Seven RCMP vehicles were damaged and an investigation is underway due to protests after at a cannabis store was raided in a Cape Breton First Nation.
In a statement, Friday, police say the cruisers that were left in Potlotek were removed that morning. They had “broken windows, dents, deflated tires, removed tires, and urine-soaked interior surfaces.”
RCMP say it started around 7:30 a.m., Thursday, when officers searched an illegal storefront on Highway 4. Two men were arrested.
In response to this, protestors blocked access to Highway 4 in Potlotek, 105 in Whycocomagh and 102 in Shubenacadie.
“As a result of the blocked access, officers were not able to leave the premises using their vehicles. Officers who remained on scene departed on foot,” said RCMP in an email.
Shortly after noon, the protesters were letting a few cars through at a time, then waving the line of traffic through, but only a few minutes later, they began turning cars around.
Protester Liza Isaac from Chapel Island (also known as Potlotek First Nation) shared what was happening to our newsroom.
“There was a raid this morning, so we kind of just decided to block the police from leaving because they took property that they had no reason. They took fridges. They took shelves. They took signs,” said Isaac.
“I’m hoping that the raids stop picking on our First Nation as people. I don’t think it’s right for this to be happening, because all of this could be avoided. It’s escalating more to what it should be, really.”
She said there’s no need for any of this at all, but feels like as a First Nations person, they need to stand their ground and stand together as a community.
Hwy 102
By 1 p.m., protestors gathered near Exit 10 on Highway 102, blocking one lane.
At 4 p.m., Thursday, protestors remained but by about 9 p.m., everyone had cleared out.
Crackdown
The protests come just a few months after the province started a cannabis crackdown.
In December, Nova Scotia announced they would be increasing police enforcement around concerns about safety and that unregulated market. This sparked disappointment from First Nations, one who even threatened legal action.
On March 13, Sipekne’katik First Nation created its own law on the matter, which is in effect, now.
In a post on social media, Chief of Sipekne’katik First Nation Michelle Glasgow says it’s not about “weed shops” getting raided. “It’s about the government asserting jurisdiction over Our Communities and over Our Unceded Mik’maq Lands.” “If we allow this to continue then we are allowing the assimilation of Mi’kmaq into a society that was meant to destroy us.”
More to come…
