First Nations chiefs say Alberta premier is trying to 'manufacture a national unity crisis'

Many First Nations in Alberta are denouncing Bill 54, the Election Statutes Amendment Act tabled in the provincial legislature Tuesday, saying it disregards treaty rights.

If passed, it will change how referendums can be introduced in the province by lowering the signature threshold required.

In a letter, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine and Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro accused Premier Danielle Smith of "attempting to manufacture a national unity crisis by enabling a referendum on separatism."

"Alberta did not exist when our ancestors agreed to share the land with the Crown. The province has no authority to supersede or interfere with our treaties, even indirectly by passing the buck to a 'citizen' referendum," the letter continued.

Tuccaro told CBC News the bill continues the work the province started when they introduced the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act in 2022. 

"If treaty rights were broken … it would allow Alberta to do anything they would see fit in regards to our traditional territories," he said. 

"If the treaties are broken then that leaves us as First Nations with absolutely nothing in regards to holding the British Crown responsible for their fiduciary responsibility, and that is to uphold the treaty that we signed in 1899." 

He described the relationship between the province and First Nations as "very tense" and said if the bill is passed, "There will be a rise up from the treaty people."

In a news release, the Blackfoot Confederacy said the proposed legislation "threatens the constitutional and legal order by disregarding the Nation-to-Crown agreements that define our relationship to the state."

It reminded the province their treaty "was not a land surrender," but rather "a framework for peaceful coexistence and shared use of territory." 

"We will aggressively protect our historic treaty rights and our inherent rights," said Piikani Nation Chief Troy Knowlton in a statement. 

"We will require that the Crown's obligations to First Nations be honoured and fulfilled." 

At a news conference on Thursday, Smith said she respects "all of the treaty rights that are enshrined in the Constitution." 

She described referendums as "enabling direct democracy," and she encouraged all Albertans — including Indigenous people — to embrace it.