{"id":105778,"date":"2026-06-15T08:32:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105778"},"modified":"2026-06-15T08:32:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:32:44","slug":"these-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/these-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"These Albertans signed petitions. What do they think of the separation referendum?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Dayne Patterson Alberta is planning to ask residents in an Oct. 19 referendum whether the province should stay in Canada or if there should be a future binding referendum on separation. It was prompted by two citizen-led petitions. A petition from the group Forever Canada, asking if Alberta should stay in the country, was verified in December with about 400,000 signatures. The separatist group Stay Free Alberta, which handed in the other petition in May, said it collected roughly 300,000 names of people who want Alberta to become an independent state. Soon after, a judge quashed the petition, ruling it never should have been issued and that the government neglected its duty to consult First Nations. United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith says she can&#8217;t ignore those who signed&#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%2F15%2Fthese-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dayne Patterson Alberta is planning to ask residents in an Oct. 19 referendum whether the province should stay in Canada or if there should be a future binding referendum on separation. It was prompted by two citizen-led petitions. A petition from the group Forever Canada, asking if Alberta should stay in the country, was verified in December with about 400,000 signatures. The separatist group Stay Free Alberta, which handed in the other petition in May, said it collected roughly 300,000 names of people who want Alberta to become an independent state. Soon after, a judge quashed the petition, ruling it never should have been issued and that the government neglected its duty to consult First Nations. United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith says she can&#8217;t ignore those who signed... <\/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%2F15%2Fthese-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum%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-105778","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 v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>These Albertans signed petitions. 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A petition from the group Forever Canada, asking if Alberta should stay in the country, was verified in December with about 400,000 signatures. The separatist group Stay Free Alberta, which handed in the other petition in May, said it collected roughly 300,000 names of people who want Alberta to become an independent state. Soon after, a judge quashed the petition, ruling it never should have been issued and that the government neglected its duty to consult First Nations. United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith says she can&#8217;t ignore those who signed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/these-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-06-15T12:32:44+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=\"6 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\\\/15\\\/these-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/15\\\/these-albertans-signed-petitions-what-do-they-think-of-the-separation-referendum\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"These Albertans signed petitions. 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