Organizers behind a protest held at a Nova Scotia RCMP detachment say police action against Indigenous-owned cannabis dispensaries represents a continued attack on Mi’kmaq sovereignty.
Thomas Durfee said a crowd of more than 100 people gathered at the RCMP detachment in Millbrook First Nation to protest Thursday after Mounties executed a search warrant at a cannabis store in the community and arrested one man.
Durfee said in an interview Sunday the peaceful protest involved free lobster, music and speeches from matriarchs in the community.
“We’re just here to assert our rights… It was very emotional to see a lot of the women in our community come and speak out. We had all the clan mothers there, the water protectors… many prominent voices in our community,” Durfee said.
Millbrook First Nation council member Chris Googoo told the crowd Thursday it’s important to rally behind the shop owner who he says is operating a Mi’kmaq “truckhouse,” which is a traditional trading post.
Googoo said the community has asked the RCMP not to enforce the Cannabis Act as it works to develop its own independent regulations for selling cannabis.
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“We’re here to support our band member here who exercises his rights by having a treaty truckhouse, which is constitutionally protected because we have a right to trade,” Googoo said, referring to the term used for trading posts in treaties signed by the Mi’kmaq and British Crown in the 1700s.
The RCMP said in a statement that police executed a search warrant at “an illegal cannabis storefront” on Wednesday and seized a quantity of cannabis and unstamped tobacco.
Police say the one man who was arrested was released and will not be charged, but that investigators anticipate others will face charges as evidence is collected. Charges are also pending against other people related to the investigation.
The RCMP statement also noted that “a small group of protesters gathered outside without incident” while police were on site.
“The RCMP reminds residents that the only legal way to purchase cannabis in the province is at licensed locations,” police said.
Durfee, who operates five truckhouses that sell cannabis alongside local art, disputes that Indigenous-owned and operated cannabis sales can be considered illegal given the historic treaties.
“We have all these treaty protections so that we can go and come as we please, and trade to the best of our abilities,” he said.
“They talk about setting precedents, they talk about regulations, they talk about getting permissions, they talk about this being illegal. But that’s really a huge defamation of our culture that the Canadian government and the RCMP is continuing (to perpetuate),” Durfee added.
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