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ysabetwordsmithAlberta government keeping eye on investigations into voter info breach
Last week, millions of Albertans learned personal information like their full names, addresses and contact information were made available in a searchable database posted by separatist group the Centurion Project.
The list was legally obtained from Elections Alberta by the Alberta Republican Party. However that information is not to be shared with third parties, and it remains unclear how it ended up in the hands of the Centurion Project.
If the only way it could have gotten to Centurion is by way of the Republicans, then they should be liable for damages. If the Elections office may have been breached, that's a different issue. Looks like America isn't the only post-privacy, post-boundaries society.
Alberta’s massive voter data breach is just the beginning
"Albertans just watched a separatist group put millions of voters into a searchable online database, and Alberta’s privacy commissioner doesn't even have clear jurisdiction to investigate. That's not a loophole — that's the system working exactly the way the parties want it to," said Matt Hatfield, Executive Director of OpenMedia. "Every federal political party has fought to keep themselves and their agents exempt from real privacy law. Voters didn't ask for that exemption, and 80% of us want it gone. Parliament needs to act before the next federal election, not after the next breach."
Basically the people who should be punishing this abuse don't think it's a problem, or they would find some other law to apply if the privacy laws are useless. Like say, treason -- because if people are afraid that voting registration will put them in harm's way, then fewer people will dare to register, which is a direct assault on Canada's democracy.
When there's a huge abuse of power, and those in authority shrug and say, "There's nothing we can do about it," then that society is morally bankrupt and victims will start looking for other ways to meet their needs than those society has provided. That is a very bad direction to be headed.
An inherent problem is that, when you pile together lots of information about people, it makes an attractive target. The risk used to be minimized by distribution and the need for a physical break-in, making most targets too small to bother with and the big ones too difficult and dangerous to hit. But once information began to be stored electronically, the targets got a lot bigger, the security weaker, and the physical risks no longer applied. So of course data breaches became the norm. Trouble is, you can either have privacy and its safety, or participate in society, never both. No wonder people are anxious and unhappy.
Last week, millions of Albertans learned personal information like their full names, addresses and contact information were made available in a searchable database posted by separatist group the Centurion Project.
The list was legally obtained from Elections Alberta by the Alberta Republican Party. However that information is not to be shared with third parties, and it remains unclear how it ended up in the hands of the Centurion Project.
If the only way it could have gotten to Centurion is by way of the Republicans, then they should be liable for damages. If the Elections office may have been breached, that's a different issue. Looks like America isn't the only post-privacy, post-boundaries society.
Alberta’s massive voter data breach is just the beginning
"Albertans just watched a separatist group put millions of voters into a searchable online database, and Alberta’s privacy commissioner doesn't even have clear jurisdiction to investigate. That's not a loophole — that's the system working exactly the way the parties want it to," said Matt Hatfield, Executive Director of OpenMedia. "Every federal political party has fought to keep themselves and their agents exempt from real privacy law. Voters didn't ask for that exemption, and 80% of us want it gone. Parliament needs to act before the next federal election, not after the next breach."
Basically the people who should be punishing this abuse don't think it's a problem, or they would find some other law to apply if the privacy laws are useless. Like say, treason -- because if people are afraid that voting registration will put them in harm's way, then fewer people will dare to register, which is a direct assault on Canada's democracy.
When there's a huge abuse of power, and those in authority shrug and say, "There's nothing we can do about it," then that society is morally bankrupt and victims will start looking for other ways to meet their needs than those society has provided. That is a very bad direction to be headed.
An inherent problem is that, when you pile together lots of information about people, it makes an attractive target. The risk used to be minimized by distribution and the need for a physical break-in, making most targets too small to bother with and the big ones too difficult and dangerous to hit. But once information began to be stored electronically, the targets got a lot bigger, the security weaker, and the physical risks no longer applied. So of course data breaches became the norm. Trouble is, you can either have privacy and its safety, or participate in society, never both. No wonder people are anxious and unhappy.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-05-06 07:08 pm (UTC)(In 1995, the province of Quebec narrowly voted to stay in Canada. In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the question asked during the Quebec separation referendum was unconstitutional, because it wasn't a clear question. The SCoC came up with rules regarding separation, including the need for a clear question and a requirement to consult all parties involved, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit nations, because of land treaties that allow Canada to exist.)
One reporter, Jen Gerson, learned about the voter's list breach and reported it to Elections Alberta on March 31. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/elections-alberta-voter-list-complaint-9.7185287) However, the breach was only reported to the public on May 1.
The separatist petition needed to reach 178k signatures in order to be presented to government and voted on by all Albertan voters, probably in October this year. In April the separatist group claimed they had collected enough signatures to be validated. They reported on May 2 that they'd gotten 301k signatures. That implies they had to collect another 123k signatures in one month to get to 301k when it took several months to meet 178k. Is there a coincidence here with the voters' list breach? Elections Alberta is going to check.
Meanwhile, there had been a previous (and constitutionally legal) petition for Alberta to stay in Canada that ran from Aug 2 to Oct 28, 2025. It had more stringent rules to follow than the separatist petition, requiring a larger number of signatures (294k) and had a shorter time to collect them compared to the separatist one. The "stay" petition reached 456k validated signatures by its Oct 2025 deadline. HOWEVER, the government refuses to put the stay question to a vote.
That's because the premier of Alberta is herself a separatist, though she will never come out to admit this in public. She claims to stand for "sovereign Alberta within a united Canada". The premier has consistently made it easier for separation to go forward while holding back any effort to keep Alberta in Canada. According to all recent polls, the majority Albertans want to stay in Canada. Most of us don't want to separate.
In fact, validation of the separatist petition is already delayed by an injunction for one month for judicial review to determine how much harm separation will cause to Indigenous groups who weren't consulted on the question.
Alberta separatist groups have also been in talks with the Trump administration, including obtaining funding. (The Alberta Republican Party is not officially connected to the US Republican Party. It is itself a separatist party.) So yeah. There's lots of foreign interference too. Fun times.
Thank you!
Date: 2026-05-06 07:45 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for adding extra details!
>> A petition for Alberta to separate from Canada finished collecting signatures on May 2.<<
I had not heard about this.
>> Now this petition had previously been deemed unconstitutional (thus illegal) by an Alberta court judge back in December 2025, for failure to consult affected Indigenous Treaty nations on the question. Except the provincial government changed provincial law to allow the unconstitutional question to go ahead anyway.<<
Hardly a surprise. Most occupying nations tend to ignore their victims.
>>The SCoC came up with rules regarding separation, including the need for a clear question and a requirement to consult all parties involved, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit nations, because of land treaties that allow Canada to exist.<<
Progress, of a sort.
>>The separatist petition needed to reach 178k signatures in order to be presented to government and voted on by all Albertan voters, probably in October this year. <<
Well that could be a challenge, if people get scared of staying on the registry to vote because it leaks vulnerable information.
>>That's because the premier of Alberta is herself a separatist, though she will never come out to admit this in public. She claims to stand for "sovereign Alberta within a united Canada". The premier has consistently made it easier for separation to go forward while holding back any effort to keep Alberta in Canada. According to all recent polls, the majority Albertans want to stay in Canada. Most of us don't want to separate.<<
That sucks. :( Democracy only works when it's honest. See example immediately south. D:
>>In fact, validation of the separatist petition is already delayed by an injunction for one month for judicial review to determine how much harm separation will cause to Indigenous groups who weren't consulted on the question.<<
If you hear Indigenous voices on this topic, I'd love to hear them. Hmm, I should refer this discussion to
>>Alberta separatist groups have also been in talks with the Trump administration, including obtaining funding.<<
DANGER! DANGER! O_O
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2026-05-06 09:55 pm (UTC)(We joke about Alberta being "Texas North" or "Albertabama", because Alberta is, unfortunately, the most American of the Canadian provinces. Sadly also the most Republican.)
Well that could be a challenge, if people get scared of staying on the registry to vote because it leaks vulnerable information.
There is some suggestion this may already have happened. There is a lot of concern about doxxing, especially for those trying to escape intimate partner violence.
If you hear Indigenous voices on this topic, I'd love to hear them.
As I understand it, the issue is that all of Alberta is located on land covered by Indigenous Treaties with the Crown. (namely Treaties 6, 7, and 8, plus small areas of Treaties 4 and 10) Most Treaties cross provincial
barriersborders, and they all guarantee First Nations complete freedom of movement over their land. The Treaties are also supposed to guarantee complete freedom of cross-border movement of First Nations and Native Americans across the US/Canada border. The Treaties are all with the Crown, i.e. the federal government, not the provincial government. If Alberta decides to separate, a hard border will limit the freedom of movement of First Nations people guaranteed by the Treaties. So far, most of the First Nations involved have clearly indicated they wish to remain in Canada, not a separate Alberta. Yet the province of Alberta doesn't seem to be taking any of this seriously. Neither are the separatists. Even though the SCoC implied in their 1998 ruling that if a country can be divisible, then so can a province.DANGER! DANGER! O_O
Worse than that--the US and Russia are actively interfering to stoke dissent. Yet the current government is enjoying unusual popularity. Times are strange.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2026-05-07 06:29 am (UTC)Yyyyyeah.
>> It is tangentially related to the whole "51st state" bullshit Trump keeps spouting. <<
That there is enough bullshit to fertilize the entire agricultural area of both countries. America won't even promote the territories it already has. 0_o
>>(We joke about Alberta being "Texas North" or "Albertabama", because Alberta is, unfortunately, the most American of the Canadian provinces. Sadly also the most Republican.)<<
Ouch.
>>There is some suggestion this may already have happened. There is a lot of concern about doxxing, especially for those trying to escape intimate partner violence.<<
That's exactly what I'd expect.
>>If Alberta decides to separate, a hard border will limit the freedom of movement of First Nations people guaranteed by the Treaties. <<
Messy, but from what I've heard, that freedom of movement is often infringed.
>>Worse than that--the US and Russia are actively interfering to stoke dissent. Yet the current government is enjoying unusual popularity. Times are strange.<<
I am bothered by the amount of outright campaign fraud that various governments are practicing.