Premier asks for community consultation on cannabis store locations

Kathleen Wynne says ‘we’re going to make sure’ school boards are a part of discussions on cannabis store locations.

Thestar.com
April 16, 2018
Kristin Rushowy

Premier Kathleen Wynne is not sure how consultations on the province’s cannabis stores went to pot -- but she’s now ordered that school boards have a say in where the outlets are located.

After learning that three of the four communities where the first shops will open had no input, Wynne said she’s told the Ontario Cannabis Store to go back and talk to them, and to make sure that happens for all future site decisions.

“I have been told that, as far as we know, school boards were not officially consulted, that there was some sort of online process that they could take part in, but there hasn’t been an official conversation with school boards,” Wynne told reporters Monday.

 “I’ve asked our folks to go back and to determine how to fill that gap,” she said, adding that it’s important the boards, and municipalities, are consulted because the school boards “know, for example, where their kids go at lunchtime. They know where they go after school.”

“So we’re going to make sure that happens,” said Wynne, who began her political career as a trustee with the Toronto District School Board.

The premier said such discussions not only need to happen in Toronto -- where the proposed Gerrard St. E. location is just up the street from an elementary school, and in a plaza that’s a popular lunchtime hangout -- “but they need to be part of the conversation wherever this is happening.”

Last week, sites for the first four outlets were announced -- in Toronto as well as Thunder Bay, Guelph and Kingston. The Thunder Bay school board was alone in saying it had played a part in the decision.

It is unclear why other boards were not consulted.

Laurie French, who heads the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said they must have a say in advance of sites being chosen.

“That’s important,” she said. “That’s really been the missing piece.”

The Lakehead board was in on discussions from the beginning, as part of a local group that included Thunder Bay Drug Strategy. “We did not support a location that was near a school or where young people frequent,” a board spokesperson told the Star.

In Thunder Bay, the closest elementary school is three kilometres away. In Kingston, the shop is at least two kilometres from the nearest school. In the Guelph-area Upper Grand board, three elementary schools are each roughly a kilometre away.

But in a densely populated city like Toronto, such distances may not be feasible.

French said she was pleased the Lakehead board played such a key role, but lamented “that was not at all standard to the other three locations.”

In Toronto, the shop is 450 metres north of Blantyre Public School. Parents say they had no idea the site was under consideration and are asking the province to look at alternate locations.

The plaza nearby has a McDonald’s and other fast-food outlets, as well as a children’s math tutoring franchise and a martial arts centre.

“Ideally, there should be some consultation (with communities), and they should set some parameters up about where these are supposed to go,” said Robin Pilkey, chair of the Toronto District School Board.

“Not just ‘we can get some rental space beside the Kumon.’ ”

Pilkey said the board received an email last Friday from Ontario Cannabis Store President Nancy Kennedy, and the two are set to speak by phone Tuesday.

“They need to put some parameters in place about where they think it is suitable to put them,” Pilkey said.

“It’s the beginning,” she added. “They have the chance to get it right. Once they get it wrong, it’s hard to go back.”

The federal government is expected to legalize cannabis this summer, and Ontario Cannabis Store outlets will be run by a subsidiary of the LCBO.

“I think that we should always have full consultation when we’re doing anything that impacts children and school boards,” said Michael Coteau, minister of children and youth services who is also a former Toronto trustee.

“I would hope that in the future, any of the locations chosen in Ontario would go through that type of process -- not only with school boards, but also with the local school (parent) councils and schools themselves.”

The Upper Grand board had yet to hear from Ontario Cannabis Store about consultations, though board operations were shut down Monday due to inclement weather.

A spokesperson for Ontario Cannabis Store said the LCBO and Ministry of Finance have been in talks with municipal officials to find store sites, and that it was up to cities to “invite local groups to participate.”

The spokesperson added that in Thunder Bay, police also took part.

“Going forward, OCS is committed to directly engaging with school board officials with respect to potential locations for retail stores,” the spokesperson said.