CTV News is your Alberta Referendum headquarters. Live results. Expert analysis. Everything you need to know is here. A unity rally featuring union reps, Indigenous leaders, local residents and Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi was held Saturday in downtown Calgary. The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) said they originally planned to hold an Alberta Unity and Solidarity Rally outside the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, but changed the date to Sunday to steer clear of a separatist rally planned for Saturday because they thought the separatists were trying to provoke a confrontation. “With the Fight Back Now campaign we’ve been asking you to do two things: to vote like your future depends on it, because it does, and also to protest,” said AFL President Gil McGowan. “But, we also need to protest the referendum itself,” McGowan added, in a media statement. “It’s not real democracy; it’s manipulation. At the same time, we need to send a strong message that we will never allow our province to be turned into MAGA North.” Nenshi urged the crowd to rally their friends and family to vote. “What I am telling you right now is vote today,” Nenshi said. “The polls are open until 8 o’clock. The advance polls, when you leave here, the single best thing you can do is to vote. The lineups are going to be long on election day. “Our job is to get every single person we’ve ever met out to vote. We need to help seniors vote. We need to help busy young families to vote. We need to make sure everyone goes into their polls, votes yes to Canada Option 1, no to the noxious nine, no to the divisive nine –- and yes for a better Alberta. “There are 15,000 volunteers knocking on doors across the province today, there are people at rallies like this in every part of the province except Edmonton, because we go to Edmonton tomorrow.” Troy Bossman Knowlton, the Chief of the Piikani Tribe and the president of the Blackfoot Confederacy, said all First Nations in Alberta -- and across North America -- stand opposed to separation. “We’ve been united in our stance against the Separation Act,” Knowlton said. “Treaties 1 to 11 have joined force across the western provinces and have received support from coast to coast to coast from First Nations who stand behind us to support us, support the Albertans First Nations who are at war right now. “I’ve also reached out to the United States, where our sister tribe is in Montana, the Southern Piikani Tribe (are located), and I’ve got endorsement and support from the National Congress of American Indians, which is hundreds of thousands of Indians in the United States, from the coalition of large tribes who support the Alberta First Nations in our fight, and so we’re not alone.” Polls open Monday at 9 a.m. and continue until 8 p.m. With files from CTV News’ Tommy Osborne
