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“Chinatown is our heritage, the roots of our culture,” Han said. “We don’t think a cannabis store is aligned with all the other businesses in the Chinatown area,” adding local businesses have been outspoken about the issue.

Data from the City of Calgary shows there are currently two applications for pot shops in Chinatown.

And while the Calgary Chinese Union said they aren’t looking down on cannabis users, Jason Luan — a Chinese-Calgarian who’s seeking the UCP nomination in Calgary-Foothills — took a different tone, saying cannabis stores would bring a “very dark side of society” to Chinatown.

“When those two applications came, people’s thought was immediately that in Chinese culture we absolutely oppose having cannabis in our community,” Luan said. “When you place this cannabis in the mix it has a sharp contrast.”

In a release, activist group Defend Calgary Chinatown said the approval of any recreational pot shops in the community will “destroy the whole business, tourism and cultural values of Chinatown.”

The Calgary Chinese Union said they were not consulted and not engaged by the city when it comes to their cannabis concerns. But downtown Coun. Evan Woolley said the city just spent over a million dollars on extensive engagement with Chinatown stakeholders around a business redevelopment plan.

“We have engaged deeply with Chinatown and with the dozens of organizations and groups within that community,” Woolley said, acknowledging Chinatown has a unique cultural history.

With legalization coming down from higher orders of government, Woolley said council is focused on city-wide cannabis regulations — not rules that would see one community treated differently.

“Does Chinatown not want liquor stores? What other herbal shops should or shouldn’t be allowed in business?” he said. “At what point should we be allowed to decide which legal business should or shouldn’t be in the community?”

RRumbolt@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @RCRumbolt