Western Canada Referendum on Independence

Petition to our Provincial Government

Whereas, we the undersigned citizens of Western Canada, desire to escape the long-standing grievances which we have experienced by reason of the nation of Canada at the hands of its government at Ottawa;

And whereas we have considered after a long period of serious reflection, and every reasonable effort at accommodation and co-operation, that these long-standing grievances do not exist for mere light, transitory or partisan reasons, but are indelibly imposed on the nature and fabric of the Ottawa government and will never be remedied, no matter how often we compromise to suit its needs;

And whereas we have concluded that the grievances are so serious and permanent as to be no longer tolerable because they tax us without benefit or real representation, they oppress us with unnecessary laws and destroy our freedom beyond endurance;

Therefore we are resolved to seek to achieve a greater and more perfect unity in a nation of our own, chosen by us in our own referendum in each Western Canadian province when a majority of us so desire;

And whereas the Government at Ottawa has, through its own act entitled An Act to give Effect to the Requirement for Clarity as set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Quebec Secession Reference and passed in the 2nd session of the Thirty-Sixth Parliament and assented to on June 29th, 2000 A.D.;

And whereas by this Act, the right of self-determination by any province is affirmed if the government of any province of Canada consults its population by referendum on any issue and it is entitled to formulate the wording of its referendum question;

And whereas the said Act requires both a clear question and a clear majority;

And whereas we the undersigned desire clarity to be established on both issues;

We, the undersigned citizens, hereby petition and demand of our provincial government as follows:

(1.) That immediately upon this petition being signed and delivered to the Premier by 10\% of the population who voted in the last provincial election, the following question shall be put to all the electors of our provinces by a general referendum within 90 days of the ratification of this number of signatories to this petition by the Chief Electoral Officer of our province;

(2.) That to satisfy section 1(1) of the aforesaid Act, we hereby demand that the government of our province, in our legislative assembly, forthwith upon receipt of this petition duly signed by us, table in the legislative assembly, the following referendum question for consideration by the House of Commons at Ottawa, and thereafter put the following question to the people of our province for consideration in a referendum:

Question: Do you desire our province to cease to be a part of Canada and become an independent sovereign nation state?

(3.) That to satisfy the terms of Section 2(1) of the aforesaid act, our provincial government ratify, and we declare, that a clear majority shall consist of the number of 55\% of all those persons who vote in the referendum to be held pursuant to section 1 hereof;

(4.) That the legislative assembly of our province formally adopt and enact the terms of this petition with no unnecessary modifications, to achieve the spirit and intent of this resolution and petition, which is to clearly express a clear majority in favour of secession of our province from Confederation as soon as legally possible.

We the undersigned free men and women of Western Canada hereby declare our solemn oath that we shall persevere by all peaceful means to escape the political economic and social oppression of the unjust system of government created by Canada and to create our own new nation by the democratic process of a constitutional convention for the creation of a nation, for the freedom of our descendants, and the preservation of our land and heritage and to this end we pledge our best efforts and our most sacred honour.