BURLINGTON — The parents of Assumption high school want provincial regulators to deny the cannabis store application proposed for Fairview Street in Burlington — at a location about two kilometres from the school, or about 25 minutes on foot.

The school's parent council, and the Halton Catholic District School Board's trustees, planned to submit letters to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario before the deadline for public input.

The letters will voice their opposition to RELM Cannabis Co.'s application to open a store at 4031 Fairview St., near Walker's Line.

Assumption Catholic Secondary School, which is currently being renovated, is located at 3230 Woodward Ave. Its students are studying at the former Lester B. Pearson school at 1433 Headon Rd. until the fall, when they will return to the Assumption building.

The minimum legal distance a cannabis store must be from schools, parks, pools, arenas, libraries or recreation centres is 150 metres.

Assumption parent council co-chair Kim van Nieuwkoop wrote a letter to Burlington trustees Brenda Agnew, Tim O'Brien and Vincent Iantomasi on March 5 urging them to take a stand against the store.

"Although Assumption is more than 150 metres away (which is the AGCO requirement) we still believe it is not in the right location," said van Nieuwkoop's email.

"It would much better be suited to an industrial zone where children will not be loitering and which cannot be easily accessed by bus. As a council, we have decided that it is not in the best interest of our students and our Assumption community that a cannabis store be located within our borders. We need to protect and restrict our youth from such easy access to a retail cannabis store."

The minimum legal age to purchase cannabis in Ontario is 19 years old.

Trustees discussed van Nieuwkoop's request at the board meeting Tuesday night and voted unanimously to direct staff to send a letter on their behalf. Student trustees Stephanie Mazza, Denzel Herrero and William Charlebois were also unanimous in opposing the store.

Discussion on the issue focused on the logistics of submitting a letter before the deadline, and did not focus on why trustees feel the location is inappropriate. The Burlington Post reached out to Agnew, O'Brien, Iantomasi, Mazza, Herrero, Charlebois and board chair Peter DeRosa for comment on Wednesday. DeRosa sent the following statement:

"We work hard to promote positive and safe learning environments in our schools, and we feel the placement of a retail cannabis store in such close proximity to schools will increase the likelihood of our youth accessing, using and bringing cannabis onto school property. We have submitted a formal objection to the AGCO on the basis that approving this store location would not go far enough to protect youth and restrict their access to cannabis."

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