Council Cannabis Discussion one of Challenges, Direction and Deflection

A report from Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller sparked some
extensive discussion on how the city should approach
medicinal cannabis grow operations in the community

The topic of what to do about a growing community concern over cannabis grow ops in the city delivered some cautious progress, though by the end of the discussion on Monday night it wasn't really clear if Council had much hope that any local efforts may provide the results that residents would like to see when it comes to the long running frustration over the current situation.

The process of that discussion began with a review of a report from the Corporate Administrator, with Ms. Rosa Miller providing for the history of the cannabis issue locally and the scope of the challenges that communities such as Prince Rupert have had towards what are considered to be medicinal grows.

She observed on some of the Charter of Rights elements that city has to consider, and then offered up what council could consider towards  creating a Bylaw to deal with the local concerns.

"Staff is recommending to Council that a bylaw be created to regulate cannabis cultivation through the use of nuisance considerations, as well as imposing business code, electrical code and fire safety regulations. Any bylaw drafted will have to ensure that it doesn't conflict with the federal/provincial legislation and recognizes the supremacy of  the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In addition staff is recommending that Council lobby upper levels of government to address the issue through amendments to the Cannabis Act using the Federal Canadian Municipalities Resolution, letters and meeting requests with relevant federal departments." -- Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller with some background to her report to Council on cannabis growing enforcement options 

Ms. Miller  also noted how the city of Prince Rupert is not in a position to take complaints or answer questions related to the legality of medical grows in the community as the city receives no notice when it comes to the medicinal grows and has no opportunity comment on them. 

She did direct residents to take their complaints directly to Health Canada and noted that the city would provide a link to that agency through the civic website. 

Towards discussion to the topic, Councillor Adey observed how the issue has been one of public note in the community making note of the volume of calls he has received on the issue and how it has provided for the frustration for him that it's an area which the City had very little control over with no recourse to take.

"I think this has been a subject of public discourse for some time and there will be those out there that, that they will welcome our arrival at this point - they might ask how come it took so long, never the less we're here and I think the public questioning, in my experience of it, in terms of receiving phone calls on this issue - I get the call and I respond with the reality that this really isn't a municipal thing and that we have no recourse what so ever - that was kind of the original dilemma that we faced and the response was disbelief" -- Councillor Nick Adey on the evolution of the cannabis discussion for council

He then outlined how the public discussion had shifted to steer the conversation towards things that municipalities could do, what other municipalities had done, he then offered his support towards the creation of a bylaw that addresses people's concerns around the issue but noted that one of the challenges towards designing a bylaw that is enforecable.

"I would say that yes, I am in favour of developing some kind of a bylaw that addresses people's concerns around this issue. I do think that one of the primary challenges will be to design something that is enforceable and practical and has the impact that you are looking for on the issue. I think that as we go through that process that's going to be key to me is can we put something together that works and that we can enforce" -- Councillor Nick Adey on the path forward towards a civic bylaw on cannabis concerns

Mayor Brain provided some thoughts to the topic, observing of some of the challenges that he finds towards creation of a bylaw and enforcing it considering the range of parameters in place for the medicinal grow operations that are making for many of the issues in the community.

City Manager Rob Buchan noted that there is some debate as to how the City could provide for bylaws seeking compliance with local regulations, however the challenge is to find out where the operations are in place, as Health Canada does not tell the City where they are located.

"There is some debate about that, having some regulation about how the business is conducted, not whether it can be conducted but how in terms of complying with electrical safety codes and you know we have concerns that they don't, whether it complies with building code, again we have concerns that they may not, as evidenced by the fires that occasionally occur because of them. 

So we think that there is probably some legal ability to enforce a bylaw, the challenge of course is to finding out where the facilities are because Health Canada does not tell us. So we'll have to do some homework about where they are and when we find out about them we can then approach them to make sure that they are complying with the regulatory aspects of Health and Safety in our bylaw.  -- City Manager Rob Buchan

The City Manager admitted that it could be problematic in implementing the bylaw process but that the City should go forward anyways. He also spoke to the ongoing advocacy work towards the Federal government, with the City having recently spoken to the MP for the region to that topic.

The Mayor noted that the city could go forward with the actions, but that there is no guarantee that there will be results,  that as well as to how the lack of information from Health Canada are both things that he stated that the public needs to understand.

Mayor Lee Brain made note of a number of frustrations that the
City has with Health Canada and the Federal government when it comes
to medicinal grow operations in the city

Mr. Brain, counselled a step back and observed as to a range of issues that need to be addressed when it comes to how the medicinal grow operations are handled by Health Canada and how it's going to be a long term process full of complex issues and is one that won't find a quick solution, one that will continue on long after he has left the Mayor's office.

"This is a completely Federal Government issue, these measures on the table now I think are good measures for us, but the community needs to understand that even though we will do that and we will do everything in our power. 

At a very legal level we cannot push the Courts past what they have already deemed to be true and that is going to be a multi year problem I would say, well past my time here. 

But we need to start the process, moving it forward now, but I just want to make sure that everybody in the community understands the complexity of this challenge"   -- Mayor Lee Brain on the frustrations for Council on cannabis regulations in Canada

He made note of the recent fire in the downtown area, though observed that he could not comment on that, despite the speculation in the city over it, as it is currently part of an investigation process.

Councillor Cunningham highlighted the work of BC Conservative MP Marc Dalton who has a bill in front of Parliament that could provide some relief, urging residents to write to their MP to show their support for that initiative.

He noted of the importance of the issue, highlighting the safety issues facing the fire department as they respond to such incidents that could be related to the grows in the community.

Council then voted to adopt the motion. Following the discussion period, the Mayor then thanked staff for doing what they can on the issue.  

In a follow up to the Monday council session, City staff posted a detailed review of the council work on the evening including a link to the Health Canada website that the Councillors are directing residents to express their concerns over an local situations.

You can review the full conversation from the City's Video archive starting at the 23 minute mark.

A look at the most recent report from the Corporate Administrator and some of the past engagement on the topic by Council can be reviewed as part of a link from our preview notes of Monday,

More items of note from the Monday Council Session can be explored through our Council Timeline feature.

A wider overview of Council Discussion themes is available here.