A private citizen in Alberta has proposed that a referendum be held asking whether Alberta should secede from the rest of Canada. The Alberta Court of King’s Bench will hold a hearing to determine whether the proposal is constitutional, or if it contravenes s.1-35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The hearing is scheduled for this week, November 19-21.
Several First Nations are intervening in the hearing to protect their Aboriginal and Treaty rights and will be making submissions this week.
How to watch
When: November 19 – 21 starting at 10AM MT each day
Click here to watch the live hearing via Webex
Password: SbahCapd343
To learn more about the Alberta separation issue, check out these articles featuring comments from First Peoples Law’s Bruce McIvor
Alberta separation would send Canada into uncharted territory, say legal experts | CBC News
Playing with political fire | CBA/ABC National
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Background information
In 2021, the Citizen Initiative Act became law in Alberta. The Act outlines the process and rules regarding citizen-led petitions on legislative, policy, or constitutional referendum proposals. A key provision of the Citizen Initiative Act is that proposals must not contravene sections 1 to 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
Under the Citizen Initiative Act, a citizen-led proposal must be submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer of Alberta, who will review the proposal and authorize a petition for gathering signatures on the proposal. If enough signatures are gathered, the proposal can be put to citizens in a referendum vote.
Before issuing an authorization on a proposal, the Chief Electoral Officer has the power under the Citizen Initiative Act to send the proposal to the Alberta Court of King’s Bench to ask the Court to confirm whether or not the proposal would contravene the Citizen Initiative Act.
On July 4, 2025, the Chief Electoral Officer received a constitutional referendum proposal. The referendum would ask citizens to answer the question:
Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?
The Chief Electoral Officer forwarded the referendum proposal to the Court for a decision on whether the proposal contravenes the Constitution Act, 1982, including s.35(1), which recognizes and affirms Aboriginal and treaty rights.
The hearing begins November 19, 2025. As part of the hearing, the Court will hear submissions from First Nations and First Nation representative groups, including the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, on how the referendum proposal could affect their rights under s.35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982.
First Peoples Law is honoured to represent Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta in their intervention on this critical issue.
First Peoples Law is a law firm dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. We work closely with First Nations to defend their Aboriginal title, rights and Treaty rights, uphold their Indigenous laws and governance and ensure economic prosperity for their members.
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