Alberta premier says law will be enforced if separation vote spurs civil disobedience

Confirmed Facts

• The Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement opposed Bill Q-5, stating it would have given the government 'large discretionary powers' and allowed it to 'bypass laws and water down reviews and consultations.'
  Reported by: iPolitics
• On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on whether they want to stay in Canada or start the process to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi said First Nations may get in the way of industry or take the fight against Smith's separation vote to highways if necessary, stating 'There can be no decisions about Alberta separating without consultation and consent of our First Nations.'
  Reported by: CBC News
• Smith pointed to the province's critical infrastructure defence law, which imposes extra penalties for obstructing essential infrastructure, as a tool to address civil disobedience.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Smith believes the fall's referendum question doesn't trigger the constitutional duty to consult First Nations, while Mercredi argues it is required.
  Reported by: CBC News
• A recent court decision stalled a separation petition drive on the grounds Smith's government did not fulfil its duty to consult Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Blood Tribe, Piikani Nation and Siksika First Nation.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the law will be enforced if First Nations engage in civil disobedience over her government's separation referendum.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew hopes to see a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline built as part of an effort to expand the Port of Churchill.
  Reported by: CBC News, BNN Bloomberg
• Kinew told CBC News podcast Front Burner that opposition among Indigenous leaders in northern Manitoba to the proposed pipeline does not exist.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) has not expressed specific support for a pipeline and stated its member First Nations will determine their own path and governments must uphold their constitutional obligations to consult.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Cree activist and author Clayton Thomas-Müller stated that there have been 'zero consultations' on an LNG export terminal and pipelines in his home community and that Kinew should 'hit the brakes' on his rhetoric.
  Reported by: CBC News
• MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee told the Senate's standing committee on Indigenous peoples that Manitoba largely skips the justification step in duty-to-consult processes and returns to it after the fact.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Alberta country music artist Corb Lund's 'Water Not Coal' campaign has gathered signatures for a petition to ban new coal mining in the Rockies.
  Reported by: CBC News
• A successful petition would require the UCP government to consider passing a law banning coal mining or sending it to a provincewide referendum.
  Reported by: CBC News
• The Town of Taber ordered the removal of a pro-separation billboard, calling it a 'nuisance' and stating it generated complaints and violated land use rules.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Cory Morgan, who paid for the billboard, says the town's action has generated more support and donations for the separation cause.
  Reported by: CBC News
• The billboard's message was 'Send Ottawa a message! Choose Alberta.'
  Reported by: CBC News
• The town of Fort Smith, N.W.T., sits on the border with Alberta.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Fort Smith residents and leaders express concerns about transportation, trade, water sovereignty (especially regarding oil sands tailings ponds), and treaty rights if Alberta were to separate.
  Reported by: CBC News
• University of Ottawa political science professor André Lecours states that secession in a modern advanced liberal democracy is 'completely improbable, but it's not impossible.'
  Reported by: CBC News
• An Alberta judge overturned a petition for an independence referendum because it failed to consider an earlier court decision on treaty rights consultation.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Kinew aims to streamline mining regulations in Manitoba to boost the industry.
  Reported by: BNN Bloomberg
• Kinew wants to see Manitoba follow a resource-based growth model mirrored by Saskatchewan and produce potash, nickel, and other critical minerals.
  Reported by: BNN Bloomberg
• Obby Khan, leader of the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, criticizes Kinew's references to Russia and China as models for development, citing differences in environmental controls, regulations, consultation, and labour rights.
  Reported by: BNN Bloomberg
• Star Blanket Cree Nation welcomed a new herd of bison to their lands, a dream of a late chief.
  Reported by: CBC News
• The project aims for cultural restoration, revitalization of heritage, and food sovereignty, with youth involved in caring for the bison.
  Reported by: CBC News
• The 17 bison will eventually provide food, clothing, and medicine, but for now serve an educational purpose.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Inuit leaders and Indigenous scholars express disappointment after the Canadian Senate voted down an amendment to criminalize residential school denialism.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Nunavut Sen. Nancy Karetak-Lindell, a residential school survivor, proposed the amendment to Bill C-9 (Combating Hate Act), wording it similarly to a law criminalizing Holocaust denialism.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Jack Anawak, another residential school survivor, states that deniers' beliefs are questionable and that the denial 'still hurts too.'
  Reported by: CBC News
• Sean Carleton, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, notes an 'imbalance of the law' where Holocaust denialism is criminalized but residential school denialism is not.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Kimberly Murray, Queen's University national scholar, views the defeat of the amendment as revealing 'inequity between groups of people in this country.'
  Reported by: CBC News
• NDP MP Leah Gazan criticizes the Liberal government for turning a 'blind eye' to rising dangers of hate and has drafted a private member's bill to protect Indigenous peoples against hate.
  Reported by: CBC News
• The federal government pledged $5 million over three years in 2024 to establish a program to combat residential school denialism, with details to follow.
  Reported by: CBC News
• Québec's Bill Q-5, aimed at accelerating reviews of projects deemed in the national interest by allowing exemptions on some environmental and species at risk regulations, did not pass its legislative session.
  Reported by: iPolitics
• Finance Minister Eric Girard stated the bill was shelved after amendments pushed by Québec Solidaire MNA Étienne Grandmont 'derailed' its passing, calling it a 'total waste of time.'
  Reported by: iPolitics
• Premier Christine Fréchette noted that there will be other opportunities to advance legislation and has not decided if Q-5 will be brought back in the fall.
  Reported by: iPolitics
• Smith maintains she wants to see Alberta remain in Canada but believes Albertans deserve the opportunity to vote on the issue to resolve the debate over its role in Confederation.
  Reported by: CBC News