{"id":106674,"date":"2026-07-10T13:45:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106674"},"modified":"2026-07-10T13:45:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:45:52","slug":"oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\/","title":{"rendered":"Oka gas station to fight for revoked tax exemption"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door OKA-The owner of the Belisle Gas Station in Oka that was forced by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to stop accepting tax exemption cards from Kanehsata\u2019kehr\u00f3:non on July 1 will take the matter to court. Sales have plummeted at the Belisle gas station after July 1, said store owner Chris Xenakis. The Indigenous community makes up nearly 80 per cent of his clientele, but since last week the business has only seen less than 10 Indigenous customers, most of whom have turned away after learning they could no longer have the tax exemption. This past weekend, he profited less than $400. \u201cIf this business is worth $1, now it\u2019s worth 10 cents,\u201d said Xenakis. \u201cI\u2019ve been supported by the Native&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F10%2Foka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door OKA-The owner of the Belisle Gas Station in Oka that was forced by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to stop accepting tax exemption cards from Kanehsata\u2019kehr\u00f3:non on July 1 will take the matter to court. Sales have plummeted at the Belisle gas station after July 1, said store owner Chris Xenakis. The Indigenous community makes up nearly 80 per cent of his clientele, but since last week the business has only seen less than 10 Indigenous customers, most of whom have turned away after learning they could no longer have the tax exemption. This past weekend, he profited less than $400. \u201cIf this business is worth $1, now it\u2019s worth 10 cents,\u201d said Xenakis. \u201cI\u2019ve been supported by the Native... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F10%2Foka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Oka gas station to fight for revoked tax exemption - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oka gas station to fight for revoked tax exemption - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door OKA-The owner of the Belisle Gas Station in Oka that was forced by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to stop accepting tax exemption cards from Kanehsata\u2019kehr\u00f3:non on July 1 will take the matter to court. Sales have plummeted at the Belisle gas station after July 1, said store owner Chris Xenakis. The Indigenous community makes up nearly 80 per cent of his clientele, but since last week the business has only seen less than 10 Indigenous customers, most of whom have turned away after learning they could no longer have the tax exemption. This past weekend, he profited less than $400. \u201cIf this business is worth $1, now it\u2019s worth 10 cents,\u201d said Xenakis. \u201cI\u2019ve been supported by the Native\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T17:45:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Oka gas station to fight for revoked tax exemption\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T17:45:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":946,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/oka-gas-station-to-fight-for-revoked-tax-exemption\\\/\",\"name\":\"Oka gas station to fight for revoked tax exemption - 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