csc statement on sepAration

The Chiefs Steering Committee on Technical Services (CSC) stands in solidarity with all Treaty Nations insulted by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s aspirations for secession, which was most recently highlighted by Bill 54.

The CSC agrees fully with the cease-and-desist letter from Chief Sheldon Sunshine, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, and Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro, Mikisew Cree First Nation, and the statements from Chief Troy Knowlton, Piikani Nation, and Chief Jason Whiskeyjack, Saddle Lake Cree Nation, regarding Premier Smith’s introduction of Bill 54, which would ease the thresholds for potential referenda and enable the provincial Chief Electoral Officer to establish on-reserve stations during municipal elections.

Treaty First Nations sovereignty over lands and waters in our territories was established well before the creation of any province or country—Treaty peoples’ inherent rights have been practiced since time immemorial and continues to underpin our place here on our lands.
We are deeply disappointed by the Premier’s manufacturing of a unity crisis at this critical time in history with trade wars and an opioid crisis devastating families and livelihoods, whether First Nations or non-First Nations. The Chiefs Steering Committee will continue to provide guidance and leadership as we navigate what lays ahead.

We implore Canadians and Albertans to recognize our shared history requires cooperative, meaningful change, instead of division and manufactured crises.

For as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the waters flow, we call on Premier Smith to renounce all notions of separatist aspiration and fully commit to working with Treaty First Nations in a manner that respects our sovereignty on our lands, in the spirit of the solemn covenants our mutual ancestors made in our shared history