Alberta’s separatism case is headed back to court

Several Alberta First Nations are expected in court to challenge a proposed referendum question seeking the province’s independence.

They want to Alberta separatism the petition was declared invalid and the process declared unconstitutional.

“It’s an unconstitutional question that will have an impact on our Treaty relationship, so we’re going to have to take a stand,” said Sheldon Sunshine, Chief of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.

Lake Sturgeon, located in Treaty 8 territory, is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.

The Indigenous community in the Grande Prairie region is one of several First Nations challenging provincial legislation that allows citizen-led petitions seeking referendum votes, such as the ongoing campaign to put segregation on the ballot.

Indigenous leaders have opposed the separatist movement in Alberta, arguing that the province has no jurisdiction over their lands.

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.

In December, a judge ruled that the proposed separation issue is unconstitutional.

It came after Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure referred a referendum on making Alberta a “sovereign country” proposed by the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) to the Court of King’s Bench last summer to determine whether it was constitutional.

In December, Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced Bill 14, which would have given himself the authority to approve or reject petitions for a referendum, instead of the Chief Electoral Officer.

Less than a day later, Justice Colin Feasby of the Court of King ruled that a referendum on Alberta independence would be an unconstitutional breach of Treaty rights.

But with Bill 14 in place, McClure endorsed a petition from a new organization with the same leadership as APP, Stay Free Alberta, with a slightly reworded question that refers to Alberta becoming an “independent state” — ending judicial review.

The group pushing for the referendum said last week it had collected the roughly 178,000 signatures needed to trigger the vote.

Stay Free Alberta said those people deserve to be heard and the province’s changes mean there should be no legal action at this time.

“The idea that they have to be consulted before citizens are able to communicate their views to the legislature is frankly, just silly,” said Jeffrey Rath, an attorney for the organization.

“This is a purely political issue.”

Speaking to reporters last week, Justice Minister Mickey Amery said his government would review any results.

Premier Danielle Smith has said she will move forward with a province-wide referendum if the required number of signatures are collected and verified.

The NDP has accused its government of procedural delays in moving forward with a “Forever Canadian” petition organized by former deputy prime minister Thomas Lukaszuk to make it official policy for Alberta to remain in Canada.

That petition successfully gathered over 456,000 signatures as of October 2025, far more than the 294,000 required under the previous rules that the UCP has since changed.

The Forever Canadian petition was successfully verified by Elections Alberta in early December.

Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi has also criticized Smith for lowering the signature threshold to make it easier for a separation issue to go to a referendum vote.

“This is not democracy. This is a power grab by the prime minister,” he said last week.

Smith said last Tuesday that questions must be cleared up about whether Lukaszuk’s request for the petition was to trigger a province-wide referendum or to trigger a vote by lawmakers in the chamber.

Lukaszuk said in an interview with The Canadian Press last week that he is concerned that Smith will allow the separatist issue to overtake his case.

“She’s driving the Zamboni, clearing the ice for them to force her to have a referendum.”

He said he presented his petition as a policy proposal because he wants it to be elected in the legislature in one vote, but the prime minister can put his question to a referendum if she wants.

Lukaszuk said his group is ready for a referendum if it is called. “I can’t sit on my hands.”

A legislative committee led by UCP MPs will meet on April 21 to begin work to discuss the Canadian Forever petition.

PPD Vice President Rakhi Pancholi has noted that if the committee does not report to the legislature by the time the chamber adjourns in mid-May, the petition will not be presented until after a referendum on immigration and constitutional issues scheduled for late October, which may include the question of separatists.

For more information on this story, watch the video above.

– With files from Lisa Johnson and Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.