Nova Scotia RCMP are reporting all highways that were closed because of protest activity have reopened as of Friday morning.
Protestors had blocked a couple of highways in the province after a raid of a cannabis store in Potlotek First Nation.
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 the highway.
“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,” says RCMP in an email.
The RCMP Division Liaison Team are communicating with community leaders.
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 is 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 says 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 remain.
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…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
RCMP release statement
Nova Scotia RCMP released a statement on social media Friday.
In the statement, they said Northeast Nova RCMP “seized illegal cannabis, arrested two people and responded to protests on April 2.”
According to the statement, officers executed a search warrant around 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The warrant was authorized under the federal Cannabis Act and executed at what RCMP allege is an illegal cannabis storefront on Hwy. 4 in Potlotek.
The statement said Richmond County District RCMP and Northeast Nova RCMP worked with community leaders on Friday morning to remove the blockade on Hwy. 4.
The RCMP said they removed seven vehicles that had been left in Potlotek after the execution of the search warrant.
“Damage to the vehicles includes broken windows, dents, deflated tires, removed tires, and urine-soaked interior surfaces,” the statement said.
Investigations into the illegal sale of cannabis, the illegal blockade of Hwy. 4, the damage to police vehicles and related criminal offences are ongoing.
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