Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council speaks out against Bill 54

To the Editor:

Dear Premier Danielle Smith:

May 8, 2025 – We, the chiefs for the Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council (LSLIRC), represent LSLIRC’s member First Nations, which include Driftpile Cree Nation, Sawridge First Nation, Sucker Creek First Nation, and Swan River First Nation. We are the original signatories to Treaty 8 – the treaty that is home to much of what you have described in your May 5, 2025 address as the “endowment of natural resources that no other country on Earth possesses” – and we reject the provincial Crown’s imposed Bill 54 for two reasons.

First, lowering the threshold for a citizen-initiated referendum might show to be a repeated waste of time and money as it may permit the imposition of arbitrary referendums. Second, the Bill 54 process concerning First Nations (or lack thereof) shows that, in some important ways, things are perhaps not so different from the days of residential schools and Indian agents: while we are told we are heading in a better direction, duplicitous efforts continue to attempt ripping our foundations from underneath us.

Bill 54 and the process behind illustrates that we cannot truly say we are walking a path of reconciliation, because true reconciliation is about honoring the spirit and intent of treaty (which is partly about sharing and communication). To ask us to steer otherwise is to ask us to desecrate the memory of our ancestors. Bill 54 and separatism, its rationale, and its process is a far cry from the treaty relationship.

Alberta separatism is pure fantasy. Our Treaty 8 homelands are subject to our nation-to-nation relationship with the Crown, the protection of our treaty rights under section 35 of Canada’s Constitution, and our inherent rights as sovereign treaty peoples. Any changes to our treaty relationship with the Crown are subject to good faith negotiation and our consent, both of which are absent.

We therefore request that you abandon Bill 54 as proposed, meaningfully engage with First Nations in accordance with the spirit and intent of treaty, and cease and desist from pursing separatism.

Yours sincerely,
LSLIRC Grand Chief Isaac Twinn (Sawridge First Nation)
LSLIRC Vice-Chief Dwayne Laboucan (Driftpile Cree Nation)
Sucker Creek First Nation Chief Barb Okemow
Swan River First Nation Chief Lee Twinn