Marijuana legalization a reason to celebrate for Meta Cannabis partners
Meta Cannabis Supply Co. opens first retail location on Pembina Highway
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This article was published 19/10/2018 (2804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A small pot shop tucked into a strip mall in Fort Rouge is promising to be a spark for change in northern Manitoba communities.
Meta Cannabis Supply Co. opened on Oct. 17 at 23-584 Pembina Hwy. as part of the nationwide legalization of cannabis.
“There’s a lot of bustling in the shop today,” said Matt Ryan, vice president of marketing with National Access Cannabis, as contractors hurried to put the finishing touches on the space and staff were preparing to welcome customers at 5 p.m. “It’s been quite a journey to get here. Just very busy with all the regulatory approvals and things that got us to our licence.”
Meta Cannabis is the recreational arm of the Ottawa-based National Access Cannabis company, which founded its operations in the medical marijuana business.
The 1,900-square-foot retail store and e-commerce distribution centre is the first location for Meta Cannabis in the country, as it looks to expand from coast to coast with a total of 50 retail operations planned for the end of December and more than 200 stores over the next 18 months.
“We’re very excited because for those of us who have been working on this brand, today’s the day. And Winnipeg’s the first place we get to do it,” Ryan said.
“We knew that this market was going to be one of the first, and frankly Manitoba is quite ahead as far as getting all the regulatory approvals.”
Christian Sinclair, the chief of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, was the first person to purchase cannabis from the shop. It was a ceremonial gesture for the leader of the Indigenous community about 600 kilometres north of Winnipeg that signaled a new economic future for the community.
OCN is a major shareholder in National Access Cannabis and Sinclair sits on the company’s board of directors.
“I think it’s a very historic day and we’re very proud as the largest private shareholders of National Access Cannabis and Meta to be able to see our vision come to life through the strong management and leadership of the board and the team at Meta/National Access,” Sinclair told The Sou’wester.
“It represents economic reconciliation to allow us to be able to create a new form of revenue and to diversify our holdings that we have within OCN and to bring outside revenues from other locales that we have ownership of right across Canada.”
Ahead of legalization, National Access Cannabis partnered with Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Long Plain First Nation, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation to establish a retail recreational cannabis distribution network on Manitoba First Nations (subject to licensing by the province) staffed by First Nation’s members.
OCN’s initial investment in NAC totaled about $3-million, Sinclair said, and to bolster the retail roll out and avoid dilution, OCN loaned $35-million to the corporation earlier this summer. OCN’s location is expected to open in November.
Sinclair said the revenues generated from its investment in NAC will go towards shortfalls in social programs such as education, health care, culture, recreation, and language revitalization.
The chief said he is confident in the cannabis industry and the folks at NAC as the company tries to carve out a foothold in the Canadian market and establishes a long term vision to expand internationally.
“It was a calculated risk but we’re very pleased to know that we partnered with the strongest company in Canada from a management level and a board level,” Sinclair said. “It will allow us to get on equal footing with the rest of Canadian society which was always the intent of the treaties: sharing in natural resources and sharing in the bounty and wealth of what this country can provide.”
Ryan said the partnership with First Nations communities is exciting and will create opportunities for exchange and entrepreneurship among the partners, not just when it comes to cannabis, but for artistic, business, and social development as well.
“It’s a shared business model and operational model between us and First Nations communities, but of course that money is going to go back to the community, to a point,” he said.
“We built our whole medical platform on safe and responsible access to legal medical cannabis, and the same platform is what Meta is built on,” he said. “We plan to work with all communities, even around this store, to help educate. Everybody in this vicinity is a responsibility of ours to educate them on what’s legal, how to be safe, things like that and it’s our vision to do that in First Nations communities as well.”
Other Winnipeg cannabis retailers include: Delta 9 Cannabis, Unit 1 – 827 Dakota St.; Tokyo Smoke, 54-70 Arthur St.; Tokyo Smoke, 55B Goulet St.; Tweed, 120 Osborne St.; and Tweed, 1592 Regent Ave.