Alberta files appeal on separatist petition ruling

Jack Farrell Edmonton The Canadian Press Published YesterdayUpdated 1 hour ago Open this photo in gallery: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference in Calgary, May 22. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press Save for laterPlease log in to bookmark this story. Log InCreate Free Account Alberta’s government has filed its appeal of a judge’s decision to quash a petition looking to force a vote on the province quitting Canada. Premier Danielle Smith criticized the ruling last month, calling it “anti-democratic,” and promised to appeal. Court of King’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard found the referendum petition shouldn’t have been issued under provincial law and that Smith’s government neglected its duty to consult First Nations. Leonard’s decision effectively threw out the petition, which organizers submitted to Elections Alberta at the beginning of May. The campaign’s leaders have said almost 302,000 Albertans signed their names. A group of Alberta First Nations challenged the petition and Elections Alberta’s decision to issue it, arguing that separation would violate treaty rights and that the petition process was unconstitutional. In the appeal filed Wednesday in Edmonton court, the province says it plans to argue that the judge made 14 errors in her decision. The appeal document says issuing the petition didn’t trigger the duty to consult and that the judge failed to give weight to the democratic purpose of the petition process. It says the judge also misinterpreted provisions of a bill passed in December that allowed the separatist group behind the petition to reapply after its first application was hung up in court. Leonard ruled that despite the intended purpose of the legislation, the group shouldn’t have been able to reapply, because the first application was rejected before the law came into effect. The province questions the judge’s conclusion that the result of the desired referendum would be binding. The appeal also argues Leonard was “improperly assuming that Alberta may not comply with its statutory and constitutional obligations.” A spokesperson for Justice Minister Mickey Amery repeated the government’s position that it supports a “sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.” “Our government has appealed the recent court decision to protect Alberta’s citizen initiative legislation and make clear that it is the democratic right of every Albertan to participate in a citizen’s initiative process and bring forward a petition asking a clear question for citizens to consider,” Heather Jenkins said in a statement late Thursday.