Unlicensed cannabis stores in Cambridge, Ont. operating despite request to shut them down

Two unlicensed hashish shops in Cambridge, Ont. are inflicting concern, however for now, each stay open.

Sovereign Toke and Grand River Medicinal each have indicators posted exterior studying: “this store is operated by sovereign people on sovereign land. We are exercising our constitutional and inherent rights.”

“These stores, they don’t have to follow any of the same rules. They don’t have any of the same costs, and they undercut the prices of all the legal stores,” defined Corry Van Iersel, the president of True North Cannabis Co., which has a location on King St. East, simply down the street from one of many unlicensed shops.

True North Cannabis Co. in Cambridge, Ont. (Krista Simpson/CTV Kitchener)

Van Iersel notes that licensed shops face numerous bills, starting from insurance coverage charges to laptop applications, required for presidency reporting of gross sales. They additionally need to function below strict guidelines, together with ones that regulate the energy of their merchandise.

Unlicensed shops, then again, don’t.

“The prices are cheaper and their products are stronger,” Van Iersel mentioned.

True North Cannabis Co. in Cambridge, Ont. (Krista Simpson/CTV Kitchener)

He’s reached out to the Waterloo Regional Police Service within the hopes of getting the shops shut down.

“They told me to call the AGCO, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission. They told me to call the OPP, the OPP tell me to call regional police,” Van Iersel defined.

In a press release to CTV News, Waterloo Regional Police mentioned: “We take all incidents of a criminal nature seriously and can confirm that illegal cannabis dispensaries throughout the region are being investigated by our service in partnership with the Provincial Cannabis Enforcement Team.”

They continued: “We remind the public that it is illegal and unsafe to purchase cannabis from anywhere other than an Ontario-authorized, licensed retail shop, or online through the Ontario Cannabis Store website.”

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario mentioned it’s solely chargeable for regulating Ontario’s hashish shops, however doesn’t have a compliance function for ones that function and not using a license. While Ontario Provincial Police mentioned this case would fall below the jurisdiction of native police.

Grand River Medicinal in Cambridge, Ont. (Krista Simpson/CTV Kitchener)

According to Indigenous rights lawyer Sara Mainville, there are a selection of so-called sovereign shops working in southern Ontario.

“This is sort of the problem coming to roost, that the federal and provincial governments have ignored First Nations who have wanted to legitimately participate in this industry and didn’t have the tools to do so.”

Mainville mentioned Ontario missed a chance when creating its hashish retailer framework.

“The answer for me, it always has been to legitimize First Nations in regulating these activity so… it doesn’t end up spilling across the province.”

Mainville provides that these sorts of shops are low on the enforcement listing for municipal and provincial police providers.

While some have raised issues concerning the security of the merchandise being bought at these shops, Mainville mentioned these fears could also be overblown.

“It’s your neighbourhood dealer that’s supplying these cannabis stores,” she defined.

Mainville mentioned there are issues with unlicensed shops working below the sovereignty banner.

“I definitely support the assertion of rights in a lot of different ways, but this assertion of rights is not benefiting anybody but the store owner and probably a number of partners behind them that are probably not even Indigenous. So this is one of the sole reasons why I’m very critical of it. I don’t see any benefit going back to the community in these stores, unlike some of the First Nations stores that are open and have the support of the community, they do do revenue sharing and they do give back to the community and these stores do not.”

CTV News visited each Cambridge shops hoping to talk to the homeowners, however neither have responded to our request for an interview.