We came across this building while on a brief visit to Sylvan Lake, a small town between Calgary and Edmonton.

This movement is spreading through Alberta like a cancer, and if you live outside of Canada, chances are you haven’t heard about it.

There is a growing minority of people living in Alberta who want the province to separate from Canada and become an independent country. This year, they collected enough signatures to call a referendum on independence.

Politically speaking, most Alberta separatists are staunchly capitalistic, hostile toward Canada, and supportive of Donald Trump. They are commonly known as “Maple MAGA.”

I normally support independence movements, as I believe people have a right to self-determination. I support sovereignty for Puerto Rico, Guam, Catalonia, Greenland, Scotland, and if you push me hard enough, I would even back Quebec.

All these territories have a unique history, culture, and language, and they’ve been colonized by foreign powers that have attempted to erase or absorb their identity.

But the Alberta separation movement is different. It has no legitimate claim to independence.

First, Alberta has practically been part of Canada from its very founding. It was part of the British-controlled Northwest Territories, which joined the Confederation in 1870, three years after Canada became a self-governing dominion. Parts of the original area were later carved out to create Manitoba (1870), Yukon (1898), Saskatchewan (1905), and Alberta (1905).

Second, Alberta does not have a unique language, culture, or history that is markedly different from the surrounding western Canadian provinces and territories.

Third, this movement is entirely motivated by greed and racism.

Alberta is an oil-rich province, and as such, it generates significant revenue, making it the wealthiest province by GDP per capita. As part of Canada, Alberta participates in an equalization system in which general federal tax revenues are distributed to lower income-generating provinces to address fiscal disparities. This program ensures that government services, including healthcare, are provided more or less consistently across the country. The separatists claim that Ottawa, that is, the federal government, oppresses Albertans in order to enrich the eastern provinces. A casual drive through Calgary, Edmonton, or any of the smaller rural towns will quickly disabuse anyone of that notion. These allegedly oppressed people are still able to purchase large houses and trucks on which they proudly display their provincial flags. They claim that in an independent Alberta, people would be able to keep at least 20% more of their income. In other words, without the taxes that fund public services, Alberta would inevitably become the Wild West: every man for himself, the rich growing richer, and the poor left to fend for themselves.

What most separatists will gloss over is the fact that most of Alberta consists of First Nations treaty lands. The indigenous communities of this land have made treaties with the Crown, which remain in force and are honoured today. Unlike British Columbia, this is not unceded territory, that is, land taken by force. We are able to live, work, and play in Alberta because of these mutual agreements. The separatists, virtually all of them white and dismissive of these Indigenous peoples, have every intention of steamrolling their agenda. This is not only immoral and unconstitutional, but it has no chance of surviving court challenges.

It’s not a coincidence that this building is on 51 Street.

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Written by Louis Meléndez González

The author is a Puerto Rican writer based in Canada. He is also a canonist and founder of Suricata Ediciones