By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News The national advocacy organization for Treaty First Nations has joined the chorus of First Nations telling Alberta premier Danielle Smith that a referendum on Alberta independence would be illegitimate without consulting the land’s original inhabitants. “Any proposed separation of Alberta from Canada would be fundamentally illegitimate and unconstitutional without the explicit, prior, informed and collective consent of the First Nations whose lands and rights predate the formation of the province and of Canada,” Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said in a May 12 news release. “The time has come for Alberta and Canada to move beyond colonial frameworks and honour the truth of their history by restoring justice and self-determination to First Nations.” On May 5,…