48 First Nations. 8 Métis Settlements (the only legislated Métis land base in Canada). Treaty 6, 7, and 8. Oil sands on Treaty 8 territory. Where resource extraction meets Indigenous rights — and extraction wins every time.
The Alberta oil sands — the third-largest proven oil reserves on Earth — sit almost entirely on Treaty 8 territory. Treaty 8 (1899) promised First Nations the right to pursue their "usual vocations of hunting, trapping and fishing" throughout the treaty area. The oil sands have destroyed thousands of square kilometres of boreal forest, contaminated waterways, created tailings ponds visible from space, and rendered traditional land use impossible across vast areas. The treaty promise is physically demolished.
Alberta's treatment of Treaty 6, 7, and 8 obligations is among the worst in Canada. Treaty 8 nations (Athabasca Chipewyan, Mikisew Cree, Fort McKay) have documented environmental destruction of treaty-protected lands by oil sands operations. Treaty 6 promised medicine chests — interpreted as healthcare obligations — that are consistently underfunded. The Smith government's Alberta Sovereignty Act claims provincial supremacy over federal law, which implicitly undermines the federal Crown's treaty obligations. The province treats treaties as historical curiosities rather than living constitutional obligations.
Resource extraction proceeds on Indigenous land with consultation that is routinely inadequate. The Alberta Energy Regulator has approved projects despite Indigenous opposition. Environmental monitoring downstream of oil sands operations is co-managed with industry — a structural conflict of interest. Tailings ponds contain toxic water that leaks into the Athabasca River system. Cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan (downstream of the oil sands) are elevated — and the community has been asking for a comprehensive health study for over 15 years. The Alberta government's response has been to dispute the data.
Indigenous people represent ~7% of Alberta's population but ~40% of the provincial prison population. The Stoney Nakoda murders investigation documented police negligence in investigating deaths of Indigenous people near Morley. Starlight tours — the practice of police driving Indigenous people to remote locations and abandoning them in freezing temperatures — have been documented in Alberta. Indigenous women in Alberta are murdered at rates far exceeding non-Indigenous women. The Edmonton Police Service has faced repeated allegations of systemic racism in its dealings with Indigenous communities.
The highest score — and still failing. Some First Nations have benefited from Impact Benefit Agreements with oil companies (Fort McKay First Nation has significant economic partnerships). But the benefits are concentrated in communities closest to extraction, while the environmental costs are borne by communities downstream. Indigenous poverty rates in Alberta are more than double the provincial average. Métis settlements — unique to Alberta — have land but limited economic development resources. The province generates billions in resource royalties from treaty land with minimal revenue sharing with the treaty partners who never surrendered their rights to subsurface resources.
Alberta scores 25.3 — an F. The province has extracted hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth from Treaty 8 territory while the treaty partners face contaminated water, destroyed hunting grounds, elevated cancer rates, and poverty. The Sovereignty Act undermines treaty rights. The oil sands have physically demolished treaty promises. This is not a failure of reconciliation — Alberta never attempted reconciliation. It is extraction without consent, wealth without sharing, and destruction without accountability.
"The treaty said we could hunt and fish forever. They turned the land into a tailings pond. Forever ended when the oil started flowing."