Charges laid after RCMP vehicles were damaged in Potlotek blockade

CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill

Four people are facing several offences after RCMP say six police vehicles were damaged when officers left them in Potlotek First Nation after a group of protesters gathered.

On April 2, officers executed a search warrant at what they say is an illegal cannabis storefront in the community along Highway 4 on Cape Breton Island. While searching the building, two arrests were made and cannabis products were taken.

This prompted a group of people from the community to gather and block the roadway in an effort to deter police in ongoing raids that they have been conducting at the direction of the provincial government.

“In the interest of public safety, officers who were still at the location of the storefront cleared their vehicles of service weapons and exited the area on foot,” police said.

The next day, police returned, and according to RCMP — and photos shared — six of seven police cruisers were damaged. An unmarked police car was missing its wheels, while glass windows were shattered and tires slashed on several of the SUVs. The Mounties also say that three sets of hard body armour were missing from the vehicles.

Related:

• Damaged RCMP vehicles recovered after First Nation protests in N.S., police say
• Highway blockades persist following cannabis raid in Cape Breton First Nation
• N.S. moves to increase fines, give officers more power to enforce cannabis act

Police said they searched four places where they found a floor jack, a loaded SKS rifle, a shotgun and got video footage related to the incident. Neither of the guns were RCMP-issued weapons.

The following people are facing charged from RCMP:

• Jonathan Lindsay Paul, 46, of Membertou, is charged with six counts of mischief over $5,000, 24 counts of mischief, and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
• Maurice Ellery Francis, 33, of Potlotek, is charged with mischief under $5,000
• Evan Michael Johnson, 30, of Potlotek, is charged with mischief under $5,000
• Shamus Daniel Stone, 19, of River Bourgeois, is charged with mischief under $5,000

All four men were released on conditions and are expected to appear in court on June 11.

RCMP say the body armour taken from the vehicles is still missing. The investigation is ongoing.

Anger over cannabis crackdown in Potlotek

Isaiah Bernard, a Potlotek band councillor, previously told The Canadian Press that it “wasn’t the Mi’kmaq way” to cause harm to the vehicles.

“There are people who were just looking to cause a fight,” he said.

Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia have asked the government to stop raiding cannabis and tobacco sales, saying the RCMP has no right to carry out enforcement on its land.

The council of Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation, led by Chief Terry Paul, released the resolution saying it has a treaty right to self-governance, recognized by the Constitution. It says that includes the right to regulate sales of cannabis and tobacco.

The ongoing dispute between Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw governments and the province ratcheted up when Attorney General Scott Armstrong issued a directive to police agencies in December to increase illegal cannabis enforcement. Armstrong wrote to 13 Mi’kmaq chiefs at the time, requesting their co-operation.

The provincial government and Mi’kmaq leaders have also had disputes over grant funding, resource extraction policies and protests on Crown land.

Armstrong has claimed unregulated cannabis benefits organized crime, with profits used to fund other crimes, such as human trafficking.

A Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson said the Mounties are not aware of a direct connection between human trafficking and illegal cannabis markets, “but both crimes can coexist. That means overlap is possible, even if not documented today.”