Cannabis in Wisikk: a tempting venture
Publication date: 14 December 2023
Issue publication date: 2 July 2024
Abstract
Research methodology
This case was developed using a mixture of publicly available documents created by the partner community, general information from public sources like the First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA) website and Government of Canada websites, and personal and first-hand experience of the indigenous coauthor, Storm Gould.
Case overview/synopsis
Wisikk is a Mi’kmaq sovereign reserve territory located in Mi’kmaq’ki in the place that settler governments call Nova Scotia. The community has existed in its location since time immemorial and has been recognized by the settler government since the early 19th century. An opportunity for community-run business has arisen for Wisikk based on the legalization of cannabis throughout Canada in 2018. This case’s protagonist is the community’s Vice-President for Business Development, Andrew Googoo, as he considers bringing a proposal for a cannabis retailing venture to the Chief and Council. Cannabis legalization in Canada left sales policies to the provinces and was silent as to the rules governing cannabis sales by indigenous communities on their sovereign territory. Considering both potential negative impacts to the community, as well as the potential financial benefits from a successful reserve-based cannabis dispensary, Andrew must soon present his initial findings to the Chief and Council for their deliberation and decision. Any venture undertaken by the reserve would require a loan from the FNFA, so Andrew must also consider the projections and reports that the FNFA would require to support their lending decision.
Complexity academic level
The case is appropriate for mid-level or capstone undergraduate and graduate business courses, especially those focused on entrepreneurship, business ownership or indigenous ownership. The case was originally developed for the accounting division of an international undergraduate case competition. In addition to accounting concepts like pro forma/budgeted income statements and decision analysis, it is intended to showcase some legal and cultural features of community-led indigenous business ventures. The idea is for students to explore concepts of sovereignty, community involvement and broader stakeholder impact, as well as more technical accounting and financial concepts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the organizers and anonymous reviewers of the Indigenous Voices Case Competition; Dr Christopher Craig, Editor; and two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript submitted to the CASE Journal. The authors thank Chamath Don for his outstanding research assistantship. The authors also thank the activists at Dispensing Freedom, who provided critical information about the number and location of Indigenous cannabis outlets. Finally, the authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the CPA Ontario Centre for Corporate Reporting and Professionalism, the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University and the F.C. Manning School of Business at Acadia University.
Disclaimer. This case is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was compiled from published sources.
Citation
Stack, R., Gould, S. and Malsch, B. (2024), "Cannabis in Wisikk: a tempting venture", , Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 789-811. https://doi.org/10.1108/TCJ-05-2023-0094
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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