Damaged RCMP vehicles recovered after First Nation protests in N.S., police say

Sipekne'katik First Nation members protest along Highway 102 near Shubenacadie, N.S. on Thursday, April 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ted Pritchard

Police in Nova Scotia have launched investigations after RCMP vehicles were damaged and highways were blocked following a raid on a First Nations cannabis shop that a local leader says ruined years of building trust.

RCMP officers, with the help of Potlotek First Nation leaders, on Friday morning recovered seven police vehicles that were left behind during protests the day before and ended a partial blockade that remained, according to a news release.

Photos of the recovered vehicles shared by the RCMP show an unmarked police car missing its wheels, while glass windows were shattered and tires slashed on several of the SUVs.

An RCMP spokesperson confirmed all but one of the seven vehicles left behind Thursday were damaged.

Isaiah Bernard, a Potlotek band councillor, said in a Friday interview that the damage wasn’t done by any Potlotek band members but instead by “outsiders who came here.”

“There are people who were just looking to cause a fight,” he said, adding it “wasn’t the Mi’kmaq way” to cause harm to the vehicles.

The protests were the latest events amid a crackdown by Nova Scotia on unregulated marijuana after the province’s attorney general in December directed police agencies to ramp-up illegal cannabis enforcement.

That call sparked a backlash from some Mi’kmaq leaders who say the sale of cannabis in their communities is protected by treaty rights and is therefore under their jurisdiction.

On Thursday, Mounties entered a cannabis storefront in Potlotek and arrested two men while seizing products. Protesters then attempted to block Highway 4, including with heavy equipment, according to police and residents.

Officers cleared their vehicles of weapons and left on foot out of consideration for protester safety, according to an RCMP description of events. Meanwhile, related protests sprung up at various other locations in the province.

Many Potlotek community members went home around 9 p.m. on Thursday evening, according to Bernard. On Friday morning Chief Wilbert Marshall told any remaining protestors to shut a remaining partial blockade down.

Bernard said the community plans to issue a public letter and contact provincial and federal representatives for support, and noted the raid has broken goodwill between the First Nation and the local RCMP.

“We had great relationships with them over the last four years and we’ve been hosting events with them,” Bernard said.

“What happened yesterday broke a lot of that trust and it’s going to take a long time to build up to what it was. And it is unfortunate.”

Paul Service, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia RCMP, said the service “values our relationship with Potlotek First Nation.”

“We also are an enforcement agency, and enforcement of laws preventing the illegal sale of alcohol and cannabis is part of supporting community safety.”

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs said in March the cannabis shop raids have undermined the positive work that had been done to build relationships between First Nations, police and the province.

“The Mi’kmaw assert their Right to self-government, which includes jurisdiction over economic development, community safety and the regulation of what happens on our lands,” a statement from the organization said in early March.

Meanwhile, the RCMP said investigations into the sale of cannabis, blockade of Highway 4 and “related criminal offences” will continue.

Bernard said some of the blame can be attributed to the government — and that resistance to its policies from First Nations goes behind just cannabis.

“I hope that our province will just leave us alone, we’re a sovereign nation,” he added.

With files from Lyndsay Armstrong

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2026.

Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press