1 CHURCHILL SQUARE, NW EDMONTON, ALBERTA
APRIL 8, 2026
12:00 P.M.
Relatives, Elders, youth, and all those gathered here today,
I stand here on this land- Treaty 6 Territory as a representative of Dene Tha First Nation to join our relatives from treaty 6, 7 and 8 territory to stand together in solidarity. Our presence did not begin with boundary lines, provincial borders, or political debate. We have been here since time immemorial.
Long before Alberta existed, long before Confederation, our Nations governed ourselves, protected our lands, and entered into sacred agreements with the Crown. These agreements are called Treaties.
Treaties are not historical artifacts. They are not political opinions. They are living, binding agreements that continue to exist today.
The Treaties signed in this territory — Treaties 6, 7, and 8 — were made between sovereign First Nations and the Crown. Not with a province. Not with a legislature. And not with any government acting on its own.
Alberta did not exist when these Treaties were signed. Alberta has no authority over them.
Under the Constitution of Canada, Section 35 recognizes and affirms Aboriginal and treaty rights. These rights are not symbolic. They are legal. They are protected. And they cannot be ignored, erased, or altered by unilateral action.
First Nations do not derive our rights from provinces. Our rights do not flow from provincial powers. And our futures are not subject to provincial decisions made without us.
We also remind everyone gathered here that Indigenous peoples have the right to selfdetermination. This right is recognized not only in Canadian law but in international law, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
That right means something very simple and very powerful:
Nothing about us, without us.
We have seen the consequences when decisions are made over our heads. We carry the memory of broken promises, forced policies, dispossession of land, and laws imposed without consent. That history compels us to speak clearly today.
First Nations are not observers in discussions about political futures.
We are not an afterthought.
We are not a footnote.
We are original nations with enduring rights and responsibilities to our lands, our peoples, and future generations.
Let me be absolutely clear:
Any discussion that affects the land, the Treaties, or the constitutional order of this place directly affects First Nations. And those discussions cannot proceed without our free, prior, and informed consent.
This is not a threat.
It is not a demand for special treatment.
It is the law.
Treaties did not disappear because a province was created. They did not weaken with time. They remain the foundation upon which others were allowed to live and prosper here.
We come here today not to disrupt, but to remind.
Not to divide, but to assert truth.
Not to beg for recognition, but to state what has always been recognized in law and spirit.
Our message is grounded, peaceful, and firm:
First Nations stand on Treaty.
First Nations stand on the Constitution.
First Nations stand on international law.
And we will continue to stand — for our ancestors, for our children, and for the integrity of these agreements that were meant to last “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow.”
Thank you
Chief Wilfred Hookanooza, Dene Tha First Nation.
