{"id":105469,"date":"2026-06-05T08:43:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105469"},"modified":"2026-06-05T08:43:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:43:41","slug":"first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nations chiefs say civil disobedience an option if Alberta referendum proceeds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Lisa Johnson Treaty chiefs representing First Nations across the West say they are willing to carry out acts of civil disobedience if necessary to fight Alberta Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s separation vote. And Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi on Thursday renewed a call for Smith to put a stop to the upcoming referendum. He pointed to a recent court decision that stalled a separation petition drive on the grounds Smith\u2019s government did not fulfil its constitutional duty to consult First Nations. &#8220;If they&#8217;re ignoring courts, ignoring the rulings, it shows to me that they are lawless,\u201d Mercredi said of the United Conservative government. He said First Nations have not given consent and will stop the referendum in any way they can, including getting in the way of industry, or,&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Ffirst-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lisa Johnson Treaty chiefs representing First Nations across the West say they are willing to carry out acts of civil disobedience if necessary to fight Alberta Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s separation vote. And Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi on Thursday renewed a call for Smith to put a stop to the upcoming referendum. He pointed to a recent court decision that stalled a separation petition drive on the grounds Smith\u2019s government did not fulfil its constitutional duty to consult First Nations. &#8220;If they&#8217;re ignoring courts, ignoring the rulings, it shows to me that they are lawless,\u201d Mercredi said of the United Conservative government. He said First Nations have not given consent and will stop the referendum in any way they can, including getting in the way of industry, or,... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Ffirst-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Nations chiefs say civil disobedience an option if Alberta referendum proceeds - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nations chiefs say civil disobedience an option if Alberta referendum proceeds - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lisa Johnson Treaty chiefs representing First Nations across the West say they are willing to carry out acts of civil disobedience if necessary to fight Alberta Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s separation vote. And Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi on Thursday renewed a call for Smith to put a stop to the upcoming referendum. He pointed to a recent court decision that stalled a separation petition drive on the grounds Smith\u2019s government did not fulfil its constitutional duty to consult First Nations. &#8220;If they&#8217;re ignoring courts, ignoring the rulings, it shows to me that they are lawless,\u201d Mercredi said of the United Conservative government. He said First Nations have not given consent and will stop the referendum in any way they can, including getting in the way of industry, or,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T12:43:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nations chiefs say civil disobedience an option if Alberta referendum proceeds\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T12:43:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":658,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05\\\/first-nations-chiefs-say-civil-disobedience-an-option-if-alberta-referendum-proceeds\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nations chiefs say civil disobedience an option if Alberta referendum proceeds - 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