The Alberta government must pull back its new Forest Act before it becomes law next month, says the grand chief of the province's northern First Nations.

Members of Alberta's official Opposition and some Indigenous leaders have renewed calls for Premier Jason Kenney to fire his speechwriter over a 2013 essay that was critical of how Indigenous issues are framed in Canada, and which argues the narrative around residential schools amounts to a "bogus genocide story."

Treaty 8 First Nations chiefs issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for cooler heads to prevail amid indications the desire to separate from Canada is growing among people in Alberta and Saskatchewan.