Alberta Unbound

Political strategist Stephen Carter, academic Jared Wesley and human rights lawyer Avnish Nanda on their campaigns to defeat Alberta’s “noxious nine” referendum questions.

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This month's episode takes us out of Alberta bounds and into space. Astronomers Samantha Lawler and Aaron Boley, and political philosopher Daniel Munro, discuss the impacts of satellite debris and satellite congestion.

To learn more about Senator Paula Simons' satellite inquiry in the Senate, see this link here: 

Curious to know more? Read these articles here:

The 2026 Kreisel lecturers, Richard Van Camp, Shani Mootoo and Lise Gaboury-Diallo, join Paula Simons onstage to discuss place, truth, and story as community medicine

You can listen to Part 1 & 2 of the lecture here:

Curious to learn more about the lecture and the authors? Visit these links below: 

Photo credits to Anindita Mukherjee

In Part 2 of the Kreisel Lecture, Authors Shani Mootoo and Lise Gaboury-Diallo reflect on place, identity, and the purpose of narrative.

You can listen to Part 1 of the lecture here:

Curious to learn more about the lecture and the authors? Visit these links below: 

Every year, the Centre for Literatures in Canada at the University of Alberta hosts the Kreisel Lecture, where authors are invited to deliver a lecture on a topic of their choosing. To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the centre broke the lecture into three parts, featuring authors Richard Van Camp, Shani Mootoo, and Lise Gaboury-Diallo. Senator Paula Simons was invited to open the lecture series and moderate a panel featuring the three authors. 

The first episode of this special three-part series includes the introduction from Senator Simons on Henry Kreisel, followed by Richard Van Camp's lecture on living in Fort Smith, Indigenous literature, and begging to be struck by lightning over and over again. 

Curious to learn more about the lecture and the authors? Visit these links below: 

The fate of Alberta’s separatist referendum is up in the air. But Alberta’s premier and Alberta separatists aren’t the only ones who want a vote to go ahead. There’s mounting evidence of foreign-backed social media campaigns, trying to influence the outcome of the sovereignty debate. Edmonton author and analyst Patrick Lennox assesses the risks to Alberta democracy - and national security. 

You can read his latest Walrus articles here: 

Can Alberta Protect Its Secession Vote from Trump? | The Walrus

How Did an Alberta Separatist Group Get Its Hands on the Voter List? | The Walrus

Edmonton playwright, documentary-maker and award-winning children’s author Marty Chan on growing up Chinese-Canadian, book bans, Bill 28 and racism’s revival tour.

To see more of Chan's work, visit his website https://martychan.com for more details. 

Political scientists Melanee Thomas and Yasmeen Abu-Laban, political strategists Ken Boessenkool and Zain Velji, and former Director of the Centre for Constitutional Studies at the University of Alberta Patricia Paradis, dive into the nine referendum questions and how Albertans should respond.

Here are the nine referendum questions below: 

1. Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and giving Albertans first priority on new employment opportunities?

2. Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta-approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially funded programs, such as health care, education and other social services?

3. Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring all individuals with a non-permanent legal immigration status to reside in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially funded social support programs?

4. Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their family’s use of the health care and education systems?

5. Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate, or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?

6. Have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts?

7. Abolish the unelected federal Senate?

8. Allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education, and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?

9. Better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province’s laws and federal laws conflict? 

An Alberta Unbound special episode: a live recording of a panel discussion titled "Alberta and the New World Disorder," happened on February 6th, 2026, as part of the University of Alberta's International Week. Panelists the Hon. Anne McLellan, Dr. Rickey Yada, and Dr. Charlie Mballa discussed trade, geopolitics, and a tad-bit of Alberta separatism, in their discussion moderated by Sen. Paula Simons. 

Pilar Martinez, outgoing CEO of the Edmonton Public Library, on the role of libraries in the age of AI and book bans.