There are reports of multiple blockades taking place in Nova Scotia on Thursday afternoon following a cannabis raid in Potlotek.
In a post on X, Mounties said Highway 102 near exit 10 is reduced to one lane of traffic due to a protest and people on the roadway, adding that anyone driving in this area is asked to use extreme caution.
“It’s not about ‘weed shops’ being raided, it’s about the government asserting jurisdiction over our Communities and over our unceded Mik’maq lands,” said Michelle Glasgow, chief of Sipekne’katik First Nation. “If we allow this to continue, then we are allowing the assimilation of Mi’kmaq into a society that was meant to destroy us.”
This comes after Mounties said they executed a criminal search warrant and arrested two men at an illegal cannabis storefront on Highway 4 in Potlotek.
“Following the search warrant execution, a group gathered in the area to protest and block access to Hwy. 4,” police wrote in a media release just before 4 p.m. Thursday. “As a result of the blocked access, officers were not able to leave the premises using their vehicles. Officers who had remained on scene departed on foot.”
The RCMP said as of late afternoon, both Highway 4 and part of Highway 102 remained blocked by protesters. Police said “individuals have a protected right to lawfully, peacefully, and safely assemble” and that no arrests had been made in relation to the protests.
Mounties added that traffic has slowed down in both directions between exit 10 at Shubenacadie and exit 13 at Millbrook due to the protests.
Tension coming to a head
Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia have asked the government to stop raiding cannabis and tobacco sales, saying the RCMP has no right to carry out enforcement on its land.
The council of Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation, led by Chief Terry Paul, released the resolution 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.
The ongoing dispute between Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw governments and the province 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.
