Abegweit First Nations man pleads not guilty after cigarette bust, citing treaty rights

A man from the Abegweit First Nation who had unstamped tobacco seized from his car has pleaded not guilty to the charges on the grounds he has the treaty right to sell cigarettes without paying taxes to the government.

John Bernard, 63, said he was openly running a smoke shop out of his home on the reserve in Scotchfort, P.E.I., for about a year before he was pulled over by police and arrested. 

During that time, he was travelling to the Listuguj First Nation in Quebec, just across the border from Campbelton, N.B., to purchase the unstamped tobacco from a shop there. 

Bernard told CBC News that once he returned to P.E.I. he would then trade or sell the cigarettes as his primary source of income.

"That was just one way of trying to improvise, trying to survive," Bernard said during a recent interview.

"I was transporting it… and the big deal is about the stamp, a tax stamp. I live on reserve, I don't pay taxes."

In Canada, excise duties are charged on products like spirits, wine, beer and tobacco. It's separate from sales tax, and the product is marked with a sticker to signify that it's been paid. 

The government considers any unstamped products to be illegal or contraband tobacco. The 40 cartons RCMP seized from Bernard's car on April 3, 2024, were not stamped. 

"It's just a waste of time, taxpayers' money and resources," Bernard said of the investigation.

The Mi'kmaw man said he feels he has the treaty right to trade and sell the product — on and off reserve — and that it's not the business of the Canadian government. 

"They herded us onto reserves — stolen land — and then they call this the reserve," Bernard said. "We can only do what they tell us on the reserve. Now, what's wrong with that picture?"

Before Canada was established as a country, British colonists and the Mi'kmaq made a series of agreements, including the Peace and Friendship Treaties, which were signed in the 1700s to ensure the co-existence of the two groups.

The signed treaties outline the responsibilities of the British Crown to the Mi'kmaq, like providing continued access to hunt and fish on their land and to trade and sell products.

Meanwhile, the Mi'kmaq never actually ceded their land to the colonizers.