebec court has proposed a new test for determining the existence of an Aboriginal right based on whether the right was protected in the…
Some Indigenous people believe they have constitutional right to sell cannabis without government approval From CBC News by Erik White October 20 2023 After seeing how much it helped his father-in-law deal with Stage 4 cancer, Cecil (Junior) Shawana decided to get into the cannabis business. Shawana and his wife opened…
Audio recording reveals OPP Detectives told the Hwy 17 Dispensary and Trading Post that they would only raid if “the township does not permit it.” By Dispensing Freedom staff MASSEY – On Aug 17th, 2023, the sovereign Highway 17 Dispensary and Trading post was opened at 195 Sauble St. in…
To the media and the people of the Township of Sables-Spanish Rivers. The Hwy 17 Trading Post and Dispensary at 195 Sauble Street in Massey, Ontario represents a deliberate exercising of sovereign Anishinaabe rights on our lands. These inherent Aboriginal and treaty rights are constitutionally protected, though they have long…
PRESS RELEASE – NEWSWIRE.CA – MAY 9 2023 OTTAWA, ON, May 9, 2023 /CNW/ – Medicine Wheel Natural Healing became the first Anishinaabe sovereign cannabis dispensary in Canada when it opened its doors in Alderville First Nation in 2017. Now, with the support of former National Chief Delbert Riley, Medicine Wheel Natural Healing has opened a new location…
Chris, Kyle and Cody Caplin are brothers who live at Ugpi'ganjig and who have been on the front lines of the Micmac fight for economic sovereignty for years. Like hundreds of other Indigenous entrepreneurs, when Canada legalized cannabis in 2018, Chris and Cody Caplin opened a sovereign trading post to sell cannabis on reserve. With wide ranging support for the use of cannabis as a medicine in the community, five other cannabis shops followed the lead of the Medicine Cabinet, and have helped to build a thriving cannabis economy in the community.
In December of last year, the Cape Breton Regional Police Service carried out multiple raids in Membertou First Nation in violation of the constitutionally protected Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of several Mi’kmaq men. On December 13th, 2022 the municipal police force entered into federal “lands reserved for Indians” and raided the premises of Sully's Trading Post and Belly Busters Pizza & Donair to enforce provincial laws.
DARTMOUTH, NS – Over 40 people accompanied Chris Googoo to his court date at the Dartmouth courthouse on October 11th, 2022. Googoo, an Elected Councillor and entrepreneur in Millbrook First Nation, is raising a constitutional challenge to defend his Aboriginal and Treaty rights to sell cannabis on unceded Indian lands after his shop was raided by the RCMP. Councillor Googoo’s shop in Cole Harbour was raided along with several others on December 23rd, 2020. He was charged under the Cannabis Act with “possessing cannabis for the purpose of selling,” and “possession for the purpose of distributing cannabis.”
From APTN by Angel Moore October 11 2022 Chris Googoo, a councillor in Millbrook First Nation in Nova Scotia was supposed to go court Tuesday to set a trial date for two charges of breaching the province’s cannabis laws. Instead, Googoo told the court that he plans on fighting the…