CBC
Mi’kmaw lawyer accuses police of painting themselves as victims, heightening tensions\
An RCMP manager in Nova Scotia says he takes issue with officers being called white supremacists and Nazis during a recent police raid of a Mi’kmaw-run cannabis dispensary, calling such statements “racist commentary.”
In response, a Mi’kmaw lawyer accused police of painting themselves as victims and heightening tensions for Mi’kmaw communities that have been rocked by unproven allegations from provincial politicians about unlicensed cannabis dispensaries and human trafficking.
On Thursday, Supt. Jason Popik with the Southwest Nova District RCMP said officers were met with “verbal assault” during a Jan. 30 police search and cannabis seizure near the Annapolis Valley.
“When people are calling the police officers Nazis, that’s a derogatory term to reflect their feelings towards the people that are there doing their job,” he said.
Cody Ward, a Mi’kmaw man from Sipekne’katik First Nation, filmed police on Jan. 30 searching a truckhouse-style cannabis shop in Welton Landing, N.S., operated by his uncle. Ward, who asserts he has a treaty right to sell cannabis, can be heard on video saying the RCMP members are behaving like Nazis following orders.
“I hope your kids look at you and think: ‘Dad, you’re a Nazi,”‘ he said in the video.
In an interview Thursday, Ward said the officers carrying out the provincial government’s wishes to crack down on illegal cannabis are taking part in racist action against Mi’kmaw businesses. “If you’re going to practise racist assimilation, you’re probably going to get called a racist,” he said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mikmaw-cannabis-raid-rcmp-racist-comments-9.7076678
