Canadian First Nations groups are engaging with the federal government to work out cannabis rules that would determine jurisdictional control, as well as what kind of revenue-sharing would be developed between the two parties.
CBC News has reported that First Nations leaders are holding regular meetings that are exploring the possibility of a cannabis plan with Indigenous communities which could eventually require a legislative component to give it force. According to one First Nations leader, the regulatory administration would be First Nations-controlled – from licensing to testing to traceability to revenue sharing.
The CBC notes that Ottawa initially cut First Nations out of the government’s early cannabis legislation that gave provincial and territorial governments control over the distribution and retail end, while Health Canada oversees the licensing of commercial production.