Ontario passed legislation this week that, among other things, bans growing cannabis in homes where childcare services are provided and further allows the province to enter into agreements with First Nations communities to support cannabis regulations on reserves.

Bill 157, Enhancing Access to Justice Act, 2024, which passed on March 5 and received Royal Assent on March 6, includes the two amendments to Ontario’s Cannabis Control Act.

The amendment related to childcare specifically prohibits the cultivation, propagation, or harvesting of cannabis in dwellings in which child care, as defined in Ontario’s Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, is provided. 

The rule creates an exception for in-home childcare services, which is defined as child care provided at the child’s home, or place where residential care is provided for the child, and there is an agreement between a home childcare agency and the care provider that provides for the agency’s oversight of the provision of care.

British Columbia has had a similar restriction on home cultivation and consumption in childcare settings since 2018.

The Bill was introduced by the Ontario Conservatives, and while it did receive support from the opposition NDP, at least one member questioned the need for these changes. 

Kristyn Wong-Tam, the NDP critic for the Attorney General, critic for small business, and member of the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, questioned the need for the rule change, calling it a “non-issue,” and admonishing the government for recent policy changes that allow companies to operate up to 150 cannabis stores in the province, an increase from a previous cap of 75. That rule change came into effect in January

“I wonder why the government would make such a hoopla about a non-issue like cannabis in childcare facilities and then move to quietly advance the centralization and the consolidation of big cannabis corporations by giving them much more expansion power,” said Wong-Tam while the bill was being debated in the House.

“I have heard from small cannabis businesses who fear this will hurt them, and I have heard from larger cannabis businesses who believe that the limits on the numbers of cannabis stores that a company can have are too low,” Wong-Tam added in an email to StratCann. “I wish that understanding this decision played a larger role in the debate. When I reached out to cannabis stakeholders, many informed me that I was the first MPP to ever ask them how Ontario’s legislation could be enhanced. I invite cannabis stakeholders to engage their provincial government more regularly at Queen’s Park so we can learn from you about what your businesses need.”

The second piece of legislation related to cannabis was a change to the provincial cannabis act, allowing the province to enter into agreements with First Nations communities to support cannabis regulations on reserves.

Any such agreements would require any regulations created by First Nations to adhere to provincial and federal regulations while providing a chance for band councils to oversee their own retail cannabis business in their communities. 

There are currently only seven licensed recreational cannabis retailers on First Nation reserves in Ontario, while many others operate outside of the provincial framework and, at times, outside the framework of the First Nations government within the reserve that they operate in.

During the bill’s second reading, Doug Downy, Ontario’s Attorney General, said the legislation was created in concert with First Nations communities and leadership.

“This comes on the heels of much conversation with First Nations partners and communities,” said Downy, “and the aspirations they have for a safe and regulated market to protect their youth and their communities, just as we seek to do the same in the rest of the province of Ontario.”

Previously, the provincial cannabis regulations authorized the Minister to enter into arrangements and agreements with a council of the band with respect to specific cannabis regulation issues on a reserve. 

Under the newly added language, provincial legislation will authorize the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations to implement the arrangement or agreement. These regulations can then modify or clarify the application of the Act, and establish requirements that apply on a reserve and incorporate rules established by the council of the band.

Featured image: Rama Cannabis, one of the seven provincially-regulated cannabis stores currently operating within First Nations communities in Ontario

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