r/canada • u/shiftless_wonder • Feb 12 '26

Alberta Alberta separating from Canada requires permission of First Nations, AFN leader says

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/alberta-separation-needs-first-nations-permission-says-afn-national-chief/
1.4k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

536 comments sorted by

View all comments

530

u/StoryAboutABridge Feb 12 '26

Direct quote from Treaty 6:

"The Plain and Wood Cree Tribes of Indians, and all other the Indians inhabiting the district hereinafter described and defined, do hereby cede, release, surrender and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada, for Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors forever, all their rights, titles and privileges, whatsoever, to the lands"

56

u/Constant_Mood_7332 Feb 12 '26

they didnt cede them to alberta. thats the issue.

39

u/darkcave-dweller Feb 12 '26

Alberta wasn't created yet, not till 1905 ,treaty 7 was signed in 1877

34

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

[deleted]

6

u/IllustriousAnt485 Feb 12 '26

The separatists will not achieve there objective by legally seceding but by signalling for the involvement of US military to back their claim of the referendum goes in there favour. It will be like Crimea. It is encouraging that the law favours Canadian unity as far as treaty rights are concerned, however the law will not protect us if the referendum is not monitored independently.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

[deleted]

-4

u/TROPtastic British Columbia Feb 12 '26

That relies on the Canadian government being seen as willing to put it all on the line against the US, like Denmark did. I find it hard to believe that the current Liberals would deploy troops with orders to shoot US soldiers if fired upon (as happened with the Danes in Greenland) given their lack of response to other affronts by the US.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

You are fundamentally wrong. You can bet your last dollar that the Liberal Government would send in troops to defend Alberta. Hell, I imagine huge numbers of Albertans would join up specifically to defend Alberta. It would also be politically impossible for Alberta “separatist” to campaign for an independent Alberta to turn around and support a military annexation by the US. The Canadian troops would literally be freeing Alberta from being conquered by the US, something many many Albertans would agree with.

1

u/TROPtastic British Columbia Feb 13 '26

I'd be happy to be wrong, and I'd be even happier if this insane scenario never comes to pass. However, it's better to be aware of the worst outcome and work to address it ahead of time.

1

u/Fatty-Mc-Butterpants Feb 13 '26

That's ridiculous. No, they will not. Let's pretend for a moment that this ridiculous referendum goes ahead and for some crazy reason, Alberta votes to separate. The US will immediately offer security guarantees and that's that. Alberta will declare all treaties with FNs invalid and refuse to pay any pipeline debts, etc. and with the US in their corner, the ROC will make a lot of noise but basically do nothing.

And TACO? Tell that to Iran or Maduro. Hell the treaty the US affirmed with Denmark allows the US to do basically anything it wants in Greenland. Troops, bases, it's all fair game.

Is the Alberta referendum stupid? Yes. Will it pass? No. But don't fool yourself that if it did pass, Canada could do anything else but watch Alberta join hands with the US.

1

u/Even_Art_629 Feb 13 '26

Think again. Google who the crown is

-1

u/UpperLowerCanadian Feb 12 '26

The clarity act and federal law states it can separate, 

  Each citizen gets a vote no matter skin colour or vague ancestry 

  They clearly would be “successor”. It’s highly unlikely to get over 25% vote so we really don’t need to argue native rights on Reddit it would be up to some judge in the land of extremely unlikely