Chief Ouray Crowfoot of Siksika Nation attended an emergency meeting in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 6.
According to the Siksika Nation Tribal Administration, Crowfoot joined other leaders from Treaty 6, 7 and 8 First Nations to voice opposition to Bill 54.
The bill, which received first reading in April, would lower the threshold for citizen initiatives. Siksika leadership claims the legislation would “make it easier for residents to organize an Alberta independence referendum.”
“This kind of rhetoric is not just an attack on First Nations, it is an attack on the people who call Alberta home,” Crowfoot said during the meeting. “You only have to look south of the border, at the chaos and uncertainty that is going on in the world.”
Crowfoot added that people should focus more on unity and reconciliation rather than separation.
“I just want to echo all the comments that my fellow chiefs have said - that we all stand together in solidarity to protect our territories, to protect our treaties and to protect our people.”
Bill 54 would also ban electronic vote tabulators and allow corporate and union donations to political parties.