◉ PHOTOS: Calgarians rally against Alberta’s referendum

On the Saturday before Alberta’s referendum, Indigenous leaders, NDP representatives and activists came together to oppose the province’s independence referendum.

The Fight Back campaign, organized by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), drew hundreds of Calgarians to McDougall Centre.

Gil McGowan, president of the AFL, says Albertans and Canadians need to understand what is happening with the referendum.

“[It’s] not a normal exercise in democracy; this is not democracy; it’s manipulation along the lines of what we’ve seen with authoritarian and pro-authoritarian governments in Western Europe, the United States and around the world,” said McGowan. “That kind of authoritarianism is washing up on our shores and threatening not just Albertans but our entire country.”

McGowan said a civil society response is needed to what he described as an illegitimate referendum.

“We need a civil society response to what is not a legitimate referendum but rather a MAGA-style and perhaps MAGA-funded and influenced strategy to turn Albertans against each other and break our country apart,” he said.

In Edmonton, crowds of Alberta independence supporters chanted and waved flags outside the legislature in Edmonton on Saturday afternoon.

Maen Amer from Ride for Palestine said the organization joined the rally to show its support for a united Canada. The group organizes rides through downtown Calgary every two weeks to raise awareness about the situation in Palestine.

For the weekend, members set aside their Palestinian flags and raised Canadian flags instead.

“We are here to reaffirm that we belong to this city as a Canadian, whether with a Palestinian heritage, we belong here, this is our home, and Alberta should stay with united Canada,” said Amer.

Amer said he does not believe separating from Canada is the solution, and that people should sit together and have discussions instead.

“I don’t think separating out of Canada is the way out, it’s a dialogue, it’s a discussion, no polarizations, no pushing people out, so no to the nine, stay in Canada,” said Amer.

“I never thought it would get to this point where we would have to vote or have a referendum about saving Canada,” he added.