The tiny First Nation of Potlotek, with a key right-of-way location into the heart of Cape Breton Island, is not holding back when it comes to criticizing the recent actions of the Nova Scotia provincial government in warning that cannabis regulations are to be enforced more rigorously.
The village of 800 members that sits on one of two main routes on the way from the mainland into the Island’s economic centre of Sydney, is just the latest community to speak out strongly.
Last Thursday, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs received a “surprise” letter telling them that a directive has been sent from the Attorney General Scott Armstrong to all law enforcement organizations in Nova Scotia telling them to enforce cannabis laws against illegal dispensaries in the province. More than half of all dispensaries sit on First Nations lands in a province where only the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation is licensed to sell cannabis.
Negative responses from Indigenous and non-Indigenous sources – including one from the immediate past Attorney General – have since been sent to Premier Tim Houston and his Conservative government.
While the Sipekne’katik First Nation (formerly known as Shubenacadie First Nation) formerly banned the premier and two cabinet members from the community last week, other First Nations have written strongly-worded letters.
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