Alberta’s separatist movement has reached a new milestone as organizers delivered what they say are more than 301,000 signatures calling for a provincial vote on leaving Canada.
Petitioner Mitch Sylvestre, head of the group Stay Free Alberta, greeted supporters as boxes of signatures arrived at Elections Alberta on Monday.
Officials told the crowd the boxes would be weighed, sealed and initialled, marking the end of today’s handover. Verification remains on hold.
Here are the boxes. pic.twitter.com/wZoCXdYQ8v
A judge must first decide whether Elections Alberta can proceed, after several Alberta First Nations argued the petition violates Treaty rights and sought an injunction to stop the process. That ruling is expected this week.
Sylvestre has previously said the group surpassed the roughly 178,000 signatures required under provincial law more than a month ago, after launching the petition in January.
If the names are eventually validated, Premier Danielle Smith has said a separation question could appear on a provincewide ballot as early as October.
In addition to the Treaty rights hurdle, the Centurion Project, a separatist group, publicly distributed a list naming nearly three million electors in Alberta and their addresses. Elections Alberta is probing the matter.
The app was taken down on Thursday after Elections Alberta obtained a judge’s injunction ordering the group to shut it down.
The Centurion Project has since said it will comply with Elections Alberta’s investigation, which, among other things, is looking into how the group got a hold of the list.
Such voter lists are only distributed by Elections Alberta to elected officials, political parties and party officials. Provincial law dictates that it can only be used to solicit donations, recruit party members and communicate with electors.
