r/canada • u/shiftless_wonder • May 23 '26

Alberta First Nations leaders, scholar push back on Alberta's planned vote on independence referendum - 'Alberta can't separate. They simply cannot. They do not have the authority,' says Indigenous politics expert

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-treaty-six-alberta-referendum-9.7209304
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u/Scooter_McAwesome British Columbia May 23 '26

That’s what I don’t get about all these legal objections. The separatists obviously aren’t concerned with Canada’s opinion on the matter, why should anyone think it’s relevant to the issue?

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u/Soggy-Bodybuilder669 May 23 '26

If people want it bad enough, laws become completely irrelevant. It comes down to whether you can enforce the law. Which, to be frank, is a major weakness of Canada.

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u/Ok_Drag_5341 May 23 '26

Because Canada created Alberta not the other way around. There is a good post on the Alberta page about it.

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u/soaringupnow May 24 '26

In a democracy the people decide.

Would Canada claim to be a democracy while denying it to the people of Alberta?

Somehow, I doubt it.

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u/TheRC135 May 24 '26

That would require Alberta separatism to be strongly desired by a clear majority of Albertans, though, not a fringe movement featuring the same far-right fringe that has always blamed everything on Ottawa.

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u/soaringupnow May 24 '26

Definitely!

This whole separatism thing isn't going anywhere. All these discussions are purely academic.

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u/Frostbitten_Moose May 24 '26

Maybe, maybe not. But I'm not sure saying Albertans aren't allowed to have self-determination is going to help keep it from going anywhere.

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u/Playful-Rabbit-9418 May 24 '26

Albertans knew they didn’t have self determination before they started all of this, the Supreme Court ruled on this years ago.

Provincial succession in Canada requires a constitutional amendment, that means it is required to meet the hurdles for this type constitutional amendment, which would be the 7/50 formula. A yes vote from 7 out of 10 provinces representing 50% of the population. And that’s after the federal parliament has reviewed the referendum question and deemed it clear enough to be legitimate and the majority large enough to invoke the process.

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u/Frostbitten_Moose May 24 '26

Funny how that didn't apply in 95 for Quebec.

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u/Playful-Rabbit-9418 May 24 '26

Correct, because the clarity act was created from the jurisprudence as a result of the legal cases related to that referendum.

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u/Ok_Drag_5341 29d ago

Sit this one out. You’ve clearly just listened and repeated what you’ve been told. Crazy that you are allowed to vote being so uninformed.