Edmanton – A special court is running in Edmonton today to proceed to a proposed Alberta separation referendum question.
Alberta Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McCler, mentioned the proposed question in the court last week, asked a judge to determine if it violates the constitution, including the treaty rights.
This question asks Alberton: “Do you agree that the Alberta province will become a sovereign country and will struggle to be a province in Canada?”
Premier Daniel Smith and Justice Minister Mickey America have criticized the referral for the courts, saying that the question should be approved and only to face judicial inquiry if this majority receives votes.
It is not clear how the hearing will be revealed, and McCler’s office says it cannot comment further as the matter is in front of the courts.
Several groups, including the Athabaska Chipweian First Nation in North Alberta, say they are expecting to submission.
A letter sent by a government lawyer to the court of Kings Bench Justice Colin Faiyi this week says that the US has also intended to submit a submission.
The letter also states that an executive Mich Sylvestra with Alberta Samriddhi Project, who proposed the question, plan to implement the case that the matter was killed before it begins and the judicial review would end. A group lawyer did not answer questions on Wednesday.
If the question is approved, the cylvestra will need to collect 177,000 signatures in four months to put on a ballot.
The government’s letter repeats that the US believes that the question should be approved.
“The minister’s position is that the proposal is not unconstitutional, and therefore it must be allowed and allowed to move forward,” reads the letter.
“The law is that the government of any province of Canada is entitled to consult its population by a referendum on any issue, and that the result on a referendum on the separation of a province, if sufficiently clear, is to be taken as an expression of democratic will.”
A competitive referendum question was approved by McClure in June and asks if Alberta should announce an official policy that it would never be separated from Canada.
Attempts to gather signatures for that proposal, began last week, laid forward by former progressive orthodox sub -premiere Thomas Lukasakuk.
Lukazite needs to collect about 300,000 signatures in 90 days to obtain its question on a ballot, as their application was approved before the new provincial rules with low signature threshold.
This report of Canadian Press was first published on 7 August 2025.
Jack Farell, Canadian Press
