Toronto’s first sovereign, Indigenous-owned cannabis shop aims to fight ‘economic genocide’ and is operating without provincial licensing
Mississaugas of the Credit Medicine Wheel, an Indigenous-owned and operated cannabis store, is more than just a dispensary: it’s an attempt to fight back against “economic genocide,” its owner and operator said.
The store, operated by Ken Hughes of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, is sovereign, meaning it’s operating outside of the scope of Ontario’s cannabis regulations and without a license — marking the first time a sovereign cannabis store has opened in Toronto.
While Medicine Wheel appears to be Toronto’s first, it isn’t the only sovereign cannabis dispensary in Canada. A map of similar stores compiled by the website Dispensing Freedom shows more than 250 sovereign shops operating coast-to-coast.
Tory MPs should be wary of their first post-election meeting on Tuesday; to judge from an uncommonly self-serving email sent to supporters by Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, they are being swarmed and hustled to confirm O’Toole as leader 15 days after he blew the election. Under Conservative MP Michael Chong’s Reform Act of 2014, when recognized parties where the chairperson of the caucus receives a request signed by at least 20 per cent of the party’s caucus asking for a leadership review, the caucus chair shall order that a secret ballot be taken promptly among all of that party’s MPs. If a majority vote to replace the leader, an interim leader is appointed until a formal leadership 
