Chris Clay reminds the Liberal government of their decades-old broken promise during his Supreme Court of Canada hearing in December 2002.
Warmland was founded in 2015 by longtime cannabis activists Chris Clay and Pete Young. Chris, now Warmland’s C.E.O., opened Canada’s first hemp store, The Great Canadian Hemporium, in 1993 in downtown London, Ontario. In 1995, after changing the store name to Hemp Nation, he launched a constitutional challenge, R v Clay, to Canada’s cannabis laws with lawyers Alan Young and Paul Burstein that reached the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003. When Chris moved to B.C. in 1997, Pete reopened the shop as Organic Traveler before founding the London Compassion Society. Developing his skills as a master grower, Pete eventually went on to co-found licensed cannabis producer Indiva.
Frustrated with the lack of access to medicinal cannabis in the Cowichan Valley, Chris partnered with Pete in the summer of 2015 to open Warmland Medicinal Cannabis Centre in Mill Bay. The shop operated for three years before closing on the cusp of legalization – the closure was meant to be temporary, but a 3+ year slog through red tape ensued before Warmland was finally reborn as Warmland Cannabis Centres.
During Warmland’s hiatus, Chris and its former General Manager (and current C.O.O.) Ruby Bressan operated the flagship location at Whippletree Junction just south of Duncan as Hemp Nation Cannabis Outfitters, assembling an inventory of more than 5,000 cannabis accessories with a focus on Canadian glass artists. Once provincial cannabis retail licensing was in hand, in January 2021, Hemp Nation closed and the first licensed Warmland Cannabis Centre opened in its place.
Some memories appear below, starting with Chris’ first shop in London through to his trip to the Toronto Stock Exchange to open the market on legalization day and beyond.
Stoned: Hemp Nation on Trial (1998)
