The National Day of Action for First Nations people was marked by two demonstrations in the city's core yesterday.
At the legislature, Friends of the Lubicon Alberta (FOLA) staged a mock takeover of government land to raise awareness of the plight of the Lubicon Cree, a 500-member band living 450 km north of Edmonton.
The Lubicon were left out of the signing of Treaty 8 over a century ago and have been fighting with the government over land claims ever since.
Today, they have no reserve land, no running water, inadequate infrastructure and are affected by a litany of health problems, they say.
They claim that oil exploration and forestry activity has contaminated local lakes and streams and devastated the wildlife.
At Canada Place, native leaders and supporters chanted slogans and displayed signs of protest against the inequalities suffered by First Nations people.
Alexis First Nations Chief Cam Alexis said treaty rights and native people themselves must be respected by both the Canadian government and the public.
"We still exist. We want our rights respected," he said.