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An unlikely Alberta secession by our neighbors to the north just got a little more unlikely.
Months after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith warned of an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if her demands for changes to federal policies went ignored, tensions between Smith and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney thawed during a Sept. 10 meeting in Edmonton.
“I would encourage Albertans to not lose faith in the process,” Smith said during a Sept. 11 press conference. “Let’s work together on it because we’re all stronger together.”
Despite earlier hints at support for breaking the province she leads away from the rest of Canada, Smith never endorsed the Alberta Prosperity Project, a coalition claiming to have more than 200,000 members ready to support an independence referendum — though she did promote legislation lowering the signature threshold for referendums and extending the signature collection window.
Montana has strong ties, economic and otherwise, with Alberta, facilitated by a handful of border crossings along a roughly 180-mile border. Montana is the only U.S. state that has a boundary with Alberta, and it also shares resources like the St. Mary and Milk rivers, as well as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and a high-voltage transmission line. Tourism from Alberta has been important to Montana, and a 2018 document produced by the Alberta government notes that bilateral trade between Montana and Alberta totalled $4.3 billion.
Even before the diplomatic encounter between Smith and Carney, a University of Calgary economics professor gave the separatists slim odds.
“It is hard to imagine that independence from Canada is in Alberta’s future,” Aidan Hollis wrote in a late-August email to MTFP.
Even getting the referendum on a 2026 ballot has proved challenging.
After APP filed a constitutional referendum proposal application with Elections Alberta in early July, Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure referred it to the judiciary to rule on the measure’s constitutionality. Justice Colin Feasby in mid-August denied APP’s attempt to summarily dismiss the case considering a referendum’s constitutionality. The separatists must submit written arguments ahead of a November court date.
About one in three respondents in a May survey said they felt more attached to Canada as a whole than the province of Alberta, though a similar ratio indicated that they favored separation from Canada, according to a poll commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Michael Nayebi-Oskoui, director of analysis at the consulting firm Zeihan on Geopolitics, said Albertan sovereignty would be a “pretty sobering reality” for residents.
“It’s a lot of work to prop up your own country, unless you have an outside state who’s willing to absorb you right away,” Nayebi-Oskoui said in a Sept. 4 interview with Montana Free Press. “And those don’t usually happen between good neighbors, and even with the current kerfuffle, [the U.S. and Canada are] still in a broad ‘good neighbors’ relationship.”
Though Premier Smith has dropped clues about an “unprecedented national unity crisis,” she has also pushed back against Republican President Donald Trump’s social media posts indicating he’d like to grant Canada statehood.
“I’m so frustrated that what sounded like it started off as a joke continues to be talked about six months later,” Smith said on a May episode of the podcast “Your Province, Your Premier.”
Unfazed by the obstacles to independence, secession advocate Dennis Modry said in an interview with MTFP that independence excites him in part because it would mean a closer relationship with Montana.
“We want to help Montana, too, and we can do it.”
— Zeke Lloyd
Hot Potato 🥔
After bringing development plans for a new psychiatric facility somewhere in the vicinity of Yellowstone County to an abrupt halt late last month, the Montana Board of Investments has received new marching orders from Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office: Move the project along “expeditiously.”
“This project is of great importance to the State of Montana, as [the Department of Public Health and Human Services] must continue to build out capacity to take care of Montanans in need of behavioral health services,” Gianforte said in the Sept. 10 letter.
A new state-run psychiatric facility has been bandied about by lawmakers, the governor’s state health department and mental health advocates for months. One of the benefits, supporters say, would be to ease the strain on local jails and the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, which is backlogged with detainees awaiting mental health evaluations and treatment.
But members of the Board of Investments, most of whom were appointed by the governor, decided in August to pause deliberations about a new mental health facility following general confusion and intense blowback from local officials in Billings and Yellowstone County. The only written description of the facility comes from a provision included by lawmakers this year in House Bill 5, a major piece of infrastructure legislation. The bill sets aside $26.5 million for a new facility and directs the investment board to work with the state health department to flesh out a blueprint for what that project is supposed to be.
During its Aug. 20 meeting, the director of the Board of Investments, Dan Villa, acknowledged that the board had put the cart before the horse by going down to Yellowstone County in July and August to assess possible sites for a future facility without yet knowing how big the building would be and what type of patients it would serve. Villa said he approached Yellowstone County officials about site tours based on a comment the state health department director, Charlie Brereton, made at a public meeting earlier in the summer, in which Brereton cited the county around the Magic City as the most likely location for a new facility.
The governor’s letter appeared to resolve some, but not all, of the questions swirling around the possible project. The new facility should be treated as a state investment, the governor said, and would therefore be designed by the Board of Investments “in coordination” with the state health department. The plan developed by the two entities, Gianforte said, would then need to be reviewed by the governor’s Office of Budget and Program Planning.
The letter did little to resolve questions about where, exactly, the facility will go. The governor said that House Bill 5 directed the facility to be “in Eastern Montana,” though that geographic reference does not exist in the final language of the bill. Gianforte also encouraged the board to consider other locations beyond the sites Villa and local officials initially toured and made a nod toward the role of public input.
“In proceeding with this project, public participation should play a critical role as it moves forward. Engaging the public and stakeholders will ensure that these decisions are made in the open, allowing Montanans to have a voice in how their hard-earned tax dollars are spent,” Gianforte said.
When asked by MTFP to comment on the next steps, a spokesperson for the state health department did not directly say how long drafting a plan with the Board of Investments would take.
“Our planning work was underway and will now continue in light of the governor’s directive to BOI. DPHHS is eager to resume planning activities with BOI, share further details about the facility in the near future, and engage local stakeholders in accordance with our original plan,” spokesperson Jon Ebelt said in a Sept. 11 email.
The Board of Investment’s next public meeting is scheduled for Oct. 14.
—Mara Silvers
By the Numbers 🔢
Total amount of borrowing authorized by Helena School District voters this week as they narrowly passed a pair of school bond measures.
That amount includes a $240 million high school bond — slightly more than $100,000 for each of the 2,369 high schoolers the district had enrolled last year — intended to let the district rebuild one of its two major high schools, Helena High, and renovate its other, Capital High. It also includes a $43 million elementary school bond to fund a planned rebuild of the district’s Kessler Elementary School.
Lance Melton, a longtime education advocate who runs the Montana School Boards Association, told MTFP this week that he isn’t aware of a larger school bond in Montana history. He said the next-largest he was aware of was the $125 million bond measure that built Bozeman’s second high school and upgraded its existing Bozeman High, which passed in 2017.
READ MORE: Helena approves historic school bonds by fewer than 400 votes.
— Eric Dietrich
Glad You Asked 🙋🏻
Tensions are high on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, where members of the tribe’s legislative branch are feuding with the tribal president.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe, headquartered in southeast Montana, has three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial. The tribe adopted its Constitution in 1935 after Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, which pushed tribes to adopt government structures similar to those of the United States. Councilmembers serve staggered four-year terms.
MTFP received calls, texts, emails and Facebook messages this week asking us to cover the conflict, and we want readers to know we are following it closely. The situation is dynamic and sensitive, and important updates are being shared on various tribal Facebook pages, both public and private.
Facebook, a platform that requires relatively little bandwidth and one that elders are familiar with, is often the dominant method of information sharing in tribal communities, which are often considered news deserts. As a policy, we do not report information shared on people’s private Facebook pages without their consent, and we must verify information before we publish it. Because the situation is still developing, it’s been difficult to get on-the-record statements from tribal officials to verify claims made on social media.
The bigger story here — about power, transparency and the tension between traditional law and the tribal constitution — will take more time to tell. For now, here’s what we know:
- Gene Small, who campaigned on the issues of transparency and accountability, was narrowly elected president of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe last November. In the spring, with council approval, he authorized a forensic audit into the tribe’s use of federal coronavirus relief dollars.
- After a physical altercation broke out in the tribal council chambers during an Aug. 18 meeting, the council Aug. 25 announced future meetings would be closed to in-person attendance but available on YouTube. The move sparked outrage among community members, who called for transparency.
- Tribal Councilmember Melissa Fisher, who represents the Ashland District, Sept. 5 submitted to the council a complaint alleging Small violated the tribal Constitution and calling for his removal. Fisher alleges that Small misused his power to preside over council meetings by “selectively choosing” which meetings to oversee, violated the tribe’s separation of powers laws, misused tribal funds and violated the tribe’s code of ethics.
- Eight members of the council’s legislative branch in a Sept. 8 special session voted to hold a removal hearing for the president Sept. 11. Councilmember Torrey Davie, representing the Busby District, opposed the move, telling his colleagues at the meeting it was a “power play by the council to get rid of people that are trying to hold people accountable.” Davie was the only “no” vote, though the president, vice president and another councilmember were not present at the meeting. The motion to hold a removal hearing for the president passed in a 7-1 vote.
- In a letter to President Small, Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent of Northern Cheyenne Agency Andrew Werk, Jr., wrote that the council’s resolution that scheduled a removal hearing for the president “is hereby disapproved,” as it lacked the necessary signatures. Werk previously served as the president of the Fort Belknap Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes.
- A group of traditional tribal leaders met on the evening of Sept. 10, and according to a video shared by the president, the group announced it wanted members of the legislative branch to step down, as well as the tribal secretary and treasurer. The move harkens back to a time before the tribe ratified its Constitution in 1935.
- The tribal council in a statement Sept. 11 said, “under this [tribal] Constitution the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council serves as the governing body of the tribe.” They said that when the Constitution was adopted “our Chiefs gave up their governing authority.”
- On Sept. 11, members of the council held two meetings, which, while closed to in-person attendance, were streamed on YouTube. In the first meeting, members acknowledged the letter from BIA Superintendent Werk but said he did not have the authority to disapprove the resolution. Later in the afternoon, eight members of the council voted to act on Fisher’s complaint and remove the president. Two members of the legislative branch, Davie and Theresa Small of the Lame Deer District, did not attend the meeting. President Small and Vice President Ernest Littlemouth were also not in attendance.
- In a video statement Sept. 12, President Small said the council’s vote to remove him was “null and void.” “I am still your president,” he continued. “The Chiefs made that clear yesterday … and they’re in charge now, so I’m going to stand with them.”
- As of 12:45 p.m. Sept. 12, it remained unclear which entity — the council, Chiefs, president or Bureau of Indian Affairs — had the final say in the matter.
We’ll continue to follow this situation and provide updates as things unfold.
— Nora Mabie
Viewshed 🌄
Mara and I traveled to Bozeman Health’s main hospital campus and its new psychiatric wing Sept. 8 to get an inside look at the unit set to open next week. The 14-bed adult wing spans 9,100 square feet and features murals and a calming color scheme designed to make the space feel warmer and less clinical. It also includes specially designed safety features, such as anti-ligature door handles, to help protect patients experiencing mental health crises.
— Lauren Miller
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- Right-wing political figure Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in Utah on Sept. 10, was remembered by Montanans who knew him.
- A new Great Falls hospital fundraising administrator had a history of forgery and allegations of promoting a fake Kamala Harris event. After reporting from Montana Free Press, he no longer works for the foundation.
- In court next week in Missoula, plaintiffs including some Montana youth will ask a federal judge to block a series of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on energy issues.
On Our Radar 
Lauren — Without a doubt, fall is my favorite season. Fall is when my favorite show, the lifeblood of my existence, returns — “The Great British Bake Off.” I see myself in the endearing cast of regular people with jobs who bake on the side. I giggle at every double entendre and swoon over the accents (how American). I get inspiration from their flavor combos. But mostly I enjoy the slow weekend mornings spent with my cup of coffee and personal baked good, immersed in the soft pastel world of signature bakes and technical challenges.
Matt — Big Sky Journal has a fun piece about the creation of a hike-and-bike trail that spans the entire width of Montana. The project was spearheaded by a Great Falls outdoorsman. I’m eyeing the Missouri Breaks sections if I ever find the opportunity.
Tom — I’ve planted four large shade trees in Bozeman this fall, a Deborah Norway maple, a hackberry, a green spire linden and a buckeye, all zone 3 with the potential to someday stretch far enough to buckle the sidewalk. The holes are 6 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep. Every time I open the ground, I marvel at the rich, black topsoil, which my grandfather used to say ran deeper than his basement.
Zeke — I noticed yellow leaves on a stumpy tree outside my apartment this week. Initially, it saddened me. But The Walters’ soft, steady and slow album “Good Company” replaced my melancholy with mindfulness.
Eric — AI-generated fake political videos are reaching audiences of millions in Africa, New Lines Magazine reports, pointing to examples that include videos of Burkina Faso’s populist dictator inflaming passions with a speech he never delivered and fabricated videos of American celebrities such as Beyoncé and R. Kelly singing his praises. The dystopia is now.
Mara — A fresh coat of paint can work wonders — including on a massive triceratops dinosaur statue, fondly known as “Glendisaurus,” near Glendive. The Glendive Ranger Review has more on the local milestone’s fresh face.
Holly — “Only Murders,” as we call it in my household, is back!
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