Just East of Toronto’s popular Greektown at the intersection of Danforth and Greenwood Avenues sits Toronto’s first Indigenous-owned and operated cannabis dispensary. The shop is owned by a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and operates on unceded territory. The store’s soft-opening on September 15 marks a historical return of sovereign traditional people operating businesses on their own treaty lands, and marks a new stage in the growth of the Indigenous cannabis movement.
Demand has been high for an Indigenous-owned dispensary in Toronto for years, with many people taking the trip out to Alderville or Tyendinaga to get their supply. The landscape is very uncertain in Toronto, as the hundreds of “grey market” stores that blossomed across the city have been mostly shut down. Some stores, like CAFE still operate, despite strong resistance from the City of Toronto. CAFE is infamous for selling cannabis on the sidewalk after the City placed concrete blocks in front of their entrance.