The Williams Lake Indian Band announced that they will be constructing a new cannabis retail facility.
It will be built on Indian Reserve number six in Williams Lake located off South Mackenzie Avenue at the intersection with Borland Road near the entrance to Scout Island.
Chief of the Williams Lake Indian Band Willie Sellars said they have the jurisdiction to regulate cannabis retail on their reserve lands and have been working with the Province of British Columbia to negotiate an agreement under Section 119 of the Cannabis Control and Licensing act.
“We’ve met with Minister Farnworth numerous times and we’ve met with his technical group. We sit at the Cannabis Roundtable and have been engaged in numerous discussions with them as well. We’re taking a pretty pro-active approach with it.”
Sellars also said it’s been in the planning stages for months and that they wanted to make sure that they did properly.
“We wanted to make sure to get in front of the community, get in front of the local Governments here in Williams Lake like the City and the CRD, but also make sure we had full consensus from the Chief and Council at the Williams Lake Indian Band. We didn’t want to ruffle any feathers and create any tension and make sure that we were doing it in a good way and a positive way.”
The Williams Lake Indian Band anticipates construction of the new cannabis retail facility will be complete within 3 months and will create an estimated 10 to 15 new jobs.