BC’s Community Safety Unit, which focuses on enforcement of provincial retail cannabis rules, shut down several unlicensed cannabis stores in the Vernon area this week. 

Many details remain unclear, but what is known is that on October 29, CSU officers attended three or four small cannabis stores operating on Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) land near the town of Vernon. Local media has confirmed the action was taken by the BC CSU.

The BC Community Safety Unit, under the Policing and Security Branch of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, is responsible for compliance and enforcement under the provincial Cannabis Control and Licensing Act (CCLA), focusing on the illegal sale of cannabis. CSU investigators can carry out compliance and enforcement activities against unlicensed cannabis retailers and other illegal sellers across the province.

A request was made for comment from OKIB leadership on the issue, but no response was provided by press time. Local Media also reported that the raided locations have since re-opened.

The outlet further reports that OKIB chief and council met with the CSU in July at a meeting open to the public.

“Chief and council have asked the Provincial Community Safety Unit to assist in the enforcement of OKIB’s Cannabis Control Law,” the meeting announcement reads. “OKIB’s Cannabis Control Law was developed in consultation with community and reflects a balance that allows businesses to thrive while providing community members with peace of mind.”

One cannabis store owner operating on OKIB land that was not raided tells StratCann that his understanding is that OKIB leadership had been in recent talks with the BC government about bringing in the CSU to address some stores that were potentially violating OKIB cannabis regulations that require among other things, certain levels of First Nations ownership of stores operating within their territory. 

Cory Brewer, who operates two Timix’x Wellness cannabis shops and is the president of the Syilx Cannabis Society, representing members of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, says there have been concerns in the community that some stores have been taking advantage of the ability to operate under the protection of First Nations communities without following community standards.

He says his understanding is that OKIB is also in the process of updating its cannabis regulations, which currently require that a store be at least 51% owned by a Band member. The regulations also include requirements such as those for security cameras, 19+ access only, no onsite consumption, no proximity to schools, etc. 

“A lot of band members will take chump change just to let someone that’s not First Nations plop a sea can or something like that on their land and open up using their status card,” Brewer tells StratCann. 

He says the distinction is frustrating to himself and others who are indigenous-owned and operating with the support of the community. 

“It makes us all look really bad because we’re very particular about who we work with.”

Rob Laurie, a lawyer who represents several First Nations cannabis businesses in the province, including Brewer, says he is seeing law enforcement in BC taking a divide-and-conquer approach—sometimes in coordination with First Nations leadership and sometimes not.

On the same day as the CSU raids in Vernon, the federal RCMP announced a series of raids on Vancouver Island that took place in early October, resulting in six arrests and the seizure of more than 120,000 cannabis edibles from two unlicensed cannabis stores. Specifically, police listed Green Coast Dispensary in Port Alberni, Coastal Storm Dispensary in Lantzville, and five residences on Vancouver Island. 

Laurie says the stores they closed appear to be connected to First Nation-owned stores he represents but were decidedly not First Nations owned, while others under the same or similar retail brand that were operating on First Nations land went untouched. 

“There seems to be a distinction in the stores that they’re hitting,” Laurie tells StratCann. “They’re splitting the herd between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous participants.”

Still, Laurie says there doesn’t appear to be much rhyme or reason to the raids. Cannabis shops, some of which he represents, operating on First Nations land in Comox, BC, were twice raided by the CSU earlier this year.

Despite the raids, he says he hasn’t seen any charges related to them, many months later. 

“For whatever reason,” Laurie told Stratcann earlier this year, “they are just not taking the same degree of enforcement against the Indigenous operators as they would against non-Indigenous. And I think that’s similar to the test cases with dispensaries in the City of Vancouver, they’re taking a cautious approach because what if they’re wrong? What if the courts agree with the Indigenous community, not the government.”

The province has shared a similar perspective on the subject.

Although the BC Government has long taken the position that BC’s Cannabis Act is a “law of general application” that applies to all of British Columbia, including First Nations’ land, the province’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth has said in the past that there is a concern that this interpretation could be “tested” by actions such as enforcement that could be interpreted differently by the courts.

Featured image via Google Maps

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