A Senate committee says the current cannabis market and legislation has kept Indigenous Peoples from sharing in the economic opportunities that the legalization of recreational cannabis created. The standing Senate committee on Indigenous Peoples said Thursday that it wants the country to shift its approach to cannabis to help Indigenous communities and entrepreneurs better benefit from the cannabis market.
A review the committee undertook left members "severely disappointed but not surprised" to hear that Indigenous Peoples found themselves often shut out of or facing additional barriers in the cannabis market.
"Once again, Indigenous Peoples have been excluded from participation in the economic prosperity of the country," said Brian Francis, a P.E.I senator hailing from Lennox Island First Nation, at a press conference in Ottawa.
"And once again, little regard has been given to how our lives have been impacted." The committee he sat on found the Indigenous community's difficulties in fully taking advantage of cannabis legalization stem from legislation around the sale and distribution of cannabis, licensing, and even the regulation and policing of the substance.
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