Subhead:During a panel discussion on Power & Politics, Liberal strategist Carlene Varian stated that First Nations and Métis people are the “actual rights holders of the land” in Alberta. Turns out, that statement wasn’t correct.#
A claim made during CBC’s coverage of the Alberta independence debate is being challenged by constitutional experts and the historical text of the numbered treaties themselves.
During a panel discussion on Power & Politics, Liberal strategist Carlene Varian stated that First Nations and Métis people are the “actual rights holders of the land” in Alberta.
Carlene Variyan: “Premier Smith talks about 300k who wrote their name on a petition. There are also 100k+ and generations of First Nations and Métis people in Alberta who are the actual rights holders of the land that Danielle Smith and her party have decided they want to take… pic.twitter.com/X76XM5gsGM
— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson_) May 13, 2026
However, Alberta’s numbered treaties do not state that First Nations retain ownership of all land in the province.
Josh Dehaas, a lawyer with the Canadian Constitution Foundation, responded by noting that Alberta differs legally from British Columbia because Alberta is covered by numbered treaties:
“The entire province was ceded in treaties. Alberta is not like BC where Aboriginal title exists in some areas,” Dehaas wrote.
Most of Alberta falls under Treaties 6, 7 and 8, signed between First Nations and the Crown between 1876 and 1899.
