Who is behind YouTube videos with millions of views saying parts of Canada should join the U.S.? CBC News’ visual investigations team finds the truth about YouTube channels with names like The Canadian Politician pushing Alberta separatism that a recent report says are full of misleading and false information. We go down the rabbit hole and uncover the web of hired actors and ‘faceless’ creators who live overseas that are publishing this content to make a profit.

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Leyland Cecco at The Guardian:

Covert meetings between separatist activists in the Canadian province of Alberta and members of Donald Trump’s administration amount to “treason”, the premier of British Columbia said on Thursday. “To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that – and that word is treason,” David Eby told reporters. “It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power and – with respect – a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty.”

The revelations that far-right activists met US state department officials first emerged in a Financial Times report outlining the efforts a group of increasingly emboldened separatists are taking in their attempt to secede from Canada. A minority of residents of the oil-rich province have long argued that the province’s woes are due to the structure of payments to the federal government and a perceived inability to get their vast fossil fuel reserves to market. Organizers of the Alberta independence movement, which still boasts only minority support, are now collecting signatures to trigger a referendum there. The pro-independence campaign has been travelling across the province as organizers try to collect nearly 178,000 signatures over the next few months. The group has publicly said it wants a $500bn credit facility from the US treasury to help fund the creation of a new country if their referendum is successful.

“I think that while we can respect the right of any Canadian to express themselves to vote in a referendum, I think we need to draw the line at people seeking the assistance of foreign countries to break up this beautiful land of ours,” Eby told reporters, adding he would raise this at a meeting of provincial leaders later in the day. Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, who has rejected the idea of separation and said she “supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada”, is facing mounting criticism that her government recently made it easier for residents to petition for a referendum. The Ontario premier, Doug Ford, said Smith needed “to stand up [to the separatists] and say enough is enough”. Last week, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, appeared to support the efforts by the separatists in an interview with the conservative website Real America’s Voice.

they’re prepping to separate.

opting out of the federal dentalcare.

dismantling the health system in favour of privatizing.

opting out of ccp

creating an alberta police force and cutting ties with the rcmp

adding citizenship markers to drivers licences

opting out of the federal gun licencing system and creating a provincial one

danielle smith is trying to push a referendum through the courts without due process. they are already planning to separate regardless of what the people think.

You might think, based on the volume of her Facebook posts, that Nieta Aqila is an Albertan who supports separation. "I signed the Alberta independence petition" because "Canada is not a great country anymore," an account in her name wrote in a popular Facebook group called Alberta Independence that promotes the movement and has more than 100,000 members.  In another post, Aqila said she was harassed and had rocks thrown at her as she canvassed for petition signatures. The account's posts have generated thousands of reactions, comments and shares in recent months as the issue heated up.

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Signs and the flags of many nations filled Sir Winston Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton on Wednesday as roughly 200 First Nations leaders, community members and supporters gathered to oppose an attempt to force a referendum on Alberta separating from Canada. Signs read “this is treaty land, honour the land, honour the people,” and “stand with First Nations,” as speakers stressed the ongoing relevance of treaty rights. “We organized this event, you know, to bring some awareness to the non-Indigenous public as well,” said Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi. “Make sure that they understand that our treaty is here to protect, and that our treaty is not some mythical document.

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