Elections Alberta has obtained a court injunction that will force an Alberta separatist group to pull down an electoral list detailing the personal information of millions of Alberta voters.
The agency appeared in Edmonton court Thursday morning to ask Court of King’s Bench Justice John Little for a temporary injunction against a pro-independence group. CBC News is not naming the group until the registry is removed from public access to protect the privacy of the people whose information was shared.
The temporary injunction was granted after a brief court hearing attended by Elections Alberta senior officials.
CBC News has launched live coverage on the alleged misuse of the electoral list, which you can read here.
The electors database, which dates back to June 2025, contains the personal information of all individuals who were registered and eligible to vote in provincial elections in Alberta at that time.
Court heard that an Elections Alberta investigation examined the public, searchable database and determined the list was legitimately provided to the Republican Party of Alberta, a provincial party founded in 2022 that supports Alberta independence.
How the list came into possession of the unnamed separatist group is not clear, court heard.
The injunction orders the separatist group to immediately remove the electoral list from its public access and prevent third-party access. The group must also provide Elections Alberta with the names of all individuals who have registered to access it.
As well, the Republican Party of Alberta was ordered not to share any electoral list with unauthorized users.
The Republican Party of Alberta was not in court Thursday morning and has not responded to requests for comment.
‘Incredibly confidential’ information
CBC News has viewed an electors database posted online and has reached out to the organization that posted the database for more information.
In court Thursday, Joseph Redman, counsel for Elections Alberta, said the electoral list contains “incredibly confidential” information.
Redman told court the current electoral list contains more than 2.9 million entries of registered Alberta voters, including names, addresses, postal codes, unique identifier numbers, electoral divisions and voting areas.
He said the need for the injunction was urgent. As of Thursday morning, the database remained publicly accessible, court heard.
“We are looking for a stop-gap to stop that potential harm,” Redman said in court.
Redman told the court that the urgency of the situation “crystallized” Wednesday night when Elections Alberta began receiving media requests about the database, adding to the concern about growing public access.
“This is expected to attract significant attention in the next couple of hours.”
The hearing happened moments after Elections Alberta issued a statement reporting that it had become aware of an alleged misuse of an “extremely sensitive” electors database.
In a statement issued Thursday morning, Alberta Elections said it has come to the agency’s attention that an inappropriate use and or distribution of the List of Electors may have occurred.
“Despite our offices being legislatively prohibited from commenting about investigations we may or may not be conducting, Albertans should know that Elections Alberta takes this matter seriously,” Elections Alberta said Thursday.
“Due to the extremely sensitive nature of the information contained in the List of Electors, we believe it is critical for Albertans to be aware.”
Elections Alberta database not breached
Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, byelections and referendums.
In the statement, Elections Alberta said no breach of its databases or systems has occurred.
Instead, the alleged misuse of the elector list relates to use of the database by an individual or group who obtained the database legitimately, the statement said. Elections Alberta did not name the group or party involved in the alleged misuse of the database.
Court heard that each electoral list legitimately released by Elections Alberta includes a certain number of fictitious — or “salted” — names. These unique entries on each electoral list allow investigators to trace each dataset back to their source in the event of a breach.
Under the Election Act, access to electoral lists is restricted and heavily regulated. The list can be obtained by registered political parties, MLAs, candidates, election officers and constituency associations, for purposes outlined in legislation.
Third parties are not eligible to receive copies of the list of electors at any time, Elections Alberta said.
According to Elections Alberta, recipients of the list must take all reasonable steps to protect the information from loss and unauthorized use.
“A person or MLA may NOT share the list or the information with anyone for any use not expressly authorized,” the statement reads.
“This is extremely sensitive data, and there are many safeguards to ensure it is only provided to the entities and individuals entitled under law to receive it.”
Elections Alberta said any person who contravenes the rules is guilty of an offence and liable to an administrative penalty of not more than $100,000 or, if convicted by a court, to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or to both a fine and imprisonment.
