Quebec cancels cannabis education fair

Is Quebec afraid of cannabis, even though it is legal in the province as in all of Canada? Visit CanFest, The first cannabis fair, scheduled for May 28, has been cancelled following pressure from the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).

Following a visit by the MSSS to the site of the cannabis fair on May 5, the latter reportedly hinted at the illegality of the event to the Complexe Capitale Hélicoptère (CCH), which was to host the exhibition and which ultimately terminated its contract with CanFest.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CanEmpire (@thecanempire)

ADVERTISING

Awa Diagne, creator of the event, makes no secret of her anger and sadness.

«Faced with these new reprisals, we have no choice but to succumb to the threats and cancel CanFest,» she writes.

«Obviously, we are deeply saddened by this outcome, as holding an educational event on cannabis was more than necessary in Quebec. Once again, we will be forced to turn to other welcoming Canadian provinces to produce large-scale projects.»

The event was originally scheduled for May 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on the festival.

«You'll understand that our fight is far from over, and that we don't intend to turn a blind eye to the damage caused by the MSSS. For too long, this ministry has been harming Quebec's cannabis industry and acting inappropriately. It's high time all this stopped, and we take comfort in the thought that at least the CanFest project in Quebec will serve to expose the many flaws in the province's cannabis framework.»

In its justifications, the MSSS pointed to article 52 of Quebec's Cannabis Act, which does not prohibit the holding of educational festivals, the CanFest team having obviously had their entire set-up legally validated: «It is prohibited to associate with a sports, cultural or social facility, a facility maintained by a health or social services establishment or a research center a name, logo, distinctive sign, design, image or slogan associated with cannabis, a cannabis brand, the Société québécoise du cannabis or a cannabis producer.

Anyone contravening the provisions of the first or second paragraphs commits an offence and is liable to a fine of between 5,000 $ and 500,000 $. In the event of a repeat offence, these amounts are doubled.»

The Québec is also the only province with Manitoba to ban the self-cultivation of cannabis.

CanFest will be transformed into an evening «unrelated to cannabis», with the support of BlocPot.