For the past few months, several members of the \u201cFirst Nations\u201d tribes, as called by the Canadians, are opening cannabis shops and dispensaries without the agreement of the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any seller is required to obtain a license delivered by the government before opening a cannabis shop. Members of the First Nations invoke the “traditional pharmacopeia” and the primacy of Aboriginal laws over Canadian law to justify their decision to open dispensaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The province of Saskatchewan no longer exists here,” even said Chief Ira McArthur to Radio-Canada. He is the head of the Pheasant Rump Nakota, a tribe of about 100 people that live on a Native American Reserve in Saskatchewan, a rural province in central Canada. The community defends that provincial and federal laws do not apply in their territory as Indigenous law takes over. According to them, the community can sell cannabis without the government’s stamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little further north, the tribes of Peepeekisis (700 people) and Muscowpetung (500 inhabitants) are fighting for the same cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Native American\u2019s Incomes Are Significantly Lower<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A bit further west, in the province of British Columbia, another Native American called Cory Brewer opened a cannabis store outside of his community territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Member of the Syilx nation based on the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, 2007, he states that: “Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional pharmacopeia and they have the right to maintain their own medical practices.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n For specialist lawyers interviewed by Radio-Canada, this law applies to collectives, not individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Australia or the United States, Canada did not vote for the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous People. Those three countries share a very violent colonization past for which communities demand a minimum recognition of their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The situation of the native communities is really tough. An article written by researchers and published in the prestigious Canadian Encyclopedia describes Amerindian\u2019s current situation as “a political and economic marginalization”. Those communities suffer from an “unemployment rate twice as high as that of non-Aboriginals. The median income of Aboriginal people ($18,962) is considerably lower than that of non-Aboriginal people ($ 27,097)”.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the past few months, several members of the \u201cFirst Nations\u201d tribes, as called by the Canadians, are opening cannabis shops and dispensaries without…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[94,79,54],"tags":[],"gutentor_comment":26,"yoast_head":"\n