Provincial electoral authorities in Alberta received a petition for independence from Canada on Monday, which has sparked a heated debate about the province’s future. 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.
Stay Free Alberta’s Petition
Elections Alberta affirmed that it received the petition, “A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence,” and signature sheets from a “pro-sovereignty” group, Stay Free Alberta. The group told 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?”
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The petition’s fate is uncertain due to a temporary stay granted by Justice Shaina Leonard of the Alberta Court of King’s Bench on April 10. She accepted that the lack of consultation could cause irreparable harm to First Nations, including Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Piikani Nation, Siksika Nation, and Blood Tribe.
On a related note, a meeting was held in room 304 of the courthouse on April 12 to discuss the implications of the stay.
Legality of the Petition
There are other doubts on the legality of the petition. On December 6, 2025, the same court held that the referendum proposal is unconstitutional. Justice Colin Feasby found that the proposal does not guarantee Charter rights, or Aboriginal and Treaty rights to the same extent as provided by the Constitution Act, 1982. However, an amendment to the Citizen Initiative Act (CIA) came into effect on December 11, which removes the provision requiring a referendum proposal to be compatible with the aforementioned rights.
A “transitional provision” also ensures that the amendment applies to the referendum proposal, which predated the amendment. In granting the stay, Leonard agreed that the constitutionality of the CIA amendment and the potential applicability of the previous ruling are serious questions to be adjudicated.
Meanwhile, the pro-unity Forever Canadian claimed that it had already received over 404,000 signatures in support of the province remaining in Canada.
Voter List Breach Investigation
Elections Alberta is investigating a breach of the provincial voter list. On April 30, the authority revealed that the Republican Party of Alberta provided the voter list to a pro-sovereignty Centurion Project Ltd., which then publicized the list. While the provincial Election Act allows political parties to access the list, it strictly forbids distributing the list to a third party.
Gordon McClure, the Chief Electoral Officer, said the authority was unable to investigate sooner because the recent Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, heightened the threshold for opening an investigation from “grounds to warrant” to “reasonable grounds.”
The investigation is ongoing, with Diane McLeod, the provincial privacy commissioner, calling for reforms to the empowering statutes to strengthen accountability.
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