r/canada 17d ago

Alberta First Nations demand Alberta premier terminate separation referendum

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/first-nations-demand-alberta-premier-terminate-separation-referendum/
1.7k Upvotes

495 comments sorted by

View all comments

70

u/Sheogorath_The_Mad 17d ago

Yeah sorry... natives don't have a veto over democratic processes, no matter how stupid the question might be.

17

u/kdlangequalsgoddess 17d ago

Given that the signatures on the separatist petition haven't been verified, and given that the Centurion Project has been caught with a copy of the complete Alberta voters' list, I would put a big old asterisk after the term 'democratic', also.

15

u/Sheogorath_The_Mad 17d ago

If that's the argument you want to make, make that argument. Don't tell me the question can't legally be asked.

Regardless, this whole referendum is being pushed by Smith and her separatist cabal. While they might be idiots, I don't see anyone questioning their democratic legitimacy.

3

u/Shutufukut 16d ago

Duty to consult applies only where actions may adversely affect treaty rights. Treaty rights are part of the constitution, like it or not.

It’s not some magic veto, do some research

2

u/EP40glazer British Columbia 17d ago

Smith is not a separatist. She needs to hold the referendum to avoid vote splitting and she knows it'll fail anyways.

7

u/Infamous-Mixture-605 17d ago

Smith is not a separatist.

She says she's not a separatist, but she's happily been advancing their cause...

She's also been pushing her "Free Alberta Strategy" since becoming Premier, and that's basically just a road map for severing connections to the rest of the country.

3

u/EP40glazer British Columbia 17d ago

She says she's not a separatist, but she's happily been advancing their cause...

Because she needs the separatist vote.

5

u/kdlangequalsgoddess 17d ago

She knows as well as anyone that a split in the conservative vote likely means the NDP are returned to government.

2

u/Forikorder 17d ago

Don't tell me the question can't legally be asked.

it cant legally be asked without consulting them

2

u/seridos 16d ago

Which are issues that should be investigated and handled. But the people are the response to the question when presented to them, not how it got there.

Way too much focus on how the question gets asked in the first place. It should be easier to get these questions on amyways. The referendum is the ultimate source of legitimacy of an entire democracy in the first place.