Alberta separatists submit 300,000 signatures to push independence referendum

Alberta separatists have delivered more than 300,000 signatures to elections officials in western Canada, in support of their attempt to force an independence referendum in Canada’s oil-rich province.

But the effort stumbled immediately as a separatist-linked group posted the personal data of nearly three million residents online in one of the largest data breaches in Canadian history, fomenting fears of a possible political interference crisis.

On Monday, hundreds of supporters gathered in Edmonton, the provincial capital, as Mitch Sylvestre, a separatist leader, delivered the petitions to Elections Alberta.

“We’re not like the rest of Canada,” Sylvestre told reporters and attendees. “We’re 100% conservative. We’re being ruled by Liberals who don’t think like us.”

A minority of residents of the oil-rich province have long argued that the province’s woes are due to the structure of payments to Canada’s federal government and a perceived inability to get their vast fossil fuel reserves to market. In recent months, separatists have seized on the sentiment. Polls put separatist support between 18- and 30%.

Last year, Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, reduced the number of signatures required for citizens to bring a constitutional referendum, dropping it from 588,000 to roughly 178,000. The provincial government also changed how citizen-initiated referendums worked, removing powers from Alberta’s chief electoral officer. Now, referendums can pose questions that would run afoul of the Canadian constitution.

They hope their question – “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada and become an independent state?” – will be added to a planned referendum in October, which will also include questions on immigration, healthcare and the country’s constitution.

While the separatists have cleared the required signatures needed for a separatist referendum, Elections Alberta says it needs to verify the names. But the process has been put on hold by a court ruling.

Indigenous nations in Alberta, whose treaties with Britain predate the creation of Alberta, say that a possible referendum vote on separating from Canada would violate their treaty rights.

“Alberta has treated [Sturgeon Lake Cree First Nation] as though they are chattel on the land, merely an afterthought in forced negotiations, not the first step in any potential secession,” the First Nation said in its court filing. “Alberta has no right to secede from Canada and no right to take Treaty No. 8 territory.”