Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday that her government will hold a referendum on whether Alberta should remain in Canada. She made the announcement after months of pressure from separatist activists, including some from within her own party, to put independence to a provincewide vote.

But her proposed referendum will not ask a simple yes-or-no question. Instead, it will ask voters if they want Alberta to remain in Canada or if the government should hold a second, binding referendum asking if the province should begin the formal process of separation. Effectively, it would be a referendum on whether to hold a referendum.

Ms. Smith, in a televised address Thursday evening, justified putting independence on the fall referendum ballot by arguing a judge made an error last week when she ruled a citizen-led petition aimed at forcing a separation referendum was unconstitutional. Separatist leaders say roughly 301,000 residents signed that petition.

“I, as Premier, will not have a legal mistake by a single judge silence the voices of hundreds of thousands of Albertans,” Ms. Smith said, according to a copy of her prepared remarks distributed to reporters before her speech aired.