Alberta Flashcards

Which three numbered treaties cover the territory of present-day Alberta?

Answer: Treaties 6, 7, and 8

Alberta's territory is covered by Treaty 6 (signed 1876, covering central Alberta), Treaty 7 (signed 1877, covering southern Alberta including the Blackfoot Confederacy), and Treaty 8 (signed 1899, covering the vast northern Peace River and Athabasca regions). Knowing which treaties apply to which regions is essential to understanding Alberta's Indigenous history.

When Alberta entered Confederation in 1905, the federal government retained control of the province's public lands and natural resources. In what year did Alberta finally gain control over those resources?

Answer: 1930

The Natural Resources Transfer Agreement of 1930 transferred control of public lands and natural resources from the federal government to Alberta (and the other Prairie provinces). This was a uniquely late development — the original provinces had always held their own resources — and it remains a defining moment in Alberta's constitutional history and its ongoing sensitivity about federal interference in resource matters.

Alberta holds a constitutionally unique distinction among all Canadian provinces regarding the Métis people. What is it?

Answer: Alberta has the only legislated, permanently protected Métis land base in Canada

Through the Métis Settlements Act and the Métis Settlements Land Protection Act, Alberta established eight Métis settlements covering approximately 1.25 million acres — the only legislated and constitutionally protected Métis land base anywhere in Canada. No other province has enacted equivalent legislation providing a permanent, protected land base for Métis communities.

Premier Peter Lougheed established the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund to preserve a share of oil royalty revenues for future generations. In which year was it created?

Answer: 1976

The Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund was established in 1976 under Premier Peter Lougheed, making it one of the earliest sovereign wealth funds in the world. The fund was designed to save a portion of non-renewable resource revenues so future Albertans could benefit after the oil ran out. At its peak it held billions of dollars, though subsequent governments drew it down significantly rather than continuing to invest in it.

The federal National Energy Program (NEP), introduced in 1980, triggered deep and lasting anger in Alberta toward the federal government. What was Alberta's central objection to the NEP?

Answer: It held Canadian oil prices below world market levels and redirected a major share of oil revenues to the federal government

The NEP, introduced by Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government, kept Canadian oil prices artificially below world market prices and restructured royalty and tax arrangements so that a much larger share of oil revenues flowed to Ottawa rather than to Alberta. Alberta viewed this as an unconstitutional violation of provincial resource rights and a deliberate transfer of the province's wealth to the rest of Canada. The economic recession it helped cause in Alberta, combined with the sense of political betrayal, shaped Alberta's relationship with the federal government for decades.

The 'Famous Five,' whose 1929 Persons Case petition resulted in women being declared legally eligible for Senate appointment, were primarily from which province?

Answer: Alberta

Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby — collectively known as the Famous Five — were all from Alberta. Their petition argued that women were 'persons' under the British North America Act and therefore eligible for Senate appointment. After the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against them, they appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, which overturned the decision in October 1929 in a landmark ruling for Canadian women's rights.