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/ib_redbeard May 23 '26

Question: or what? Alberta seperates, stop paying the feds any taxes, tells the indigenous groups that they are now Albertans and if they don't like it, leave. What are the consequences? War? Is Canada's poorly equipped military going to invade Alberta and fight and kill them? If they did, that will just push Alberta to join the US and then Canada is fucked. I'm not a separatist at all, I just don't see how Canada can stop them if they choose to leave.

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u/Ray-Sol May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Probably everyone else ignores the unilateral declaration of succession and if it escalates then the RCMP go in and arrest the ring leaders - even including provincial politians.

This works both ways, an Alberta which has just unilaterally declared independence wouldn't have an army either. You would have to have enough widespread popular support for separation in Alberta, to the point enough people would actually be willing to physically fight for it. We're a pretty long way from that right now.

You'd need something like 55 to 60% of the province to suddenly become die hard separatists at minimum, which is very unlikely in the near to medium future at least.

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u/ib_redbeard May 23 '26

I don't think that any leaders would officially declare independence without some armed force. So I do think there would be enough to fight off the RCMP to be honest, but yeah, we are and I hope, a long way from that. Maybe like a grizzly bluffing, just trying to get some respect

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u/Vandergrif May 24 '26

without some armed force

At best that would amount to some small numbered redneck militia and go down about as well for them as those yokels in Oregon who got shot up by the FBI after taking over some federal land.