Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation sues over independence referendum, claims government 'conspired' with separatists

A First Nation in northwestern Alberta is suing the provincial government ahead of an anticipated separation referendum, claiming it “conspired” to pave the way for the controversial question to be put to voters despite fears it will breach Indigenous rights.

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation filed the lawsuit in Edmonton Court of King’s Bench Monday, claiming Alberta, its chief electoral officer and the attorney general of Canada breached their legal and treaty obligations to the nation.

“Alberta’s secession cannot happen without First Nation consent to change a party to Treaty No. 8,” the claim states. “Consent, not consultation, is required before the question of secession is delegated from a party to the treaty to the individuals who have come to inhabit Alberta.”

The suit also claims separatist organizers have courted foreign interference by the U.S. President Donald Trump administration, and that Alberta “wittingly conspired” with separatists “to create the legislative conditions for an unlawful, separatist petition.”

Postmedia has reached out to the province for comment.

Sturgeon Lake planned to file an “urgent” interim injunction application Monday seeking to block the separatist petition approved by Alberta’s chief electoral officer Jan. 2.

‘A legal impossibility’

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has 3,801 members, just under half of whom live on the reserve west of Valleyview, about 350 km northwest of Edmonton. The nation’s statement of claim, which contains allegations not proven in court, runs 24 pages and cites law as far back as Britain’s Royal Proclamation of 1763, which established the treaty making process.

Sturgeon Lake signed Treaty 8 in 1899, during an influx of settlers following the Klondike gold rush. Alberta did not exist when the nation’s ancestors agreed to the treaty, which is meant to last “in perpetuity.”

“The province of Alberta has no inherent rights, nor is it the party to Treaty No. 8,” the claim states. “All of Alberta’s rights are contingent on Canada’s party status in Treaty No. 8. If there is no Treaty No. 8, there is no Canada, and if there is no Canada, there is no Alberta.”

To support its position, Sturgeon Lake cited a December 2025 decision from King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby, who ruled an independent Alberta cannot unilaterally substitute itself as a party to Treaty 8.

“Consequently, an independent Alberta is a legal impossibility without First Nation consent,” Sturgeon Lake’s lawsuit claims.

Alberta government accused of ‘conspiracy’

While not named as a defendant, Sturgeon Lake takes aim at the pro-separatist Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), which it claims has been courting “a hostile neighbour threatening annexation.”

“The APP publicly claimed on several occasions that they were meeting with officials in Washington (D.C.) to discuss Alberta’s independence and had gained the Trump administration’s support for a separate Alberta,” the claim reads.

The claim specifically cites an April statement from an APP representative who said it was “just a couple steps away from the president himself” and that the “first comment” from American officials was that “we recognize and support Alberta becoming a sovereign nation.”

“The APP also claimed that they asked the Trump administration for a $500-million loan to support their separatist initiative,” the claim states.

The claim further quotes APP member Jeffrey Rath, who on Dec. 18, 2025, posted that he was “literally at the U.S. State Department yesterday meeting with senior State department officials” who were “enthusiastic about the idea of Alberta independence.”

Mitch Sylvestre, the separatist referendum petitioner, also claimed to have spoken with people “highly involved” in the U.K.’s Brexit referendum, who told him “if we’re anywhere near or over 40 per cent, our chances of winning this referendum are very, very good.”

Sturgeon Lake claims the Alberta government engaged in a “conspiracy” with secessionists by passing Bill 54, which lowered the threshold for citizen initiatives, and Bill 14, passed in the wake of Feasby’s finding that citizen initiative laws did not allow for a citizen-led separation referendum.

The lawsuit claims that Bill 14 “knowingly and recklessly” violated treaty rights by delegating the power “to decide what happens on treaty land to a group of private citizens under the Citizen Initiative Act, with limitless donations for third party advertisers and deliberate loopholes for foreign corporate donors.”

Canada staying ‘silent’

As for its claim against Canada, Sturgeon Lake accuses the federal government of “sitting idle” while Alberta undermines its rights.

“Canada has remained silent and refused to act in the face of Alberta’s treaty breaches,” the claim states.

The lawsuit also takes issue with the Clarity Act, the federal law passed in 2000 following Quebec’s separation referendums. The law established the circumstances under which the federal government would enter into secession negotiations, but has “no mechanism to ensure that the requisite consent of First Nations is centred and considered,” Sturgeon Lake claims.

Sturgeon Lake is seeking an interim order staying the separatist petition while the case is decided, as well as a declaration that any separation referendum “requires First Nation involvement and consent from its inception in accordance with Treaty No. 8.”

The nation also seeks general, special and punitive damages totalling $250,000. Edmonton lawyer Orlagh O’Kelly is representing Sturgeon Lake in the case.

Alberta and Canada have between 20 days and one month to file statements of defence.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

x.com/jonnywakefield

@jonnywakefield.bsky.social

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