Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: The following is presented in keeping with CRE’s commitment to ensuring that all responsible viewpoints on regulatory issues are fully ventilated. See also, A Mohawk Perspective on the Cross-Border Movement of Tobacco: “We didn’t put that border here”, Smoke Traders: The Movie, and When trade is treated as a crime against the state.
From: The Lawyers Daily
By Pamela Palmater
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claims that there is no more important relationship than the one with Indigenous peoples and committed to a renewed nation to nation relationship based on respect for Indigenous rights. To this end, Trudeau made many promises to First Nations, including a commitment to review and repeal all of the laws imposed on First Nations by the former Conservative government led by Stephen Harper.
This is a significant commitment from the Liberal government, as Harper passed numerous laws impacting Indigenous rights — without complying with the legal duty to consult, accommodate and obtain the consent of First Nations. Laws related to drinking water, elections, financial transparency, matrimonial property, land surrenders and protections for lakes and rivers were passed in spite of strong opposition by First Nations. One bill which attracted a great deal of resistance was Bill C-10 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in contraband tobacco).
