N.S. First Nation tells government and RCMP to stay out of cannabis and tobacco sales

Julie Payette, former governor general of Canada, presents the Order of Canada to Chief Terrance Paul of Membertou, N.S., at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday Nov. 17, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

HALIFAX — An Indigenous government in Nova Scotia has passed a new resolution saying the province and RCMP have no right to carry out enforcement on its lands, as police and provincial officials step up raids on what they claim are illegal cannabis operations.

The council of Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation, led by Chief Terry Paul, released the resolution Friday saying it has a treaty right to self-governance, recognized by the Constitution. It says that includes the right to regulate sales of cannabis and tobacco.

“Enforcement bodies used by the Province of Nova Scotia to assert their unlawful authority, including the RCMP, and Service Nova Scotia -- Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco Division, are not permitted to carry out enforcement activities on Membertou lands,” says the document.

It’s the latest in an ongoing dispute between Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw governments and the province that ratcheted up when Attorney General Scott Armstrong issued a directive to police agencies in December to increase illegal cannabis enforcement. Armstrong wrote to 13 Mi’kmaq chiefs at the time, requesting their co-operation.

The provincial government and Mi’kmaq leaders have also had disputes over grant funding, resource extraction policies and protests on Crown land.

Armstrong has claimed unregulated cannabis benefits organized crime, with profits used to fund other crimes, such as human trafficking. Police have followed orders with a series of raids across the province, including on March 3 when they seized cannabis from five dispensaries in Eskasoni First Nation, Potlotek First Nation, Paq’tnkek First Nation, Waycobah First Nation and near Digby, N.S.

The province allows cannabis sales only at the Crown-owned Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) locations.

Paul issued a statement earlier this month saying that the Mi’kmaq have a “collective treaty right to the sale of cannabis.” Armstrong responded that he has the utmost respect for the chief, but they have a difference of opinion.

The province maintains that multiple court decisions have rejected the idea that cannabis sales are a treaty right. There are other cases involving Indigenous-owned cannabis operators currently making their way through the provincial court system.

“Federal and provincial laws govern alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis,” the government said in a statement Saturday. “These laws apply throughout Nova Scotia, including on reserve lands. Police are responsible for enforcement.”

The RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Constance MacIntosh, a professor at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law who has worked in Indigenous and Aboriginal law, said when the federal government legalized cannabis in 2018 it didn’t make explicit what role First Nations would play, and there have been calls for Ottawa to clarify the issue.

She said Nova Scotia is a bit of an outlier, as it has stood back and tried to maintain a monopoly while provinces like B.C., Ontario and Saskatchewan developed agreements with First Nations.

MacIntosh says the 1752 Treaty of Peace and Friendship gives Mi’kmaq people the right to sell products and make a moderate livelihood. In a court case, she suspects the province will argue that the right does not extend to products like cannabis, which weren’t sold at the time

“It all turns on whether one reads that treaty right as a broad right to a moderate livelihood through participation in commercial activities or if one is somehow trying to link it to items that have a more traditional or historic origin,” she said in an interview Saturday.

“I don’t think that argument necessarily has legs if that’s where the province takes it, but certainly their argument is based on limiting that treaty right.”

MacIntosh said Membertou is not proposing a lawless free-for-all. She said the community has been working on a bylaw for years, in consultation with the community, that would include things like zoning and licensing restrictions.

Membertou, next door to Sydney, N.S., has built strong connections with the business community and other governments. In 2021 it led the Indigenous side of the $1-billion purchase of Nova Scotia’s Clearwater Seafoods, in partnership with B.C.-based Premium Brands. Along with two other Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq communities, it’s a 51 per cent owner of the several wind farms Everwind Fuels is building to help power its proposed green hydrogen production plant on Cape Breton Island.

Earlier this month Membertou signed a deal with Ottawa that saw 165 hectares of new land added to the reserve, doubling its land base.

Other First Nations are opposing the cannabis crackdown. Maw-lukutijik Saqmaq, also known as the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, issued a statement earlier this month saying raids have undermined the positive work that had been done to build relationships between the First Nations, police and the province. The Sipekne’katik First Nation northeast of Halifax has cited the cannabis directive for banning Premier Tim Houston and several ministers from the community.

The provincial government introduced a bill last week that would ramp up cannabis enforcement by increasing fines and allowing peace officers to enforce cannabis rules alongside police.

Last year the province offered a legal path for regulated First Nations cannabis stores, overseen by the NSLC. The Crown corporation said it has signed one such deal with a Mi’kmaw community, but declined to say which one.

“The community will share more when they are ready to move forward with next steps,” the NSLC said in a statement last week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2026.