A federal government agency is financing an experimental housing project on the site of a large -scale Grow OP marijuana on the Haudenosaunee community of six nations in the southwest of Ontario.
The next manufacturing generation of Canada, a federal agency under the industry, science and economic development of Canada, provided a subsidy of $ 3.7 million to the headquarters with headquarters in Toronto Horizon Legacy for the project.
Horizon Legacy has been associated with Six Nations architect Brian Porter, and his firm two -row architect.
But the project is ready for a shared land plot with a new marijuana plantation that faces community pressure to close. Legacy Farms has become a lightning rod for controversy in six nations since the greenhouses began to rise this year. Residents oppose their more than 70 greenhouses in expansion and constant truck traffic, and are not happy with the perspective of a greater large -scale construction in the community, which is about 100 kilometers southwest of Toronto.
Horizon Legacy says that the $ 10 million project of 30 units will be “the development of largest indigenous housing,” in the country, and will be built with robotics.
A massive marijuana culture operation in the heart of six nations of the Grand River is raising concerns that the cannabis industry is getting out of control. Jorge Barrera de CBC investigates where he came from and meets the members of the community who fight to close it.
The CEO of Horizon Legacy, NHung Nguyen, told CBC News that it is aware of “problems” with the location, but expects any controversy not to eclipse the potentially avant -garde project that, according to her, could revolutionize the construction in the first nations.
“This technology will be, we believe, transformational for Canada,” said Nguyen.
Horizon Legacy is developing the use of a robotic arm, called Val 2.0, which acts as a portable 3D printer, pouring a special concrete mixture to build walls and structures. The company used it recently for a house project in Gananoque, Ontario.
The project in six nations will be the first time that technology will be used to raise the load walls. If it succeeds, the project could be replicated in other first nations, allowing the rapid construction of housing in a sector that faces a shortage of labor, he said.
The construction company has no connection with Legacy Farms, says Nguyen.
The building will be called eh or da, which means “new moon” in the language of the Cayuga, according to the Horizon Legacy website.
The Cayuga are one of the six nations that make up the Haudenosaunee Confederation, which maintains a separate traditional governance structure of the Band Councils chosen.
Legacy Farms is owned by the son of Porter, Aaron Porter, and is licensed by the six -nations cannabis commission.
The commission was created by the elected band council to regulate cannabis production and retail trade in the reserve. The band, in an exercise of sovereignty, created their own cannabis rules outside federal and provincial laws.
The resident Nancy Porter, a distant relative of both men, has recovered the members of the community to close the inherited farms. The cultivation operation, with his berm and greenhouses, Mars his horizon and is coming in the window of his kitchen.
“It’s like a pain that will not disappear,” he said.
She says that she sees trucks that rumble every day with cultivation supplies and white vans that move in workers from outside the territory. Its construction interrupted the natural drainage of the Earth, causing floods along the neighboring properties, including its patio.
He only learned about the housing project when it was informed by CBC News.
Neither the community nor the council of the band were notified of the project by Horizon Legacy or Brian Porter. No notification was required.
She says the new project must also be closed.
“What is the big problem, hiding everything?” She said.
Several generations of the direct family of Porter, their parents, grandparents and great -grandparents, cultivated soy and wheat in the land that is now the site of the Grow Op and Housing project. When I was a child, I used to wander and play for all the property, he says. The Grow Op partly sits in what was once the land of his family, sold last year by his brother.
She says that the Banda and Commission council have ignored their questions and concerns. Neither the Council nor the Commission responded to the requests for comments from CBC News.
“I’m not going to live another year through this,” he said. “Something has to give.”
Some community members say that the controversy of Legacy Farm shows that the cannabis industry in six nations is out of control, and has raised doubts about the influx of workers outside the reserve.
Aaron Porter says that these migrant workers are going through an agency and that it is verified to ensure that they are legally allowed to work in Canada.
He would not provide the agency’s name, but says he has shared it with the cannabis commission.
“I would not bring criminals to a community that I love,” he said.
And Brain Porter says that none of the standards is exceptional for Six Nations standards, where there are no zoning regulations.
Community members build what they want in their own lands, he says.
“I have many friends who had excellent views of the natural areas and then someone bought the property and made it something else and did not have something to say,” he said.
Porter points out that just northeast of the property, along Chiefswood Road, one of the main arteries through the community, is the Ohsweken Speedway. It is owned by a member of the six nations that built it in family lands. The racing track ranges to life every Friday night from May to September.
Just below Speedway is the extensive cigarette factory and Grand River Enterprises warehouse buildings, which sends tobacco products worldwide.
“There are factories that go up weekly, right inside all these lots,” he said.
“There is no process for construction permits. Therefore, there is a lot of construction here. The vast majority, none of the members know.”
Health Canada and the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario say they have no agreements with six nations that allow him to license marijuana producers or retailers. The issuance of cannabis licenses by the communities of the first nations, outside the federal and provincial frameworks, has not been tested in court.
