Onion Lake Cree Nation to proceed with legal challenge of Alberta sovereignty act

The UCP government has passed Bill 54, which would make a vote on separation easier. The Indigenous community protested it on Thursday. Chelan Skulski reports.

Alberta’s bill lowering the bar for a separation referendum has spurred a First Nation to push ahead with a legal challenge against the premier’s flagship sovereignty act.

Danielle Smith has said her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act is needed to push back on what the province believes is unconstitutional federal encroachment on provincial jurisdiction.

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But Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief Henry Lewis said that law has always been about undermining federal authority and asserting provincial control, which goes against his community’s Treaty 6 relationship with the Crown.

“I want to respectfully remind the premier that this land that we stand on today is treaty land and is not yours to take or make sweeping decisions about,” he said at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday.

He announced the legal challenge is moving forward a day after Smith’s government passed a bill significantly lowering the threshold for citizens to prompt a referendum, including one on seceding from Canada. 

The First Nation, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary, filed a statement of claim in 2022, but lawyer Robert Hladun said the community put it on pause, hoping for a resolution with the government.

“We waited for consultation, waited for some participation. We waited for some respect. None of that happened,” he said.

Another lawyer representing the community, Michael Marchen, said the sovereignty act is an effective derogation of Onion Lake Cree Nation’s sovereignty and jurisdiction, and they are asking for the court to declare it have no legal force.

“It was enacted wholly without input, consultation or consideration of the plaintiff’s concerns, which is contrary to the spirit of (the) treaty and in derogation of the honour of the Crown,” he said.

Smith has said she wants Alberta to stay in Canada, but Lewis says the referendum legislation signals that the province is pushing a separatist agenda.

“I stand here today to remind the premier and her government that we do not stand by and allow our treaty to be violated, disregarded and pushed aside while the talk of separation continues,” said Lewis.

Smith’s United Conservative government has faced backlash from Indigenous leaders since the referendum bill’s introduction in the house more than two weeks ago. On Thursday, hundreds of protesters rallied in front of the legislature to condemn it and demand it be repealed.

Smith has repeatedly said that any referendum question must not violate the constitutional rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and must uphold and honour the treaties. 

Smith has said she’s working to gain respect for Alberta within a united Canada, and she doesn’t want to see the Alberta separatist movement grow into a large, mainstream political party.

She’s also said the latest bill is about giving Albertans a say on whatever issue is important to them through direct democracy.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery, offering an amendment to the referendum bill late Wednesday evening, said the government has been listening to Indigenous concerns.

It now includes a clause stating that nothing in a referendum is to deviate from existing treaty rights. 

In a Thursday statement, he said the government will be filing a statement of defence in response to Onion Lake Cree Nation’s lawsuit “in due course.”

“Alberta’s government is deeply committed to honouring and respecting all treaty rights enshrined in the Constitution – that will not change,” Amery said.

Lewis said of the government’s assertion that it respects treaty rights: “It’s nothing.”

Greg Desjarlais, grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, told reporters outside the legislature that by passing Amery’s referendum bill, Smith’s government is sowing division among Albertans and dishonouring all treaty people.

Desjarlais said the amendment isn’t strong enough, and that he wasn’t consulted until the bill was already tabled in the legislature.

“They have to repeal the bill,” he said. Echoing Lewis, he said there is no treaty with the province, only the Crown.

He said the rally at the legislature Thursday shows “we’re tired of being pushed around.”

Desjarlais said First Nations leaders will be seeking an audience with King Charles to reaffirm the treaty. They are also planning a trip to Ottawa, but not at the invitation of Smith.

“Not with her,” he said. “On our own.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press