Smoke shop to open next week despite Tobacco Tax Act

A Dakota First Nation VLT lounge and smoke shop will open Wednesday in southwestern Manitoba, confirmed Canupawakpa Chief Frank Brown -- with or without the VLTs.
"We're going to go with what is there on the 9th," Brown said Friday. "They're expected to come before then, but they may not be. We're crossing our fingers that they will be."
Brown and members of the non-treaty Dakota First Nation plan to sell Mohawk cigarettes at a shop located on the site of a former general store near Pipestone, about 100 kilometres southwest of Brandon.
The Mohawk cigarettes would be sold at approximately one-third the total cost of a provincially taxed cigarette, with taxes collected on behalf of the Dakota First Nation, not the province.
The smoke shop is to be combined with a temporary casino establishment that Brown says will help fund the construction of a permanent casino at Oak Island Resort in Oak Lake.
Once up and running, Brown said the gaming lounge will eventually hold between 75 and 100 VLTs, which have been purchased from the United States.
Brown had to postpone the original Nov. 1 opening date, citing a delay in finalizing its First Nation-created gaming licence and tobacco sales regulations, and a "minor" detail that needed to be worked out with the Mohawk nation, though he wouldn't provide specific details.
Brown confirmed Friday that both operations will open together next Wednesday at noon in the same building, and invited the public to attend.
"It's open to whoever wants to come," Brown said.
"It's an open invitation."
To mark the event, he has also sent invitations to several federal and provincial ministers, including Dave Chomiak, Manitoba's minister responsible for gaming.
The provincial government has maintained that the Tobacco Tax Act applies province-wide -- including on First Nations -- and prohibits the sale of non-Manitoba-marked tobacco products.
Three Manitoba Dakota First Nations -- Sioux Valley, Dakota Plains and Canupawakpa -- filed a comprehensive claim in federal court in 2009 against the federal government, alleging the Dakota were wrongly labelled as refugees in Canada.

Also read some tobacco blog:
Cigs online
Home of cigarettes
Camel cigarettes
Cigarettes online