Alberta Premier Smith under fire for Indigenous comments

In a new video published on Twitter on Friday promoting Alberta Energy, Premier Danielle Smith is asking us to remember our history. But these comments have landed her in hot water, once again.

Smith says in the video Indigenous people and “people around the world” united to found Canada.

“Many years ago, the Indigenous people of this land, and those that came from across the world, united to tame an unforgiving frontier, ensuring prosperity for countless future generations,” Smith said.

Let’s find a renewed interest to reduce the division in our country and commit to building a stronger Canada ???????? so that we can find new ways to grow prosperity across our country. #cdnpoli #abpoli pic.twitter.com/4sjCjB4OIc

— Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) February 10, 2023

Dr. Nelson Wiseman, political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, says her comments about Indigenous people and western settlers are very misleading.

“If I were an Indigenous person, I would be insulted. It’s full of historical distortion and envisionism. For example, united to tame the land. That’s nonsense. The Indigenous people were not taming the land. That’s a western Eurocentric conception. They believe in living in harmony,” said Dr. Wiseman.

In the video, Smith goes on to talk about developing democratic institutions together.

“It was their duty to support one another as neighbours, and to build this country together, developing democratic institutions that would yield good and stable governance,” said Smith.

Wiseman says these comments are outrageous.

“That’s totally wild. Because Indigenous peoples were denied a role in democratic institutions. They weren’t allowed to vote. They were starved in the 19th century to see disease spread among them. This isn’t building democratic institutions. They had no rights of citizenship,” Wiseman said.

Lori Williams, Mount Royal University political scientist, says this is an attempt by Smith to make up for her past comments including the ones about the unvaccinated as the most discriminated, then her comparison to Ottawa’s treatment of Alberta to that of Indigenous in Canada, and also her claims of having an Indigenous heritage.

“If it’s meant to offset the impact of insensitivity or inappropriate equivalencies drawn in the past, I don’t think it does that,” said Williams.

“In fact, it might actually convey that she doesn’t really understand the difference in the experiences of those who settled in Canada and those who were living off the land before that settlement happened,” she added.

The video is recorded in Ottawa, where she and Canada’s premiers met with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to talk about a healthcare deal.