{"id":105973,"date":"2026-06-18T15:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105973"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:48:32","slug":"senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior aide of Alberta premier urges First Nations chiefs to fix squalid communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Lisa Johnson The executive director of Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s office says that instead of criticizing her, First Nations chiefs should fix their own communities, describing them as entrenched in poverty, drugs and violence. Bruce McAllister, in a post on social media, says the chiefs should focus on their own problems rather than having \u201cthe gall\u201d to accuse the premier of treason over Alberta\u2019s looming separation referendum. McAllister also says the chiefs\u2019 misaligned priorities make him wonder if they&#8217;re taking orders from someone else. The post comes after the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing First Nations across Alberta, voted to ask RCMP to look into whether the Oct. 19 referendum amounts to criminal treason by Smith and her United Conservative Party. Smith responded to that by saying the chiefs should&#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%2F18%2Fsenior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lisa Johnson The executive director of Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s office says that instead of criticizing her, First Nations chiefs should fix their own communities, describing them as entrenched in poverty, drugs and violence. Bruce McAllister, in a post on social media, says the chiefs should focus on their own problems rather than having \u201cthe gall\u201d to accuse the premier of treason over Alberta\u2019s looming separation referendum. McAllister also says the chiefs\u2019 misaligned priorities make him wonder if they&#8217;re taking orders from someone else. The post comes after the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing First Nations across Alberta, voted to ask RCMP to look into whether the Oct. 19 referendum amounts to criminal treason by Smith and her United Conservative Party. Smith responded to that by saying the chiefs should... <\/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%2F18%2Fsenior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities%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":[32,8,7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-national-news","category-sports","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>Senior aide of Alberta premier urges First Nations chiefs to fix squalid communities - 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\/18\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senior aide of Alberta premier urges First Nations chiefs to fix squalid communities - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lisa Johnson The executive director of Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s office says that instead of criticizing her, First Nations chiefs should fix their own communities, describing them as entrenched in poverty, drugs and violence. Bruce McAllister, in a post on social media, says the chiefs should focus on their own problems rather than having \u201cthe gall\u201d to accuse the premier of treason over Alberta\u2019s looming separation referendum. McAllister also says the chiefs\u2019 misaligned priorities make him wonder if they&#8217;re taking orders from someone else. The post comes after the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing First Nations across Alberta, voted to ask RCMP to look into whether the Oct. 19 referendum amounts to criminal treason by Smith and her United Conservative Party. Smith responded to that by saying the chiefs should\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-06-18T19:45:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T19:48:32+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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\\\/18\\\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/18\\\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Senior aide of Alberta premier urges First Nations chiefs to fix squalid communities\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T19:45:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-18T19:48:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/18\\\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":197,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\",\"National News\",\"Sports\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/18\\\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/18\\\/senior-aide-of-alberta-premier-urges-first-nations-chiefs-to-fix-squalid-communities\\\/\",\"name\":\"Senior aide of Alberta premier urges First Nations chiefs to fix squalid communities - 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