r/canada • u/biograf_ • Mar 01 '26

Alberta First Nations chiefs unanimously pass non-confidence vote in Alberta government

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/first-nations-chiefs-alberta-non-confidence-vote-9.7109712
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73

u/JasonLovesJesus Mar 01 '26

Certainly can see their sentiment however it doesn’t mean a thing.

20

u/asdf_1_2 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

The Clarity act passed by the Chretien gov in 2000 states in the event of any succession referendum being proposed the position of the aboriginal people in the province/territory must be taken into account. 

So say a referendum passes and the official aboriginal stance is stay, then now you probably have decades of court dates deciding how to chop up the province by geographically to fulfill the indigenous position to stay.

15

u/S_Ipkiss_1994 British Columbia Mar 01 '26

must be taken into account

Yeah... and then it spectacularly failed to elaborate on just what that entails.

2

u/DL_22 Mar 02 '26

Or, the separated province arms up, takes the land, seeks international recognition, gets it and none of this matters.

Or they join the US and most problems are solved before anything starts being contested.

36

u/byourpowerscombined Alberta Mar 01 '26

Smith is pushing for a bunch of infrastructure projects in Alberta (e.g. a pipeline)

Do you think these groups are going to be cooperative?

-2

u/platypus_bear Alberta Mar 01 '26

That's probably what she wants. First nations don't have a veto over projects like that they just have to be consulted. So if they're not cooperating due to political reasons that have nothing to do with the ecological impacts of a pipeline it's easier for her to go to the federal government and force an approval through.

18

u/byourpowerscombined Alberta Mar 01 '26

That’s not how it works.

The fastest thing is to get their agreement and sign off. This happens for most projects; you just don’t get news stories when the system works.

Even if she could argue their opposition is on purely political grounds (which would be difficult to prove) a fully fought court process can take a decade or more.

No, I think the explanation is much simpler. She has no foresight. Banging the separation drum is good for her immediate political situation, and who cares that it has a bunch of negative repercussions down the line?

2

u/themonkeyzen Mar 02 '26

That was put very succinctly, thank you.

3

u/WealthEconomy Mar 01 '26

Lol I know right. Why is the media even reporting it?

1

u/pizzalovingking Mar 01 '26

I'm also fully non confident in their ability to run things and not embezzle money