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Pushback From Natives And Senate Could Stall Trudeau’s Legalized Marijuana Bill

REUTERS/Chris Wattie

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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First Nations, Senate committees and social conservatives are all pushing back on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s bill to legalize recreational marijuana.

The Liberal government can ignore the complaints from indigenous peoples, overrule the Senate committees and dismiss the conservative opposition — but there could be a political cost. The bill has already received approval in the House of Commons and Senate, but before it receives Royal Assent and becomes law, committees may recommend amendments or delay.

The government can choose to listen or not.

With First Nations saying they weren’t consulted, Senate committees urging amendments and social conservatives saying the legislation is ill-considered, Trudeau wouldn’t rule out on Wednesday the possibility of waiting to implement the bill.

“We’ll continue to consult a broad range of Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters Wednesday on his way to a Liberal Party caucus meeting.

“And as our parliamentary secretary Bill Blair says regularly, legalization is not an event, it’s a process,” he said, according to the Canadian Press. And that process will continue.”

The current session of Parliament runs out near the end of June. For a prime minister committed to “truth and reconciliation” with Canada’s indigenous peoples, his biggest hurdle may come from First Nations opposition.

As the Canadian Press reports, the Senate Aboriginal Peoples committee gave the Trudeau government a scathing review of its “atrocious” consultation process, saying it hasn’t addressed issues ranging from sharing tax revenue to dealing with increased addiction.

The Senate Foreign Affairs comittee is questioning whether legalized pot will clash with declarations from the United Nations that identify marijuana as a public health hazard. Pamela McColl, spokeswoman for Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Canada told The Daily Caller that Canada should not take its international obligations lightly: “My big concern is for our reputation as a nation who is now showing a willingness to break with UN conventions and to do so not even in the respectful manner of giving proper notice of an intent to withdraw.”

The public safety committee is demanding the government better consider how legal weed could impact the busy U.S.-Canada border.

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