Colby Cosh: Alberta judge pours gas on separatist fire – National Post

May 15, 2026

Ruling overriding referendum hands independence movement a righteous cause

Wednesday’s King’s Bench ruling that invalidated the Alberta citizen petition on separatism is intricate and complicated, so instead of tussling with the fine details, I had better put on my Albertologist hat and try to focus on the big picture. The judge in the case made a ruling that everyone seems to find a bit weird. Justice Shaina Leonard ruled that the chief electoral officer of Alberta made an error in allowing, as the written law provides, for the gathering of signatures for a citizen initiative on separation. The Crown in right of Alberta, she says, had a formal “duty to consult” with Aboriginal treaty parties before the CEO’s permission was given.

That permission, Justice Leonard says, triggered the unmet duty because a sufficient number of signatures — which the campaigners claim to have gathered — `would positively bind the Alberta government to hold a referendum on separation. The Alberta government’s position had been that the rights of Aboriginal citizens would only be engaged if the separatists won the ensuing vote, which would commence a process of negotiations with the federal government and other provinces. Only then would the duty to consult come into play.