Retired Canadian senator Dan Christmas pushing for Cannabis Act changes
From CBC by Tom Ayers May 11 2026
Membertou First Nation is pressing ahead with its own cannabis law, amid a Nova Scotia crackdown on unlicensed retail outlets and federal government indifference over self-government rights.
Retired Canadian senator Dan Christmas, appointed to engage his home community of Membertou on a proposed new cannabis law, said it’s time the federal government fulfilled its promise to include Indigenous authority over marijuana in its legislation.
It has ceded control in other areas of jurisdiction. Recently, Christmas presented a Senate committee with a clause to be added to the Cannabis Act, which became law in 2018, that would recognize First Nation self-government rights.
“A similar amendment was recently recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in the child welfare bill and I just basically modeled the very same section and just replaced the child welfare with cannabis,” he said.
A 2024 review of the cannabis legislation recommended correcting that oversight.
“There’s been some glaring missteps by the government, I believe, and it’s eight years now since the 2018 act passed, and still no sign of recognizing First Nation jurisdiction on First Nation lands,” Christmas said.
‘A new era’
“It’s a new era. It’s an era of … First Nations developing their own laws and enacting them and putting them into place [to] make sure they meet community needs.”
In the meantime, Sipekne’katik and We’koqmaq recently approved their own cannabis laws. Christmas has launched a month-long survey of voting-age Membertou band members to gauge reaction to their proposed law , which has been in the works for years.
Included in the draft is a suggestion that could alleviate a common concern among reserve residents, Christmas said.
“One of the proposals is that, yes, we would relocate cannabis stores out of residential areas into more of the commercial areas and thereby protecting the residents in residential areas.
“But at the same time, when you move stores into commercial areas, there’s high visibility and much better access, better parking, and I think it’ll be beneficial for the cannabis stores themselves.”
One idea is to have the band build a strip mall with space to lease for one or more cannabis outlets, but the details haven’t been decided yet.
“We haven’t really landed on that yet and I’m hoping that the next few months of discussions will sort of make that clear,” Christmas said.
Band members are also concerned about quality control for the products sold in retail outlets, which may or may not include testing by Health Canada.
“The how hasn’t yet been figured out,” Christmas said.
“I mean, there’s several options, right? And I think the one that’s favoured the most is that Membertou would invest in its own facilities to test the product and to have our own labs.”
Moving ahead, with or without Ottawa
Once the survey period has ended, Christmas said officials will review the draft law and make adjustments, if necessary.
But the plan is to move ahead, regardless of what happens in Ottawa.
“My goal is to have a community plebiscite on a new draft of the cannabis law by the end of 2026, so I’m hoping to get this wrapped up this year,” Christmas said.
“It is an exercise of self-government, but it’s also an exercise of common sense.
“We do agree that we need rules to protect the health and safety of our residents and our customers. But we think we can do a much better job of developing our own laws and a much better job of enforcing our own laws than what the province is doing at the moment.”
Jaime Battiste, the Liberal MP for Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish and a member of Eskasoni First Nation and parliamentary secretary to the minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, said changing the federal cannabis law is tricky, because there’s a “grey area” between federal and provincial laws.
“Crown and Indigenous Relations is always open to negotiating and stepping into a discussion with the federal government, the province and the Mi’kmaq, if called upon to do so,” he said.
“But you have to have a willing partner in the province.”
Battiste and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs say Premier Tim Houston has so far resisted attempts to start talks on cannabis retailing.
Houston has maintained there is no recognized treaty right to sell cannabis, although some cases are working their way through the courts.
Competition, not co-operation
Battiste said the province is in a conflict of interest when it comes to enforcing an exclusive right to retail marijuana products.
“If the province is in competition with these stores as well as being the regulator, it sets up an unfair advantage whereby the premier can use his powers through the RCMP to get rid of the competition,” he said.
“And I think that what’s happening in Nova Scotia, it’s about competition. It’s not about the legality.”
Battiste said the federal and provincial governments already have agreements on tobacco and gaming, and a deal on cannabis would help prevent tense confrontations like last month’s blockade of RCMP in Potlotek.
“There’s models that exist that take away all of the escalation of hostilities that potentially can get someone shot.”