Editorial: Six Nations sovereignty versus Ontario

Editorial

There’s nothing complicated about what Ontario’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) does. For First Nations communities it’s clear. It enforces the Tobacco Tax Act. It sends the Ontario Provincial Police to hide in plain sight around First Nation communities to arrest unsuspecting consumers of egregious behaviour! The behaviour? Along with buying a local craft they dared to buy a tobacco product in a First Nation community. Their crime! They didn’t pay taxes. The reason for the push? Politics. Off reserve convenience stores (voters) complain the sale of their tobacco products has fallen due to sales in First Nation communities. Not a fact they’ve actually been able to prove since tobacco sales began falling for various health reasons years ago. The real reason. Ontario doesn’t like not collecting the taxes. So now,…

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