Iqaluit cannabis store wins tenancy fight against landlord Northview REIT

The downtown Iqaluit cannabis store Higher Experience will keep its current location after a seven-month legal battle with the North’s largest private landlord.

Higher Experience is one of the two legal cannabis stores in Iqaluit. Kevin and Frances Ikeno opened the business in April 2024 at 760 Queen Elizabeth Way, in a building owned by Northview.

The legal actions between Higher Experience and Northview Residential REIT started in September 2024.

Back in June 2023, a one-year lease for the building was about to expire. The Ikenos secured the building and were looking to extend the lease for three more years as a home for their store when it opened, said Justice Faiyaz Alibhai in his decision, released March 5.

Herbert Eaton, Northview’s regional manager, verbally agreed with Kevin Ikeno that the lease would be renewed with mostly the same terms. Eaton said at the time the paperwork would be just a “formality,” Kevin Ikeno recalled in court.

The Ikenos continued to occupy the space after the lease expired on July 31, 2023, under the terms of the verbal agreement, the decision said.

Northview got an offer in July to purchase the property from an unnamed organization, but for months after that the company didn’t tell the Ikenos about the offer.

The property owner sent a notice to the Ikenos on Oct. 16, 2023, advising that their lease would be terminated and they would need to leave by Nov. 15. The Ikenos disputed the notice of termination, pointing to the three-year lease extension, which Northview said was “invalid.”

In his decision, the judge sided with the Ikenos, saying Northview’s actions were “in bad faith and were meant to terminate a valid lease.”

Northview “was no longer interested in leasing the property if they could sell it, but never advised Higher Experience that the circumstances had changed,” Alibhai wrote in his decision.

Now, after Alibhai’s decision, the store will be able to use the property until August 2026 and will be compensated for legal fees.

The lawsuit was one of several issues the store has faced, including the approval processes from the Government of Nunavut and City of Iqaluit along with concerns about the store being too close to Northmart and Nakasuk Elementary School.