Canada certainly has an interesting relationship with marijuana, doesn’t it? From the moment the Canadian government officially legalized the plant on October 17, 2018, people have been swarming marijuana shops to claim their prize (sometimes in a seeming act of desperation), but the issue of product sales and licensing seems to be making headlines again. Under Canadian law, edibles and pot-infused beverages are 100% legal under the rule of the Indigenous Sovereignty (Native Canadians), so it will not be surprising to find out that many people are traveling to pot boomtowns on tribal lands (like Alderville in Ottawa) to get a taste of their beloved pot cakes and weed brownies. However, even for the first settlers of Canada, things seem to be shaking up. Recently, the government of Saskatchewan looked into a tribal store on indigenous land and declared it is illegal. Let’s take a closer look and find out what happened, exactly.
Let Me See Your, License
Next week, the Saskatchewan provincial government and representatives from the Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation will gather to speak about the legality of a cannabis store operated by the Muscowpetung people, which has not yet been licensed by provincial officials. Only an hour’s drive from Regina, Mino-Maskihki opened early in November and already sparked controversy among lawmakers. So why is the government so peeved? Overall, Saskatchewan officials have declared that they (and no one else) have the authority to distribute licenses to shops throughout the province. In a major move, officials have urged Mino-Maskihki to shut down entirely.
A Matter of Tribal Law
However, Mino-Maskihki is not an unlicensed marijuana store. In fact, the shop received a cannabis license from the Muscowpetung people, who have pronounced that they have the right to issue these licenses based on tribal sovereign laws. According to the tribe’s spokesman Cherish Francis, this is just another attempt at over-the-top intervention, and he might not be wrong.
Recently, Rob Stevenson (owner of the Alderville store) announced that the native tribes were going to add cannabis to their list of traditional medicines, which are protected by the 2007 United Nations Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982.
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