From JFLLaw.ca By Sara Mainville, Isabel Klassen-Marshall, July 24th, 2024 On June 7th, the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia issued a decision in R. v. Marshall et al, decisively shutting down an Aboriginal and Treaty rights defense in a high-profile cannabis case under the Cannabis Act and the Excise Act in the decision.[1] The defendants, who operated cannabis…
Posts published in “Policy Analysis”
From The Penticton Herald by Jaquelin St. Pierre January 24 2024 SUDBURY—Next week, the Ontario Superior Court will hear a precedent-setting case involving 10 First Nations defendants facing cannabis-related charges dating back to the early days of the legalization of recreational cannabis. Ontario made the substance legal on October 17,…
The accused say they trace their roots to a long-forgotten First Nation that never signed a treaty with the federal government and so are exempt from its laws From The Sudbury Star by Harold Carmichael January 19 2024 A long-forgotten First Nation community was once a thriving group that spoke…
From North Shore News via The Canadian Press January 12 2024 OTTAWA — An annual survey from Health Canada shows 73 per cent of respondents are buying their cannabis from legal sources. That number compares with 37 per cent in 2019, the year after Canada first legalized cannabis. Almost 70…
Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association CEO Mary Jane Oatman shares insights into the current tribal and Indigenous cannabis landscape, major opportunities including retail and nation-to-nation trade, plus challenges the organization is working to overcome. From Cannabis Business Times by Noelle Skodzinski December 19 2023 Approximately 11.7 million Americans identify as partially or entirely…
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.”…
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 resilience.org by Talli Nauman September 18 2023 PINE RIDGE, S.D.- A global enterprise based in Spain may seem an unlikely role model for a fledging American Indian initiative. But inspired by its success, Winona’s Hemp and Heritage Farm in Anishinaabeg territory is sowing the start of an intertribal cooperative…
Committee chair says situation ‘yet another example of how Indigenous Peoples are being let down by Canada’ Brett Forester – CBC News The federal health minister should amend the 2018 Cannabis Act to recognize First Nations’ right to govern the possession, sale and distribution of cannabis on their lands, a…