The L’nuk Lounge, a Micmac sovereign cannabis dispensary operating off-reserve in Moncton, New Brunswick in accordance with constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights was raided by “Public Safety” Officers on Wednesday, August 30th, 2023.
In letters written on May 2nd, May 4th, July 6th, and August 29th of 2023, L’Nuk Lounge representatives – including former National Chief Del Riley and former National Atlantic Region Chief Hector Pictou – have repeatedly requested a meeting with Public Safety officers including with Kris Austin, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of New Brunswick. As Chief Riley wrote in a letter to Kris Austin:
“I would like to inform you that there is no “unlawful activity” taking place in the premises of the L’nuk Lounge. Cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018, and the owners of the L’nuk Lounge are Mi’kmaq Indians operating on their unceded lands which have been reserved for them by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Their Aboriginal and treaty rights to provide medicinal cannabis products are protected by Sections 25 and 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act and the Peace and Friendship treaties their ancestors signed with the Crown, and further expressed in the Rowan Proclamation of 1854 and the United Nations Declarations of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that Canada adopted in 2021. As per Section 52 of the Constitution Act, “The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada, and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect” so it is actually the Federal and Provincial Cannabis Acts which are illegal – should they be applied contrary to the Aboriginal and treaty rights enshrined in the Constitution.”
The L’Nuk Lounge is operating with the support of the Micmac Rights Association, and is one of over 30 such off-reserve dispensaries operating in cities across Canada on traditional unceded territories of various Indigenous nations.
Instead of meeting with the L’nuk Lounge and its representatives, the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety chose to send its officers in to criminalize and steal from Micmac people exercising their rights.
WE DEMAND THAT THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY MEET WITH L’NUK LOUNGE REPRESENTATIVES AND CEASE CRIMINALIZING INDIGENOUS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ON OUR UNCEDED LANDS!
