THE HISTORY OF CANNABIS IN CANADA
Page 8: Britain promotes more Canadian cannabis farming.

The British government didn't give up - they were desperate to get more cannabis growing in Canada. Britain needed hemp rope and sails to keep its mighty navy afloat.

In 1802, Canada appointed several prominent farmers to the newly-formed "Board for the Encouragement of the Cultivation of Hemp."

Big annual cash prizes were offered for the five largest cannabis fields in Upper and Lower Canada, and for the vessels that carried the biggest loads of cannabis to England.

"The cultivation of hemp is rapidly expanding in Canada, and there is much reason to hope we shall be rendered independent of the foreign markets. Several hundred tons were grown last year in the neighbourhood of Montreal, Camden, Howard on the Thames, and in many parts of Upper-Canada; and we hear with great pleasure that upwards of twenty looms and rope-walks were established during that period."
- British Government Report on Hemp, 1809

"Hemp is likely to be supplied in abundance in a short time from Ireland as well as from Canada, where thousands of acres are now allotted to its cultivation... It is thought that our dependence on Russia for this article has nearly, if not completely, reached its termination. The very high price which hemp bears at this moment operates as a powerful inducement to our national agriculturalists."
- National and Parliamentary Notices, March 1809

FOOTNOTES

• Board for the Encouragement of the Cultivation of Hemp
Book: Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume 5, by Francess G. Halpenny, p.373, Springer Science, 1983
https://books.google.ca/books?id=evippMryHjsC&pg=PA373

• Board for the Encouragement of the Cultivation of Hemp
Article: Kenelm Chandler, by Glenn Steppler, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto, 1983
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/chandler_kenelm_5E.html

• Board for the Encouragement of the Cultivation of Hemp
Article: William Frederick Ermatinger, by Myron Momryk,, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto, 2003 http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ermatinger_frederick_william_1827_6E.html

• cash prizes
Document: The British-American register, Vol. 1, No. 18, May 7, 1803, Printed by John Neilson
http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06241_18/14?r=0&s=1

• British Government Report on Hemp, National and Parliamentary Notices
Document: National and Parliamentary Notices, No. II, Navigation, Trade, Imports and Exports, Literary Panorama for March, 1809
https://books.google.ca/books?id=lL8RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT519&q=Camden%20howard

• Board for hemp 1802
Article: In another period of scarcity, Wright made farming history, by Harry Walker, The Ottawa Journal, March 20, 1943
http://www.newspapers.com/image/48096245/?terms=hemp