Commentary
Earlier this year, a joint operation by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and First Nations police dismantled a $10 million illicit cigarette manufacturing plant on Ontario’s Six Nations territory, while provincial teams executed record cigarette seizures across New Brunswick and Alberta.
Some First Nations pushed back.
Nova Scotia’s Membertou First Nation passed a council resolution barring the RCMP and provincial inspectors from regulating tobacco commerce within their borders.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs issued statements opposing the government’s attacks on what it terms the indigenous right to regulate sales of tobacco and cannabis.
Sipekne’katik First Nation turned up the rhetoric in passing a resolution declaring the premier and provincial justice ministers as “undesirable,” effectively banning them from entering Sipekne’katik territory over the issue….