{"id":710549,"date":"2026-04-07T07:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/710549\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:47:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:47:28","slug":"alberta-separatism-question-to-head-back-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/710549\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta separatism question to head back to court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several Alberta First Nations are expected in court to challenge a proposed referendum question calling for the province\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They want the Alberta separatism<\/a> petition declared null and void and the process deemed unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an unconstitutional question that\u2019s going to have an impact on our Treaty relationship, so we\u2019re going to have to take a stand,\u201d said Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine.<\/p>\n

Sturgeon Lake, located in Treaty 8 territory, is scheduled to be in court Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Indigenous community in the Grande Prairie region is one of several First Nations challenging the provincial legislation permitting citizen-led petitions that seek referendum votes, such as the ongoing campaign to put separation on a ballot.<\/p>\n

Indigenous leaders have been vocally opposed to the separatist movement in Alberta, arguing the province does not have jurisdiction over their lands.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSturgeon Lake Cree Nation suing province over Alberta separatist petition\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Treaties 6, 7 and 8, all of which were signed with the Crown between 1875 and 1899, predate the existence of Alberta, which joined Confederation in 1905.<\/p>\n

In December, a judge ruled the proposed separation question is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

It came after chief electoral officer Gordon McClure referred a referendum on Alberta becoming a \u201csovereign country\u201d proposed by the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) to the Court of King\u2019s Bench last summer, to determine if it was constitutional.<\/p>\n

In December, Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced Bill 14, which gave himself the authority to approve or deny petitions for a referendum, rather than the chief electoral officer.<\/p>\n

Less than a day later, Justice Colin Feasby of the Court of King\u2019s Bench ruled that a referendum on Alberta independence would be an unconstitutional violation of Treaty rights.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlberta judge finds proposed referendum question on separation is unconstitutional\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

But with Bill 14 in effect, McClure approved a petition from a new organization with the same leaders as the APP, Stay Free Alberta, with a slightly reworded question that refers to Alberta becoming an \u201cindependent state\u201d \u2014 effectively ending the court review.<\/p>\n

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The group pushing for the referendum said last week it had collected the required approximate 178,000 signatures to trigger the vote.<\/p>\n

Stay Free Alberta said those people deserve to be heard and the province\u2019s changes mean there shouldn\u2019t be any legal action at this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea they need to be consulted prior to citizens being able to communicate their views to the legislature is frankly, just silly,\u201d said Jeffrey Rath, a lawyer for the organization.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a purely political issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Speaking to reporters last week, Justice Minister Mickey Amery said his government will review any outcome.<\/p>\n

Premier Danielle Smith has said she will move forward with a provincewide referendum if the required number of signatures are gathered and verified.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnother Alberta First Nation promises legal action over separation\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The NDP has been accusing her government of procedurally delaying moving forward on a \u201cForever Canadian\u201d petition organized by former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk to make it official policy that Alberta stay in Canada.<\/p>\n

That petition successfully gathered over 456,000 signatures as of October 2025, far exceeding the 294,000 required under previous rules the UCP has since changed.<\/p>\n

The Forever Canadian petition was verified successful by Elections Alberta in early December.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Naheed Nenshi has also criticized Smith for reducing signature thresholds to make it easier for a separation question to go on a referendum ballot.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis isn\u2019t democracy. This is a premier grasping for power,\u201d he said last week.<\/p>\n

Smith said last Tuesday questions need to be cleared up on whether Lukaszuk\u2019s petition drive was to trigger a provincewide referendum or trigger a vote by legislators in the house.<\/p>\n

Lukaszuk said in an interview with The Canadian Press last week that he is concerned Smith will allow the separatist question to leapfrog his own.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s been driving the Zamboni, clearing the ice for them to compel her to have a referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He said he filed his petition as a policy proposal because he wants it to be resolved in the legislature by a vote, but the premier can put his question on a referendum if she wants.<\/p>\n

Lukaszuk said his group is readying for a referendum should it be called. \u201cI can\u2019t sit on my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Forever Canadian\u2019 petition surpasses goal, collects 456K signatures\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A legislature committee led by UCP MLAs is set to meet April 21 to begin work to discuss the Forever Canadian petition.<\/p>\n

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NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi has noted that if the committee doesn\u2019t report to the legislature by the time the house rises in mid-May, the petition it won\u2019t be tabled until after a referendum on immigration and constitutional questions planned for late October that could also include the separatists\u2019 question.<\/p>\n

For more information on this story, watch the video above.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Lisa Johnson and Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several Alberta First Nations are expected in court to challenge a proposed referendum question calling for the province\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":710550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[17750,2147,295889,50,80,237363],"class_list":["post-710549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-alberta-separatism","tag-canada","tag-citizen-initiated-petition","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-stay-free-alberta"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116362324768231601","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}