A New Brunswick provincial cabinet minister toured a cannabis warehouse only a few weeks before RCMP raided the facility in Madawaska First Nation that the force said was linked to organized crime, Brunswick News has learned.
Luke Randall, the minister responsible for Cannabis NB stores and Opportunities New Brunswick, acknowledged on Wednesday he did a friendly tour of Madawaska Warehouse and some pot shops in the Indigenous community beside Edmundston on March 30.
The tour was part of back-channel negotiations with First Nations, undisclosed by the Liberal government, about finding a way to bring the sale of the recreational drugs into the provincial network.
“What we are exploring at Cannabis NB is how we can ensure safe supply in every community in the province, whether that’s an Indigenous community or whether that’s another community,” Randall said in an interview, describing Madawaska First Nation as “a really interesting case.”
“They’re the only community in New Brunswick that’s been able to work under the federal act, to create the framework and structure for a legal cannabis supply within their community. So, we were very interested to see how that was working, how they engaged in that work, and whether there was an opportunity for us to be able to collaborate to ensure that safe, legal supply is available in every single community in this province.”
Randall said he and Indigenous Affairs Minister Keith Chiasson had recently sent letters to all 15 First Nations chiefs and councils asking to discuss ways they could integrate the cannabis sales in their communities with the provincial network.
But those negotiations have been put at risk because of the RCMP raid on Madawaska Warehouse at 4 a.m. on April 26.
Randall said no one at Opportunities NB or the Department of Finance and Treasury Board was informed ahead of time about the police action, which came as a huge surprise to him.
The Mounties swooped in with more than 20 vehicles at that wee hour, confiscating most of the products at the cannabis warehouse. The business acted as a private wholesaler that would ship merchandise to pot shops, mostly to other First Nations.
The police also executed a search warrant at the home of Cindy Bernard, who ran the business. She is the niece of Madawaska First Nation’s Chief Patricia Bernard and the daughter of John Bernard, the successful businessman who owns the Grey Rock casino.
The father, who owns the warehouse but rented the facility to his daughter so she could run her business, told Brunswick News in an interview that the RCMP raid was violent, traumatizing and completely uncalled for.
He said his daughter and son-in-law were arrested in front of their two young children, creating panic and fear.
“For God’s sake, the province and its officials, including the minister, were visiting the warehouse just a month ago,” John Bernard said. “The province felt horrible after the raid because there had been such a lack of trust between the First Nations and the province for so long, and it was finally this new Liberal government that was trying to build that relationship back up again. And this did not help. It hurts the relationship.”
Randall met with the Madawaska chief and a couple of First Nations councillors the day he had toured the pot facilities with a few government officials in tow.
He and Chiasson also talked to Chief Bernard immediately after the raid, by videoconference.
She has declined comment on the issue, citing the police investigation.
Asked if the provincial Department of Justice and Public Safety knew ahead of time about the raid, Randall said he’d leave that question to Robert Gauvin, the public safety minister.
Through a spokesperson, Gauvin told Brunswick News on Thursday he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
The RCMP told Brunswick News last week that it had executed search warrants simultaneously at the cannabis distribution centre in Madawaska and five other locations, one in the First Nation, three in Nova Scotia and another in Hamilton, Ont.
They did not provide many details but said the operation targeted organized crime, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Arrests were made but so far no one has been charged in court.
John Bernard said the other locations were all homes, places where employees of Madawaska Warehouse lived.
Brunswick News asked the Mounties on Thursday if charges were pending.
“We have no further updates,” said Cst. Marie-Pierre Guertin, who works in the RCMP’s eastern region office in Montreal. “This file is still under investigation for the time being.”
Cannabis NB, a provincial Crown corporation run like NB Liquor stores, is the only place in New Brunswick people can legally buy recreational weed products.
When Ottawa legalized cannabis in 2018, First Nations wanted a cut of the proceeds, arguing they had Aboriginal and treaty rights to sell the plant products in their communities. But New Brunswick ignored these wishes and monopolized the sale.
Within no time, dozens of pot shops opened in the defiant 15 First Nations in New Brunswick. Up until April, police in New Brunswick largely turned a blind eye to these activities as long as they stayed on reserves.
Taking the initiative, Madawaska First Nation passed its own law in 2023 regulating the cannabis and tobacco trade
However, such legislation isn’t granted explicit permission in the federal Cannabis Act and it hasn’t been tested in court.
The new regime included inspections of the wholesaler and three pot shops in the community to make sure they were abiding by the regulations.
But it did nothing to shield the warehouse from the RCMP raid.
John Bernard said the initial news report of the police raid bothered him because it largely quoted the RCMP, who said organized crime groups “exploit situations of vulnerability in certain communities, including Indigenous communities, to carry out their criminal activities.”
He scoffed at that characterization.
“Everybody’s thinking, ‘Oh my God, it’s the Hell’s Angels or the mafia or the Sopranos.’ It’s nothing like that.”
Bernard said about a dozen police officers stormed his daughter’s house in the First Nation, where she lives with her husband and children, eight and two years old.
“It’s crazy what the RCMP did. At four in the morning, they’re banging on Cindy’s door. They arrest her and her husband right in front of their children. Her son, he’s only eight years old, he’s looking down with all the cops there, and one of them had a mask on, and the poor little guy was terrified. And they put his parents in handcuffs and led them away.”
Bernard said his son-in-law’s mother happened to be visiting at the time, so at least she was there to take care of the kids.
The couple were detained briefly at the RCMP’s detachment in St-Leonard, 42 km south, and then released.
The businessman reviewed his security cameras after the raid was over and wasn’t impressed.
The RCMP first surrounded his security guard who was in a truck in the parking lot and arrested him. Then they broke down the door of Madawaska Warehouse, where no one was working at the time.
“They saw the license from the First Nation on the wall and they ripped it down. They were all laughing at it. I know this because I have footage of the whole thing.”
Bernard said when the police left, they put a piece of plywood across the doorway. The 15 or so people who worked there during the day are now out of a job, he added.
Randall, meanwhile, said the Liberal government wouldn’t give up on trying to integrate First Nations pot sales into the provincial fold. But he expressed frustration with Health Canada rules and federal legislation that he said made it hard to strike a deal.
Cannabis NB’s profits in the last quarter were down a whopping 20 per cent compared to the same time last year. CEO Lori Stickles largely blamed the black market for undercutting legal sales.
Randall said it was difficult to know where people were buying all their cannabis, but he didn’t think Indigenous pot shops were the main reason behind the drop in legal sales. He pointed the finger at shady foreign sellers who send illegal products by mail, using Canada Post.
“Many of those products are packaged as if, you know, they’re a snack good or a candy product. We’re really concerned about that product that’s coming from outside of province from websites that we can’t control.”
– with files from Andrew Waugh
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 08, 2026 at 13:29
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