It was a long time coming for Patrick Nadeau, but he finally opened the first legal retail cannabis store in the Chemainus and Crofton area on June 22.
Rezoning, COVID-19 and all sorts of other factors created a prolonged process for Nadeau, 55, before Father Nature’s at Mount Sicker Road and the Trans Canada Highway beside the Red Rooster Diner could become fully operational.
“I’m Father Nature,” quipped Nadeau of his clever twist on the name of his establishment.
He actually opened initially in March of 2018 as Father Nature’s Gifts and then shut down in July that year at the request of the Municipality of North Cowichan and then reapplied legally, with the pending legalization of marijuana for recreational use coming into effect in October 2018.
Nadeau thought it was better to do that than face a potential visit from police.
“I started applying in July 2018 with North Cowichan and the province,” he indicated. “Just when they legalized it nobody was ready to go.”
A public meeting was held last year by Nadeau and a public hearing also took place at the municipal hall.
“I had our public meeting at the restaurant,” he said. “I had to invite everybody from the area.”
North Cowichan council gave its final approval for Nadeau’s retail cannabis store in December of last year. Nadeau said at the time he was still waiting for the province’s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch to complete its financial and criminal records checks before issuing him a business licence to operate.
Related: North Cowichan approves retail cannabis shop at Mount Sicker Road
“Provincial approval couldn’t come till Municipal approval,” he explained.
There have been many hoops and hurdles to clear along the way to this point.
“North Cowichan was the biggest process because we had to rezone the property,” Nadeau noted.
Just when plans seemed well on track, COVID-19 hit and he couldn’t open earlier this year as anticipated.
As restrictions eased, “we just had to have certain things in before we could open up – Plexiglas was one of them,” Nadeau pointed out.
North Cowichan council recently held a virtual public hearing on a second application for a retail cannabis store in the region at 9568 Chemainus Rd. by Kyle Cheyne of Platinum Cannabis.
“The more of us the better,” reasoned Nadeau. “I think the competition is healthy.”
After being in the restaurant business most of his life, Nadeau is appreciating the change from the long hours and low pay in his new venture.
Born in Grimsby, Ont. he’s lived in various communities all across the country and now resides in Cobble Hill. Ironically, he once lived in a house a short distance from Father Nature’s just on the north side of the nearby Chemainus River bridge.
Nadeau previously ran the Red Rooster restaurant and the former Phoenix hotel in Duncan for eight years.
“My family’s been around here for quite some time,” he added. “I love it.
“The people around the Chemainus area are some of the nicest people in the world. I’ve been in lots of small communities but there’s something special about the Chemainus Valley.”
Nadeau hopes to get to know even more people through his business.
“Funny about this business, it’s generally people over 50 coming into these stores,” he noted.
It’s been a bit of a slow start, but that was expected with the pandemic.
“Obviously, COVID is slowing down things for everybody,” Nadeau emphasized. “I think it helped I was around the last four to five years. It was a familiar face.”
Father Nature’s is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s closed on Mondays.
Nadeau plans to expand his hours as business picks up in the next month or two to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“If somebody told me when I was 20 years old, I’d own a legal pot shop, I’d have laughed in their face,” he chuckled.
