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“We are proud to be the first Indigenous owned and operated,” said Mitchell. “We are very proud of that.”

By the time the company, located in a former water bottling plant on Cornwall Island, begins producing cannabis next spring, it will likely also be selling to the booming recreational market — at least that is the plan.

Meanwhile, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has passed interim regulations that allow pot to be consumed by those over 18 on the reserve, essentially taking control of regulation on the reserve as other First Nations communities are also doing. It plans to licence distributors on the reserve’s Canadian section, two-thirds of which is along the St. Lawrence River and landlocked by the United States.

One twist is that anyone who wants to distribute pot on the reserve must present a business model that includes approved transportation plans to get the product to customers by boat or airplane, since an overland route through the U.S. is not an option. For now, Akwesasne is just taking applications for prospective distributors.

Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia News

Grand Chief Abram Benedict said the Mohawk council wanted to step in early in an attempt to keep cannabis sales regulated and avoid a free-for-all of retail operations. In Tyendinaga, near Belleville, numerous stores have popped up in recent months selling a wider range of products, including edibles, than are available at any of the legal operations.

First Nations officials have complained that they were not consulted prior to legalization. Many say they want to avoid the issues they had with tobacco, which was a black market that did not benefit First Nations governments or communities, and to take some control of legal cannabis.