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 “Legal analysis”
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…
From National Indigenous Times by Giovanni Torre October 12 2023 The NSW/ACT Aboriginal Legal Service has welcomed the NSW government’s new drug legislation as “a welcome step towards sensible, fair and evidence-based drug policy”, and encouraged stronger reforms. On October 12 ALS noted the proposed diversion scheme relies on police…
While some Indigenous dispensary owners have had their accounts closed for years, there seems to have been a recent uptick in financial actions taken against Indigenous entrepreneurs, almost to the point of an economic embargo. Many of these actions have taken place against individuals living in territories where Band Councils have passed by-laws acknowledging the sovereign right of their residents to cultivate and sell cannabis and where referendums and surveys have shown community support for the cannabis industry.
From Castanet by Jon Manchester May 5 2023 The owner of an Indigenous-owned cannabis shop in Vernon that was the focus of enforcement raids in 2020 is suing the provincial government. In a petition to BC Supreme Court made in Vancouver May 2, Cory Patrick Brewer, president of the Syilx…
The Rowan Proclamation of 1854 builds on the Royal Proclamation of 1763, and defends and protects Indigenous property and business on unceded Indian lands. On November 24th, 2022 join 420 North, Flint and Flower, and media sponsors Dispensing Freedom and Real People’s Media to discuss attempts by Indian Act Band…
From MJ Biz Daily by Matt Lamers November 11 2022 Some Indigenous leaders believe they’ve been largely excluded from Canada’s multibillion-dollar legal cannabis retail and cultivation industry. That’s the message Indigenous leaders delivered last month at a Senate committee studying the implementation of the country’s federal cannabis law. At the…
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.”
A group of 10 Anishinaabe cannabis users and dispensary owners who have raised a constitutional challenge to Canada’s Cannabis Act, won a victory at the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario yesterday. In a seven page decision, Justice P.J. Boucher refused a motion by the Crown to summarily dismiss the…
Matter dropped after Crown said lead investigator was no longer available From CBC by Erin Pottie September 2 2022 A Cape Breton man waited nearly two years to argue for what he says is his right to sell cannabis on reserve lands. But just as Albert Marshall Jr.’s trial got underway on…