Alberta chief says Danielle Smith 'not welcome here anymore' in flap over referendum bill

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a Dene band in Fort Chipewyan, AB, expressed strong opposition to Premier Danielle Smith’s introduction of Bill 54, the Election Statutes Amendment Act, which lowers the signature threshold for citizen-led referendums.Critics say the bill opens the door to Alberta leaving confederation.Adam, speaking at a Wednesday press conference hosted by the Alberta NDP, said he and other Alberta treaty chiefs were not consulted before the bill’s introduction. “If you want to leave, pack up your bag and go,” Adam said, addressing Smith. “That’s my message to the premier, you’re not welcome here anymore.”.He further urged Smith to “go wherever she wants to go,” adding, “We don’t want her here anymore, because that’s not the rhetoric that Albertans want to hear.”In an interview with the Western Standard, Adam called Bill 54 “a complete shock” and demanded it be “off the table.”Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi of the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, representing 23 First Nations communities, suggested potential repercussions.“The concern is heavy enough that there could possibly be a legal challenge — that’s being discussed, along with other legal challenges, but that’s for the nations to probably discuss,” he said.The chiefs’ concerns arise amid growing discussions of Alberta sovereignty, with treaty nations fearing a loss of autonomy under their agreements with the Crown.Smith has emphasized her commitment to upholding the constitutional rights of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, ensuring any referendum question respects these rights. "Our province has contributed hundreds of billions of dollars more to the federal treasury for use in other parts of the country than we’ll ever receive back in benefits," she said recently."We have allowed this to occur because, quite frankly, we know how blessed our province is with an endowment of natural resources that no other country on earth possesses — and we want all of our friends, families and fellow Canadians across the country to benefit from it."