Manitoba Gambling Smoke Shop Pressured to Close
National organisations are pushing the Manitoba government to close the Dakota Chundee Smoke Shop, an unlicensed smoke shop and gambling lounge that opened in western Manitoba on Wednesday.
The shop, which opened 80 kilometres southwest of Brandon sold cigarettes from Mohawk distributors in Quebec for less than half the price of what they can be bought for in Manitoba. Selling at $5 a pack or $40 a carton, the cigarettes sold out on the first day the shop was open.
The operators from the Dakota Plains and Canupawakpa First Nations are planning to open a gambling lounge that offers video lottery terminals and poker. The store and gambling lounge will operate without a license and this is the cause of much of the uproar from national organisations.
National Organisations Enumerate Risks
The Canadian Convenience Stores Association has discussed the risks of allowing the Dakota Chundee Smoke Shop to continue to operate. In particular, the association suggested that unless the government takes a stand against the First Nations store and shuts it down, many more illegal smoke shops would establish themselves in Manitoba.
In a statement released on Thursday, the association asked the government to "enforce current laws and avoid setting a dangerous precedent in the province with respect to the sale of contraband tobacco."
Doug Hartl, Vice-Chairman of the Western Convenience Stores Association said, "We are certainly sympathetic to [native] rights, but not at the mercy of the hard-working and law-abiding convenience store owners who follow strict tobacco regulations and remit taxes, but simply cannot compete with the illegal trade of contraband tobacco."
In addition, the government was called on by the National Coalition against Contraband Tobacco to inspect the First Nations Manitoba smoke shop to ensure they comply with laws and regulations that other Canadian businesses that sell tobacco are expected to comply with.
Craig Blacksmith, who was involved with setting up the Manitoba smoke shop, said that the operators are hoping to be arrested when they open their store next week. They are hoping to push the point that licenses that were issued for the smoke shop and gambling lounge, by the Dakota Plains First Nations are legal. They are also hoping to speed up the courts on the issue of treaty status for the Canupawakpa First Nations.
The Manitoba government has indicated that they are in the middle of discussions with the operators of the Dakota Chundee Smoke Shop.
