Treaty 8 First Nations call for 2% resource revenues from projects on their land

Andrew Jeffrey · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 26, 2025 10:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Treaty 8 First Nations chiefs successful Alberta are calling for a two-per-cent stock of royalties from projects that make resources from their land.

The chiefs met with Premier Danielle Smith successful Calgary connected Thursday to raise various concerns, including gross sharing. Trevor Mercredi, expansive Chief of the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, said the gathering was urgently needed owed to velocity with which authorities is moving that could pb to large projects affecting Treaty 8 communities.

"There has to beryllium immoderate benignant of a narration developed betwixt Alberta and the nations, truthful we tin determination guardant with immoderate of these projects successful a bully mode for our people," said Mercredi.

"We're not looking for a handout, we're not looking for the state to travel instrumentality attraction of our people, we don't request the state to instrumentality attraction of our people. We request our ain radical to service and instrumentality attraction of our people"

The gathering came connected the aforesaid time that Bill C-5, Prime Minister Mark Carney's 'nation-building' projects bill, was passed by the Senate unamended. The authorities allows the premier minister's furniture to streamline approvals for immoderate projects that person the imaginable to boost the Canadian economy.

But the measure has received disapproval from some, including Mercredi, for the anticipation it could pb to insufficient consultation with Indigenous peoples.

Mercredi said assets revenue sharing is however his assemblage tin amended enactment itself done backing acquisition and wellness services, especially owed to however profitable drawing resources from wrong Treaty 8 land, successful bluish Alberta, has been for the province.

"You perceive Premier Smith and each of the others speech astir the millions and billions and trillions coming retired of Alberta. That's from our backyards," Mercredi said.

"Every day, we person manufacture and the state coming into our nations with chapeau successful hand, looking for projects. It's not the different mode around."

Smith said the provincial authorities is looking for ways to guarantee each First Nations successful Alberta person gross from earthy resources wrong the province. But alternatively of royalties, Smith said she believes this should beryllium accomplished done equity.

She pointed to the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation arsenic an example. It's set up to facilitate concern by Indigenous groups successful earthy resource, agriculture, telecommunication and proscription projects.

"Those are the kinds of things that volition present the semipermanent gross streams that I deliberation that they're looking for," Smith said. 

"We stock the aspiration, we conscionable person a antithetic mode of supporting it."

A spot astatine the array connected exigency management

Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta rejected Alberta's attempts to "assert jurisdiction done authorities similar the Sovereignty Act," according to a connection the enactment issued Thursday. It called for a ceremonial designation of Treaty 8 governance arsenic a government-to-Nation partner.

Thursday's gathering besides saw First Nations chiefs rise exigency absorption arsenic an contented to the province, Mercredi said. He specifically pointed to a request to reenforce fire-suppression services, arsenic Alberta contends with destructive wildfire seasons each summer.

More broadly, Mercredi said the radical wants much input with the state astir responding to crises, to find semipermanent solutions to problems First Nations groups successful Alberta look each year.

"It's a caller satellite we unrecorded in. Alberta's connected fire, and Alberta's been connected occurrence for the past 5 oregon six years," helium said.

"Our radical are truly traumatized, our radical are being removed, our nations are ever looking astatine the smoke, the lightning. It's precise concerning and Alberta has to prime up connected their services erstwhile it comes to fire."

He added that helium believes Smith was receptive to the issues his radical raised Thursday, but for excessively long, First Nations groups haven't had a capable spot astatine the array successful these negotiations.

Smith volition conscionable with the radical again successful August successful Treaty 8 territory.