'Unconscionable:' Blood Tribe vows legal action against Alberta independence petition

Southern Alberta’s Blood Tribe is castigating what it sees as the province’s enabling a drift toward separatism and is vowing to join other First Nations’ legal actions against it.

On Friday, the First Nation issued a statement that opposed the decision to allow the launch of a pro-independence petition and provincial legislation that appears to ease the way for the movement.

“The Blood Tribe rejects any initiative aimed at Alberta’s separation from Canada and holds grave concerns about the Citizen Initiative Act as amended in December 2025,” reads the three-page statement.

“Bill 14 removed critical screening mechanisms that were specifically designed to prevent citizen-led initiatives from advancing proposals that contravene the Constitution of Canada.”

‘Contravenes Charter’

It notes Court of King’s Bench ruled last month that the province’s proposed referendum on Alberta independence contravenes the Charter and the treaty of aboriginal rights guaranteed under the constitution.

That decision came in response to a challenge from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and a number of other First Nations intervenors.

That decision was ultimately rendered moot by changes the province introduced a day earlier in Bill 14 that had the effect of giving the Alberta Prosperity Project’s pro-independence referendum push new life.

The bill removed constitutionality requirements from proposed referendum questions the ability for the chief electoral officer or attorney general to refer initiative proposals to the court, though cabinet retains such power under other legislation.

A rival petition from the Alberta Forever Canada group gathered 456,000 signatures in support of a question asking if one agrees Alberta should remain within Canada.

The Blood Tribe argues the province ignored First Nations’ opposition to any facilitation of separatists, particularly the Alberta Prosperity Project that earlier this month was given a green light by Elections Alberta to begin collecting signatures for its petition.

And they say it does an end-run around clearly-defined treaty obligations with the federal Crown that date well before the creation of Alberta in 1905, and at a current time when Canada’s vulnerable to the pressures of proposed annexation and economic warfare from an increasingly bellicose U.S.

“By aligning itself with minority separatist ambitions, including those of (Mitch) Sylvestre and his so-called ‘Alberta Prosperity Project,’ Alberta increases Canada’s vulnerability to foreign influence, particularly from the United States, who has made clear in recent days that it intends to carry out a new imperialist mandate,” states the First Nation.

“This is reckless governance and contrary to the collective interests of all peoples in Alberta and Canada … these are unconscionable political acts … that laid bare the Alberta Government’s true view of its obligations to First Nations and our peoples.”

They call on the UCP government to reiterate its respect for treaties, to affirm it has no authority to alter its relationship with First Nations and to call an emergency legislative session to repeal offending provisions of Bill 14.

Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery should seek an injunction to halt the APP’s petition, they added.

The stance comes in the wake of similar stands taken by several other First Nations in the province who insist any notion of Alberta independence conflicts with the country’s constitution and treaty obligations.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has expressed his party’s support for First Nations’ resistance to the separatist petition and proposed independence referendum, the latter many expect to be held this year.

“(Premier) Danielle Smith and her separatist UCP government do not respect treaty rights and have already been told the referendum question is unconstitutional by a judge — so they changed the rules,” Nenshi said Jan. 6 in response to the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation’s intention to challenge the process.

“Allowing any separatist rhetoric to continue harms our economy, and given current events, presents a threat to our national security.”

‘Within a united Canada’

A spokeswoman for Amery’s office said the government has been clear in its support for a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada and that it’s Albertans’ right to engage in a referendum.

Heather Jenkins also said the government’s Referendum Act includes a nod to First Nations’ rights.

“A clause in the Referendum Act via the Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 last spring states ‘Nothing in a referendum held under this Act is to be construed as abrogating or derogating from the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada that are recognized and affirmed by Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982,'” Jenkins said in an email.

Even if the results of a referendum are binding, “the government that initiated the referendum is not required to implement the results if doing so would contravene Sections 1 to 35.1 of the Constitution Act,” she added.

The Alberta Prosperity Project didn’t respond to a request for comment.

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

X: @BillKaufmannjrn