Fourteen cannabis companies in British Columbia failed to win a lawsuit against the province for claiming they've lost $40 million to illegal pot retailers on Indigenous reserves.
The companies claimed that the number of illegal shops off-reserve was decreasing but the number of shops on reserves was growing, and they were each losing $500,000 a year to the black market. They alleged that the government hasn't responded to the proliferation of these sellers as they had promised. However, Justice Jasvinder S. (Bill) Basran of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the province has discretion over where to enforce its pot laws and that reconciliation with Indigenous people is neither unusual or surprising. The businesses relied on the representations of the minister of public safety and solicitor general when he announced the new community safety unit, responsible for enforcing pot laws after Canada legalized cannabis in October 2018. The claim said the enforcement actions against more than 70 cannabis companies and the issuance of 39 fines by the CSU had happened “almost entirely” on lands that are not on Indigenous reserves. It said B.C. has 300 reserves with 50,000 residents. The claim also noted that Solicitor General Mike Farnworth in July 2020 acknowledged the “proliferation” of unlicensed retailers on reserves, estimating there were 50 to 100 such stores and promised to address it. And the plaintiffs said since then the number of stores has grown “significantly.”
