Quashing the separation petition is ‘incomprehensible,’ an ‘error in law’: Rath

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The lawyer representing an Alberta separatist group says a decision made to quash a separation petition in court featured “numerous errors in law” and is “anti-democratic.”

Speaking to CTV News Channel on Wednesday afternoon, Alberta Independence Petition Project lawyer Jeffrey Rath said Justice Shaina Leonard’s Wednesday decision to strike down Stay Free Alberta’s separation petition featured “numerous errors in law throughout” and “breaches of the rules of natural justice.”

That petition received more than 300,000 signatures and was submitted to Elections Alberta officials for verification last week.

Lawyers for several First Nations argued last month that the province’s referendum process and its use by separatists are unconstitutional, as the process didn’t require Indigenous consultation. They added separation would violate treaty rights.

In her decision, Leonard said that there was a “duty to consult” First Nations and “as a matter of logic and common sense, there can be no doubt that Alberta’s secession from Canada will have an impact on Treaties 7 and 8.”

She added a bill passed by Premier Danielle Smith’s government in December to amend the citizen-initiated referendum process “put in motion a series of required steps that engaged the duty to consult.”

“No consultation occurred. Alberta breached its duty to consult with the applicants,” Leonard wrote.

She added Alberta’s chief electoral officer never should have issued the referendum petition.

But Rath says he sees it differently.

“There’s no articulation in this decision how it is that putting down signatures on a petition and then having these signatures counted … for consideration offends any treaty right,” Rath said.

When asked if Stay Free Alberta had consulted First Nations groups ahead of launching the petition, Rath said the law didn’t require consultation until voters delivered a “yes” vote in a referendum itself.

“The law requires consultation in the context of amendments to the Canadian constitution that involves the devolution of federal power to the provinces that affects First Nations,” Rath said.

“From our perspective no rules were broken,” Rath said.

He added his group would be moving forward to appeal the decision.

Democracy threatened

Several secessionist proponents spoke out on Wednesday, saying Leonard’s decision threaten democracy in Alberta.

Mitch Sylvestre, the man who organized the Stay Free Alberta petition, told CTV News he also had plans to appeal the decision.

David Parker, the man behind the Centurion Project database at the centre of a data leak scandal, said on social media that “democracy on Alberta is on life support.”

Smith, despite her refrain of standing for a “sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” also mentioned concerns Leonard’s decision was undemocratic and said her government would appeal the decision at an unrelated news conference Wednesday.

But Rath said Smith’s support for the separation question to appear on the ballot brings her to a crossroads politically given how many petition signatories voted for her party.

“She’s left with a real political problem because if she disregards a supermajority of her UCP base by not putting this question on a referendum ballot, this is going to be an existential question for the premier and her leadership of the party,” Rath said.

“You can’t ignore the wishes of a super majority of your own party base.”

“The ball is firmly in Premier Smith’s court,” Rath said of the future of the separation question, adding that his group will be pressing on.

— with files from CTV’s Aksay Tandon and The Canadian Press