Kahnawake Council called out on cannabis

Hamilton Spectator

25-04-2025

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) must prevent cannabis dispensaries before it's too late, representatives of the 207 Longhouse demanded as hundreds of Kahnawa'kehró:non confronted Council chiefs outside the band office Wednesday.
The call to dismantle plans to introduce three privately run cannabis stores in Kahnawake, with money from a fee levied on non-Indigenous customers flowing back to the MCK, comes as a list of 14 applicants are under review ahead of a lottery to determine who will be permitted to open one of three dispensaries on the territory.
Those who are chosen stand to generate untold revenues from the sale of cannabis. Those who attempt to open unsanctioned dispensaries, on the other hand, would be liable for criminal charges, according to MCK chief Tonya Perron, who leads the portfolio.
According to Joe Deom, spokesperson for the Longhouse, which organized the protest, opponents of the plan have no faith that Council will be able to rein in the cannabis industry once it opens its doors on the territory.
'We understand that the band council is almost to the point of choosing who's going to have a dispensary of cannabis, and before that happens we want to nip it in the bud and prevent it from happening, because once they're in, it's harder to get rid of them,' said Deom.
'Even though they might authorize three dispensaries, the rest of the population here will take it upon themselves to put up their own shop, and there's no means that we can see that the band council can stop that from happening.'
He also cited fears around health and Kanien'kehá:ka cultural values in explaining the Longhouse's opposition to the plan.
While the approach to introducing the cannabis dispensaries to Kahnawake has been several years in the making, going back to when it first became clear the drug would be legalized in Canada, many Kahnawa'kehró:non have pointed to the uncontrolled proliferation of shops in Kanesatake since then as an illustration of their worst fears.
In Kahnawake's sister community, an unregulated cannabis industry has been marred by land grabbing, tree cutting, and fears that some shops have brought organized crime to the territory. In one case, a known gang affiliate, Arsène Mompoint, was murdered in broad daylight in front of the Green Room dispensary.
Just this weekend, residents of Kanesatake described being overwhelmed by an influx of thousands of outsiders attending parties at the scores of shops dotting Route 344 to celebrate 4/20 – the biggest day of the year for cannabis aficianados.
'What we don't want is our community to be overrun the way other communities are overrun by cannabis shops, and that brought in a lot of criminal elements to these communities, especially Kanesatake,' said Deom. 'That's what our main concern is.'
MCK chiefs have argued, however, that regulations and a local police force empower Kahnawake to ensure that the industry is safe and controlled here in town.
'We're in a very different situation than Kanesatake,' MCK grand chief Cody Diabo told the protesters.
When the crowd arrived at the MCK building on Wednesday morning on a march from the greenspace at the Golden Age, 10 Council chiefs were waiting to hear out the protesters, even as no promises were made to change course. Karihwakatste Deer and Kaherihshon Fran Beauvais read out a statement from the Longhouse.
Only Diabo addressed the protesters on behalf of the MCK, frequently receiving jeers from the crowd. He was also the only MCK chief to acknowledge, with a furtive hand raise, that he had voted for the plan, even as he declined to endorse it.
'I'm conflicted as well. I have my own opinions on it,' said Diabo, who suggested cannabis is already purchased on the territory, whether through unregulated transactions or by mail from the government-sanctioned seller.
'What's out there right now that people are consuming? They're going to Oka to get things. It's in the territory. People are selling,' he said.
Health and safety were top of mind for Council, he said, arguing that work to make the regime safe is why it has taken eight years to get to this point. An aspect of the plan, he noted, would be for prevention tools to be boosted by revenues from the sanctioned sale of cannabis.
Students were a major contingent at the protest, even during the middle of a school day.
Layla Phillips is a grade 11 Kahnawake Survival School (KSS) student and a member of the student council there.
'We walked here to make sure we made a statement, because we really truly believe in this, that it shouldn't be here. We don't need this here in Kahnawake. As a student body, we made a decision to come out,' said Phillips.
Phillips' twin and fellow KSS student, Anna Phillips, was also in attendance to show support for the cause. The pair estimated there is virtually no support for cannabis dispensaries among students at KSS.
'We don't want to look at our community and see non-Natives all over the place risking the safety of our children, our cousins, our family members, and having cannabis stores in the community just encourages people to come into it,' said Anna.
'Honestly, it hurts to know that people are so self-involved for something like that to allow it into the community to breach the safety of your family members,' Anna added. 'I want a community that we can be proud of and that's safe. Letting the cannabis stores in is going to hurt that.'
Speaking to Council, Deer argued that the $220 million lawsuit against the MCK by Magic Palace, which was shuttered after allegations of ties to organized crime, is a harbinger of things to come on the cannabis file.
'Our own community members are going to sue you, even though you think you're doing this right by making laws and regulations,' she said.
'You could say no right now, and you're choosing not to,' another community member shouted at Diabo. 'It's embarrassing.'
Community member Leith Mahkewa told the crowd that she visited the community she comes from over the weekend, describing what her 10-year-old said when they returned to Kahnawake.
'He said, 'Ista, look,' she said. 'You come into Kahnawake and it says 'Vapes, Vapes, Vapes,' just like back home where it says 'Weed, Weed, Weed,'' she said.
'It's shameful. It's embarrassing. And you're all going to be weeping and regretting and feeling guilty later on,' she said, adding the 'black snake' of the cannabis market will be impossible to control and that those in office will be responsible for the havoc it wreaks for generations.
'My concerns are for all the generations coming up, the young people now, even the young adults, all the younger ones, all the kids in the school, the generations to come,' said community member Eleanore Paul during the march.
'We have enough mind-altering substances going around already that we don't need the sale of this to come into our community and destroy the minds of our people.'
A referendum was broached by some at the protest, though many expressed opposition on the grounds that members of the Longhouse generally refuse to vote. Diabo acknowledged this fact and suggested, in any case, that this route has already been rejected by the community.
'I can't change what was in the past,' he said. 'A referendum was proposed at a community meeting of a previous Council, and they chose to go with the poll.'
One of the chiefs on the cannabis file, Jeremiah Johnson, was long opposed to the stores as a private community member prior to joining Council this term.
'I'm very proud of our community members for coming together and marching and showing that they have a voice and using that voice,' Johnson told The Eastern Door. 'I'm always very supportive of people protesting and voicing their concerns. That's what I'm very proud of most.'
He said Council will discuss the protest that transpired and how to move forward, and he said he will continue to argue for a halt.
'I've always argued to reverse course. Since I first came on Council, it was my opinion that I did not agree with the current direction the cannabis industry was going. I had attempted to call for referendum already. Only myself and one other Council member were in support of that referendum, so hopefully we can make a better argument for it now.'
Short of a change of direction, Johnson said he will do everything he can to try to make sure the industry is compliant with regulations aimed at community safety.
Former MCK chief Gina Deer, who worked on the cannabis file when it first began, was involved in the survey that helped inform the current direction of the cannabis plan. While she said that was the right choice at the time, after several intervening years, it may be time to reconsider.
'We were working with what at the time was the will of the people, but now here we are several years fast-forward, and I thought the mention of a referendum was a good idea because things do change, and Council has reversed things,' she said.
She also argued that if the plan moves forward as is, revenues that are generated by it must benefit the community in clear, tangible ways, unlike with gaming, she said.
Diabo downplayed the possibility of a referendum following the protest, but said it's possible things could change course in some way. 'Really at this point I'd say coin toss,' he said. 'I can't really give a definitive answer on that.'
Perron said that while the protest's message was clear, in 2018 Council was hearing a very different message from a different subsection of the community and that there continues to be a lot of disagreement about the best way forward.
'Their message was 'stay out of it, Council. We should be able to do this. We should be able to sell. It's our right,'' Perron said.
The current policy has grown out of taking into account voices from all sides while emphasizing a prudent approach that will protect the community, she said. She emphasized that her own views are irrelevant and that it is her role to try to represent the community's wishes, even when there is no consensus.
'That's what I've been trying to do for seven years is listen to everybody and ensure there's something that will at least provide for both health and public safety,' she said.
She also suggested that had Council not committed to developing a regulatory framework and providing licenses, a moratorium on cannabis stores may not have worked.
'I truly believe that if we hadn't done any of that, that our community might look different than it does today,' she said.
Perron said that regulation can help ensure a safe cannabis market in Kahnawake and said local authorities are equipped to clamp down on unlicensed shops that could pop up.
'If they have no license, the Peacekeepers will have no choice but to act accordingly because it would be an offence under the criminal law, which, we do apply the criminal law here,' Perron said.
Following the protest, Deom expressed hope that the MCK will be encouraged to heed the call to back down on dispensaries.
'They're not going to make a decision in front of us. They're going to go in, they're going to talk about it. We don't know what they're going to say,' said Deom, who suggested that if Council still decides to move ahead with welcoming cannabis dispensaries, the Longhouse will look at further actions.
The MCK has already begun licensing cannabis growers, but there is yet no date announced for the distribution of dispensary licenses. While the number of licenses is capped at three, the regulations on cannabis instruct that this maximum will be reviewed at least once a year.
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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter