Sarah Mills: Alberta's referendum is Canada's wake-up call
Sarah Mills says Canada needs better collaboration between Ottawa and the provinces. She says what's good for Quebec sho...
OTTAWA — First Nations in Alberta are celebrating the win for the pro-Canada side in Monday’s referendum — but they’re also raising concerns about a shortage of ballots in their communities despite large, public efforts to increase voter turnout.
About three in four Albertans said yes to Confederation on Monday, while about one in four said they wanted the province to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving.
Siksika Nation, located about an hour east of Calgary, said that while it’s pleased with the outcome, the polling station in their community was understaffed and didn’t receive enough ballots from Elections Alberta.
That led to long wait times and “unnecessary obstacles,” the First Nation said in a media statement.
“It is unacceptable that First Nations communities continue to encounter barriers to participating fully in Alberta’s democratic processes,” said the statement.
“Our people have fought too long for their democratic rights to be treated as an afterthought. The right to vote must be supported by meaningful and equitable access to the ballot box.”
Elections Alberta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tania Cameron, who helped boost First Nations turnout in the vote, said she was proud to learn several First Nations polling stations had to request more ballots.
She also said Elections Alberta should have been more prepared and the shortage of ballots is a slap in the face to community members who wanted their voices heard.
Cameron mobilized Indigenous voters in the 2015 federal election through the “Rock the Vote” campaign that some credit with helping to elect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
A member of Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation in northwestern Ontario, Cameron helped inform Indigenous voters about what they needed to cast a ballot and how to secure necessary identification in that election.
For the referendum in Alberta, she put those same skills to work by training leadership on how to set up ID clinics and registration drives, and educating members on the ballot questions.
Indigenous people are less likely to vote in elections outside of their communities — a legacy of decades of distrust and tensions between their communities and federal and provincial governments.
Before 1960, First Nations people generally had to forfeit their Indian status in order to vote in an election.
Memories of those days still linger, making some Indigenous people wary of casting a ballot. Others see voting in outside elections as a breach of the unique treaties their communities have with the Crown.
“In elections, we choose our treaty partners — who is sitting across from us at the table as we work to uphold our treaty and work at making sure the province and federal government are upholding their end of the treaty,” Cameron said.
“In this case, I said we actually need to send a message that the province cannot erase treaty.”
A coalition of First Nations launched a court fight arguing the citizen-initiated petition to hold a separation vote was invalid because the province hadn’t followed through on its constitutional duty to consult First Nations.
In May, a judge agreed and quashed the petition. Soon after, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the government would appeal, putting the lawsuit in legal limbo.
Smith then announced the referendum anyway, citing the hundreds of thousands of Albertans who had signed petitions for one side or the other.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2026.
— With files from Lisa Johnson in Edmonton
Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
