Mungujakisa Edmond viz Vecteezy / EOZyo viz Wikimedia Commons / Corrie Maurik

The day Albertans vote on the 10-question referendum falls on October 19, 2026, a simple Monday when people start their work week and others return to class.

A simple Monday for most, but one that has groups of Albertans feeling anxious and nervous.

“This referendum does not represent the Alberta that I know,” said Pam Rocker, founder and director of Affirming Connections. “The communities that I know come together to help each other, even if they don’t know them.”

“I’m not a nationalistic person and being a Canadian isn’t my number one identity, but what I appreciate about Canada overall is that we try to be a place where everyone can belong.”

Rocker has been a long-time advocate for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and founded Affirming Connections in 2018. She has worked with businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations to facilitate the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in society.

“Because of all the disinformation being thrown at all those communities,” she said. “We’ve all been trying to repair those holes, to tell the truth, myth bust, and simply support the communities who are being most impacted by this.”

“And I can say that we’re not gonna stop, but I am tired. We’re tired.”

According to the organization DisinfoWatch, the biggest threats to accessing information on Alberta’s referendum are Russian and U.S. influence and economic opportunists—or what they refer to as “AI-slopaganda.” In its report, Decision Making and National Unity Under Threat, DisinfoWatch identifies foreign influence as undermining institutional trust and pitting different groups against each other.

The surge of misinformation spreading across social media has been found in what is known as the Pravda Network, a rapidly expanding disinformation online platform that is manipulating Canadians into sharing false narratives of the referendum. One example affiliated with the Pravda Network and identified in the DisinfoWatch report was a website called albertaseparatist.com that pushed Kremlin rhetoric aligned with anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiments from the current Russian government. The website was active in May of 2025 where it promoted Alberta separatism and how the province could achieve independence from Canada. The information published on this website pushed anti-2SLGBTQIA+ ideology intended to widen cultural gaps and sow misinformation. One article on this website titled “The Bible Predicted the Fall of B.C.” speaks about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) programs in school as “radical ideology” and claims that children “were exposed to material normalizing pornography, LGBT practices, and gender confusion.” The covert messaging refers to 2SLGBTQIA+ as evil and suggests that SOGI programming is a curse infiltrating policies.

Brian McQuinn, co-director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Data and Conflict at the University of Regina, told the Globe and Mail that the foreign interference activity has been more overt through prominent American influencers. American and pro-Trump internet personalities, like Benny Johnson, are openly promoting Alberta separation on their podcasts and websites.

Johnson, a YouTube podcaster, has a video known as “Best Advertisement for Home Schooling,” where a teacher who identifies as part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community informs the audience that they have been accused of grooming children, called the f-slur by parents and high school students, and that parents have pulled students from their classes because they do not want someone who is homosexual to “indoctrinate” their children. The video is edited in a way that is meant to criticize and dismiss the teacher’s experiences, with a comment from Johnson in the video saying, “Please, Lord Jesus, save us.”

Johnson has made videos claiming that Alberta achieved secession from Canada, starting in January, and a recent video uploaded on August 17 reinforces the idea that Alberta will separate and join the U.S. He often features AI-generated content referring to Alberta as the 51st state and cites posts made on X about Alberta separatist and lawyer Jeffrey Rath meeting with officials from the Donald Trump administration.

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According to the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a pro-sovereignty group, in the Foundation of Freedom document that is acting as an open discussion of constitutional proposals, under the section “Foundational Principles,” there is an anti-discrimination clause where it guarantees the right to be free from discrimination based on “race, ethnicity, gender, Lawful Sexual Orientation or religious belief.”

As it stands in the document, the explanation for “lawful sexual orientation” is explicitly defined as being “only between consenting adults as defined by the age of majority.” The age of majority is defined in the document as someone turning 18.

The APP was more straightforward when it came to trans rights in a document titled The rationale for restructuring Alberta’s relationship with Canada. The organization claimed that “promoting the teaching of transgenderism to children who are not yet at the age of consent” is contributing to the “fracturing of society.”

This document is no longer available to the public through the APP’s official channels.

“[Secession] would mean that my rights would be totally in question, as those exist at the federal level,” said Chris McManus, a resident of Edmonton.

Danielle Smith, the leader of the United Conservative Party and Alberta’s premier, says she has not signed the petition for a referendum, but she has refused calls to action to denounce the push for a sovereign Alberta. Furthermore, Smith enacted the notwithstanding clause in 2025 to pass Bills 26, 27, and 29 that echo similar wording to the separatists’ anti-trans ideology.

The Education Amendment Act (Bill 27) requires students to achieve parental consent to change their names and pronouns in school. The Health Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 26) prevents gender-affirming care for youth under 18, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The Fairness and Safety in Sport Act (Bill 29) restricts transgender women and girls from competing in female-only divisions, citing that they are creating a fair and safe sport system in the province.

Jennifer Johnson, a UCP member of the legislative assembly, has compared transgender youth to a batch of cookies laced with “a little bit of poop.” Despite Johnson stating that she has worked with and learned from the transgender community, subsequent reports from 2SLGBTQIA+ outreach groups said that Johnson failed to rebuild trust with the community and that she would not acknowledge transgender women as women.

According to Albertawatch, a website created by an anonymous citizen in Edmonton who is “concerned about the rise in separatist rhetoric from our provincial government, and the lack of transparency surrounding it” and created a space that lists MLAs across the province and their activities for transparency leading up to the referendum, Johnson is listed for actions that indicate that she is allegedly a separatist. She voted in favour of the Justice Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 14), which supported reviving the referendum after it was dismissed in court. Johnson is also listed as an alleged separatist by the Alberta Republican Party on their website that keeps track of all MLAs who are in favour or against separation.

“Would I still be able to get married? Would I still be considered equal under the law?” said McManus. “Could I now be discriminated against in the workplace legally? If someone decided to hurt me for being bisexual, would I have any legal recourse?”

“I don’t feel like risking all of those things. I’d be leaving,” he said.

With the referendum a month away, a poll from the Angus Reid Institute says that 61 percent of Albertans want to stay in Canada. Two in five separatists say it is more about “sending a message to Ottawa,” according to the polling. A familiar idea and anti-Ottawa sentiment many Albertans have heard in the past, and something that is echoed strongly in separatists campaigning as the final stretch to the vote is on the horizon.