I think Mr. Smitherman touched on it a bit, as well, in his presentation in terms of really looking at our lens across federal rules—particularly in the agriculture department, grant programs at Industry Canada and regional economic development agencies—to recognize what it really is.
This is farming, and this is highly skilled farming as Tim, I think, has pointed out. He's one of the best in the business. We have thousands of them here in regenerative farming, giving back to the soil. There are different agriculture techniques in play.
The land that we're growing on here in British Columbia is sacred land. Indigenous farmers have incredible techniques and a history of growing plants for medicinal purposes. We think it's as simple as putting that lens across all of the federal programs and legislation that is there. We're suggesting provincial governments do it as well.
Also, state the obvious. We had a lot of people who were surprised when this policy resolution came to the summit and said, “You mean cannabis isn't realized as a farming activity now?” Agri-tourism, in terms of cannabis, has a place, especially for craft farmers with farm gate sales. There are a lot of tourists who are very interested in agri-tourism, and cannabis fits very well into that box.
I think it's a matter of looking at the federal programs and legislation that exist now and taking the stigma out of cannabis. It has been stigmatized for so long, with the prohibition. It's very unfair. Start to look at cannabis in a different way and as a really cool agriculture commodity
It's attracting a lot of young people to farming. We talked to a lot of agriculture producers in other sectors. When they see our conference with a whole bunch of young people getting into agriculture, their eyes are opened to the fact that the cannabis and hemp industries can attract younger people into this business, because it is what it is. It's really farming.