The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Canada's first nations are crafting a plan for a separate cannabis regulatory regime that they will present to Ottawa by the spring -- no matter which party wins the coming federal election. The Globe's Mike Hager writes that a national working group of two-dozen chiefs and cannabis-policy experts behind the plan had its inaugural meeting on the sidelines of the Assembly of First Nations' Cannabis Summit in Vancouver last week. The group has begun work on creating a framework for Canada's indigenous peoples to license, test and tax cannabis products made and sold on their territories. Christian Sinclair, Chief of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba, said Bill Blair has asked this group to put forward its proposal by April 1, 2020. "We want our own autonomous first nations framework," said Chief Sinclai last week. "Ultimately, what we want the governments to be able to do is to meet us at that point and recognize our sovereignty and our ability to make money knowing that we're the poorest of the poor in our own country, which is unacceptable." Mr. Blair's spokesman said he is engaging with "interested communities across the country."