In a new report, released Tuesday, the task force lists dozens of recommendations — including setting a minimum legal age of 18 to buy and consume cannabis, a tax structure linked to the THC content of the marijuana, and to legally permit the home growing of marijuana plants.
The task force was made up of a federal and local politicians, doctors, law enforcement, lawyers and addiction specialists.
The recommendations are just that — recommendations — and the Trudeau government can simply ignore them, if it so chooses. However any level of government could potentially adopt these recommendations, much like many local governments and police services that have adopted the Dudley George Inquiry Recommendations.
Considering that all “Indians” are restricted to the On and Off Reserve paradigm, the Band Council (a forced government) has no way to represent the hundreds of thousands of people that do not live On the Reservation, yet many Indigenous people live in urban or municipal zoned settings that cannot begin to properly represent Mohawk and Other Indigenous interests.
CGGRC members have organized to have their voices heard, voices that have been silenced by the On and Off Reserve political jargon. There are no magic chains that are attached to the Off reserve “Indian” that allows the Band Council to control our Off Reserve actions and abilities, and there is no magic chains that give that City and Municipal, Provincial or Federal Representatives the power to limit our Mohawk organizations.
When a Six Nations Band member walk off the reservation or lives in Brantford (for example) does the city or municipal council automatically gain representation over the Six Nations Band member and his property, especially along the Haldimand Tract?
The Six Nations have additional rights and traditional and uncommon knowledge to canadians that is needed for a fair representation of his rights, but the Common Canadian who is not of these distinctions will not have the understandings or customary knowledge to effectively and equitably represent the Six Nations people.
Six Nations people do however own a great number of property in Brantford and do pay substantial amounts of Property tax on the lands they own. Yet, no proper-representation is truly available for the Off Reserve “Indian”.
Does the Canadian Cannabis Economy want to Work with the potential Mohawk Cannabis Economy or does Canada just want to use more of our lands, and get tax breaks while continuing to exploit the On and Off reserve paradigm which serves only to exclude the voices of the Traditional Mohawks and Other Indigenous Organizations.
“We need to challenge values that do not recognize that our poverty is based on our landlessness. We cannot accept that we must suffer colonization in perpetuity simply because the settler state of Canada can racially discriminate against our territorial rights.” Arthur Manuel
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
- Allow for the public possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana.
- Permit Canadians to grow four of their own plants at home.
- Allow for retail sales and for indoor marijuana lounges.
- Require plain packaging for marijuana that lists the THC and CBD content, the name of the strain and producer, and a warning about the possible health risks.
- Ban most marijuana advertising, unless it will be seen only by adults.
- Fund a public education campaign about marijuana and the possible dangers.
- Allow the sale of edibles, as long as they are not deemed to be “appealing to children.”
- Discourage provinces from selling marijuana in stores that also sell tobacco or alcohol — “wherever possible.”
- Remove most criminal prohibitions for marijuana, limit prosecutions for less serious offences, and move to fines for breaking licensing or production rules.
- Push for “graduated” penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana, ranging from fines to criminal prosecution — but also invest more seriously in studying the link between THC and impairment on driving.
- Push for a competitive cultivation and distribution market that makes room for smaller growers, and encourages involvement of Indigenous communities.