First Nations criticism of Danielle Smith goes national

By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – The national advocacy organization for Treaty First Nations has joined the chorus of First Nations telling Alberta premier Danielle Smith that a referendum on Alberta independence would be illegitimate without consulting the land’s original inhabitants.

“Any proposed separation of Alberta from Canada would be fundamentally illegitimate and unconstitutional without the explicit, prior, informed and collective consent of the First Nations whose lands and rights predate the formation of the province and of Canada,” Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said in a May 12 news release.

 “The time has come for Alberta and Canada to move beyond colonial frameworks and honour the truth of their history by restoring justice and self-determination to First Nations.”

On May 5, Smith announced that she will chair a panel that will develop proposed policies to increase Alberta’s economic independence from Ottawa, which she promised will be put to a referendum next year. 

She added that she has no intention of initiating an independence referendum, but that if a group of citizens get the required number of signatures, it will also be on the ballot in 2026. 

A week earlier, Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced legislation that will lower the number of signatures required for a citizen-initiated referendum, in addition to extending the amount of time organizers have to collect the signatures.

In response to these gestures, the AFN is asking the federal government to review the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (NRTA)—a nearly century-old arrangement that transferred possession of Crown lands and natural resources to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba without First Nations’ consent. 

Woodhouse Nepinak emphasized that the NRTA violates the Treaties the federal government signed with First Nations in the three Prairie provinces, as well as sec. 35 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which upholds “existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada,” including First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples. 

“The numbered Treaties, including 6, 7 and 8, did not surrender First Nations title to natural resources,” the national chief added. 

“On the contrary, these agreements recognize the inherent rights of First Nations to manage and benefit from lands and waters within their territories. Unilateral imposition of the NRTA undermines the solemn promises of these treaties and stands in direct conflict with the Honour of the Crown.”

The chiefs of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta left the AFN in 2022, opting to advocate for their Treaty rights directly with the federal government.

On April 30, Chief Sheldon Sunshine of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 and Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro of Mikisew Cree Nation in Treaty 8 co-wrote a cease-and-desist letter to Smith calling on her to stop making “separatist threats.”

“The province has no right to supersede or interfere with our Treaties, even indirectly by passing the buck to a ‘citizen’ referendum,” wrote chiefs Sunshine and Tuccaro.

The chiefs wrote an additional letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney asking him to “get the province of Alberta in line.”

Chiefs from Treaty 6, 7 and 8 First Nations in Alberta held a joint May 6 emergency meeting in Edmonton to discuss a unified response to Smith stoking the fires of separatism. 

At the meeting, Chief Ouray Crowfoot of Siksika First Nation in Treaty 7 said that the premier’s “rhetoric is not just an attack on First Nations, it is an attack on the people who call Alberta home.”

“You only have to look south of the border, at the chaos and uncertainty that is going on in the world. This time, more than any time, we should be bonding together and talking about how we are going to unite as a nation versus separation as a province,” said Chief Crowfoot. 

Speaking at a May 1 meeting with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, AFN National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak noted that this isn’t the first time First Nations leaders have had to assert their rights in the face of separatist threats, referring to Quebec’s 1995 succession referendum, which narrowly failed. 

“You can’t do it. All of Canada is Treaty territory,” she said. “First Nations were here first. We welcomed people to our shores. We welcomed people with open arms.”

“But at the same time, if people aren’t happy in this beautiful country that we’re building together, then you’re free to go and live wherever you want,” Woodhouse Nepinak added to applause from the Manitoba chiefs. 

“You can take the dirt that maybe your ancestors brought with them when they came over here from other places. That’s the only piece of land that you’re going to take. You’re not going to take any Treaty land.”