Alberta Separatist Group Ordered To Remove Voter Data

An Alberta court has ordered a separatist group to immediately remove a public database containing personal information linked to nearly three million voters across the Canadian province. The case has triggered a major privacy investigation and raised serious concerns about how sensitive voter information was allegedly shared and published online.

The controversy centers around a group called The Centurion Project, a pro-separation organization linked to political activist David Parker. Elections Alberta, the province’s independent election authority, said it believes the group gained access to an official voter list that included names and home addresses of millions of Albertans. Officials stated the information was placed into a searchable online database that could be accessed publicly.

On Thursday morning, an Edmonton judge granted an emergency injunction ordering the group to remove the database from its website. The court action came after Elections Alberta argued that the information was highly confidential and may have been used illegally. Authorities said the list included sensitive information connected to ordinary citizens as well as judges, prosecutors, politicians, journalists, and law enforcement officials.

According to Elections Alberta, the voter list was originally provided legally to the Republican Party of Alberta, a registered political party that supports Alberta independence. Under provincial law, official elector lists can only be given to approved political organizations and may only be used for limited political purposes such as fundraising, membership recruitment, and communication with voters.

Investigators now believe the information later ended up with The Centurion Project, which allegedly used the data to identify and organize people who may support Alberta separating from Canada ahead of a possible referendum later this year. David Parker has publicly promoted the idea of Alberta independence and has played a major role in conservative political movements inside the province over recent years.

Lawyers representing Elections Alberta told the court that every copy of the official voter list distributed to political groups contains special “seeded” fake names that help investigators trace where information may have been leaked. Officials said these hidden identifiers allowed them to connect the online database back to a specific copy allegedly linked to the Republican Party of Alberta.

The Centurion Project denied wrongdoing and argued that the database only contained publicly available information such as names and addresses. Parker compared the information to a phone book in several social media posts. However, investigators and privacy experts rejected that comparison, saying the database included information not easily accessible through public directories and could create safety risks for vulnerable individuals.

The Alberta RCMP has now launched its own investigation into whether any criminal offences were committed through the handling or distribution of the voter information. Elections Alberta has also informed the province’s privacy commissioner and is continuing its internal investigation into how the data moved from a political party to a third-party organization.

Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod described the alleged breach as extremely serious and warned that public release of home addresses could place some people in danger, especially judges, public officials, victims of domestic violence, and law enforcement workers. She also renewed calls for Alberta’s political parties to be brought under stricter privacy laws similar to those used in some other Canadian provinces.

Political reaction across Alberta was immediate. Opposition leaders demanded stronger penalties if laws were broken, while several public figures warned that once personal information spreads online, it becomes almost impossible to fully recover or control. Under Alberta law, violations connected to the misuse of voter lists can lead to fines of up to $100,000 and possible jail sentences.

The incident has become one of the biggest political and privacy controversies in Alberta this year. As investigations continue, authorities are trying to determine exactly how many people may have accessed or copied the database before it was removed from public view.