Fact Check: Is the Alberta independence movement just a bunch of angry white guys?

Forever Canadian campaigner Thomas Lukaszuk told the National Post that Alberta independence supporters are largely Caucasian males, between 20 and 45 in age, while adding “but in any country, you cannot have a large cohort of angry white men.”

Federalists have often tried to label the independence movement as being a white person’s club or even implied it may be tied to racial nationalism. Lukaszuk’s tropes have fed that narrative, but polling tells a different story.

Janet Brown Opinion Research has been conducting ongoing surveys regarding the independence movement, and it has found little evidence of a racial component to the independence movement. While support for independence remains in a minority position for all identifiable groups, polling found only a two-point difference between white and non-white people considering voting against independence. There is no racial rift in opinion on independence to speak of.

A CBC reporter speaking directly to non-white Albertans at a Northeast Calgary mall found evidence to support the polling. Take Karen Berdin, a retail worker who moved to Alberta from Singapore and Kuwait three years ago. She was direct: “We have the oil, and we’re not getting back the support… We don’t get the support, and we’re giving too much tax to the capital.” She noted neighbours attending pro-independence rallies. This is not the voice of someone locked into federalism by default. Economic fairness and the sense that Alberta contributes more than it receives are resonating with some recent arrivals.

Mohamed Elhaouzi, a truck driver from Morocco who has lived in Calgary for 18 years, personally leans toward unity. Yet he was candid about friends who support separation: “A lot of them are losing their businesses. Some of them, they even lost their mortgage in their house. So, it hurts you and your family, and now those ideas start coming as solutions.”

The takeaway from the CBC reporting is not that immigrant and racialized Albertans form a solid pro-Canada bloc. The numbers are close, and individual economic grievances are already producing independence support. With focused messaging around fairness, cost of living, and Alberta’s right to decide its own future, that support has room to strengthen before voters go to the polls. Writing this demographic off as permanently federalist underestimates both the data and the lived experience on the ground.

The movement supporting Alberta’s independence is diverse, and immigrant communities have shown strong interest in it. Freedom is important no matter what a person’s racial background may be.