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Posts published in “Issues”

Halifax Regional Police trample on  Mi’kmaq Treaty Rights

In an interview with Dispensing Freedom, Mr. Durfee stated that when the Halifax Regional Police/RCMP – led by Detective Constable Jeffrey Seebold – raided Amu Leaf, the officers displayed significant “ignorance and racism” in their conduct. Durfee says that the officers “ripped all of our treaty materials off the walls and shredded them, tore down all our signage from the walls, and smashed all of our security cameras.”

Sudbury trial raises questions about Indigenous rights to sell cannabis

Outcome could have broader implications for how pot is sold on and off First Nations From CBC by Aya Dufour January 15 2024 Although the 10 defendants who logged into a virtual Superior Court of Justice trial on Monday are from different areas of Ontario, they have two things in common: they’re Indigenous, and…

Jamaican Cannabis Struggles to Integrate Traditional Growers

From Talking Drugs by MillaMay Garrow November 9 2023 The regulation of cannabis in Jamaica is an important issue to get right given the countries’ historical and cultural link to the drug. With its arrival in the mid-19th Century from Indian indentured servants, cannabis quickly became aligned with social and political movements of…

Former National Chief Del Riley to assist Mi’kmaw fisherman in New Brunswick constitutional challenge 

CAMPBELLTON, NB – On October 12th, 2023, Mi’kmaw fisherman Copy Caplin appeared in court to fight an attempt by Crown prosecutor Denis Lavoie to summarily dismiss his constitutional challenge as “manifestly frivolous.” Caplin, a Mi’kmaw man from Ugpi’ganjig Eel River Bar First Nation, has been fighting charges under the Fisheries Act for exercising his Aboriginal and treaty rights to fish for food. 

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…

Is the Indigenous cannabis industry under financial blockade from Canada?

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.

Chief Del Riley speaks at Highway 17 Dispensary and Trading Post in Massey

Over forty people came out to hear former National Chief Del Riley speak at the grand opening of the Highway 17 Dispensary and Trading Post in Massey on August 17th, 2023. The trading post is the latest sovereign cannabis dispensary to open up off-reserve as Indigenous entrepreneurs move beyond the Indian Act and assert Aboriginal and treaty rights to their traditional territory.