Provincial electoral authorities in Alberta received [7] a petition for independence from Canada on May 4. The verification process for the signatures is currently on hold, pending a decision from the provincial court on the compatibility of the petition with First Nations treaty rights.
Elections Alberta affirmed that it received the petition, "A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence, [8]" and signature sheets from a pro-sovereignty Stay Free Alberta [9]. The group told [10] the CBC news that it has collected over 301,000 signatures, significantly more than the 178,000 threshold. The proposed referendum will ask the voters: "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?"
On April 10, Justice Shaina Leonard of the Alberta Court of King's Bench granted a temporary stay [12], barring the Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure from verifying the petition. She accepted that the lack of consultation would cause irreparable harm to First Nations, including Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation [13], Piikani Nation [14], Siksika Nation [15] and Blood Tribe [16], had the stay not been granted. The First Nations welcomed [17] the decision. Following the stay, the verification cannot take place until the court decides on the judicial review.
There are other doubts on the legality of the petition. On Dec. 6, 2025, the same court held [18] that the referendum proposal is unconstitutional. Justice Colin Feasby found that the proposal does not guarantee Charter rights, and Aboriginal and Treaty rights to the same extent as the Constitution Act, 1982 [19] provides. However, an amendment to the Citizen Initiative Act [20] (CIA) came into effect on Dec. 11. It removes the provision requiring a referendum proposal to be compatible with the aforementioned constitutional rights. A transitional provision also ensures that the amendment applies to the referendum proposal, which predated the amendment. Granting the stay, Leonard agreed that the constitutionality of the CIA, the applicability of the transitional provision and the effect of the previous ruling are all serious issues to be adjudicated.
On the other hand, a pro-unity Forever Canadian [21] claimed that they had already received over 404,000 signatures in support of the province remaining in Canada.
Relatedly, Elections Alberta is investigating [22] a breach of the voter list. On April 30, the authority revealed [23] that the Republican Party of Alberta provided the list to a pro-sovereignty Centurion Project Ltd., which then publicized [24] the list. While the provincial Election Act [25] allows political parties to access the list, it strictly forbids distributing the list to a third party. They had until May 4 to identify all responsible individuals.
McClure said [26] the authority was unable to investigate sooner because the recent Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 [27], heightened the threshold from "grounds to warrant" to "reasonable grounds." Similarly, the provincial privacy commissioner Diane McLeod said [28] Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act [29] does not regulate political parties. They both called for reforms to their empowering statutes to strengthen accountability.
From JURIST [30], May 7. Used with permission.
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