A senior aide to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith criticized First Nations chiefs after they asked RCMP to review Alberta’s planned separation referendum.
A senior aide to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says First Nations chiefs should focus on problems in their own communities instead of accusing the premier of treason over Alberta’s looming separation referendum.
Bruce McAllister, executive director of Smith’s office, made the comments in a social media post Thursday, adding a sharper edge to an already tense dispute between the provincial government and First Nations leaders over the Oct. 19 vote.
The Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing First Nations across Alberta, voted unanimously this week to ask the RCMP to look into whether the referendum amounts to criminal treason by Smith and her United Conservative Party. The chiefs have said organizing the vote is an intentional treaty violation and ignores risks to Canada’s sovereignty.
McAllister accused the chiefs of engaging in “childish nonsense” and suggested their priorities were misplaced. “People are sick and tired of hearing unrealistic demands from them,” he wrote, before pointing to addictions, overdoses, housing, poverty, unemployment, welfare, school outcomes, children in care and domestic violence as issues he said chiefs should be working to fix.
He wrote that he expected criticism for the post, but said avoiding the subject would amount to ignoring serious problems. Smith’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, CBC reported.
Smith had already rejected the chiefs’ treason accusation Wednesday, calling it disgraceful and saying First Nations leaders should “check themselves.” She said her government has a collaborative relationship with First Nations and that “overwrought language has no place in a democracy.”
First Nations leaders pushed back. Joey Pete, grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, said Smith and her government were the ones who needed to check themselves. Trevor Mercredi, grand chief of Treaty 8 First Nations, said Smith was free to disagree with the call for an RCMP investigation, but that dismissing treaty concerns did not answer the constitutional and legal questions raised.
The RCMP has said it is aware of the chiefs’ statement and is reviewing their request, but could not comment further. A spokesperson for Alberta’s auditor general, which the chiefs also called on to investigate, said the issue is outside that office’s purview.
The dispute is unfolding alongside a court fight over Alberta separatism. First Nations recently won a ruling that quashed a separatist petition after a judge found the province neglected its duty to consult them. Alberta’s government is appealing, and a judge heard arguments Thursday on a possible stay of that ruling before reserving a decision. The legal test around the separatist petition remains one of the key pressure points ahead of the referendum.
Under the Criminal Code, treason is narrowly defined and includes actions such as sharing sensitive information with another state for a purpose prejudicial to Canada’s safety or defence, or using force or violence to overthrow a Canadian government.
Albertans are scheduled to vote Oct. 19 on whether the province should remain in Canada or start the process toward a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation. Smith has said she will vote for Alberta to stay in Canada, while also saying she was obliged to call the referendum because of competing petitions on both sides of the separation debate.
For now, the next steps rest with the RCMP’s review of the chiefs’ request and the courts’ handling of the separatist petition ruling.
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