Class-action lawsuit launched over Alberta voter database breach

A sign for an Elections Alberta voting station is seen in Lethbridge, Alta., on Dec. 10, 2024. (CTV News)

A class-action lawsuit has been filed in regards to a privacy breach involving Alberta’s voter list.

The suit, filed Thursday by retired Alberta lawyer Clint Docken, lists the Government of Alberta, the chief electoral officer of Alberta, the Centurion Project Ltd., the Republican Party of Alberta, Centurion Project leader David Parker, and John Doe as defendants.

The John Doe defendants are people, corporations, or political organizations that accessed, distributed, downloaded or used the list.

It alleges the defendants distributed, disclosed, accessed, and failed to safeguard the personal information of approximately 2.9 million Alberta voters.

The suit claims the breach has exposed voters to potential identity fraud, targeting, harassment, and loss of control of their personal information.

The lawsuit says the class would include people on Alberta’s voter list prior to April 26, 2026.

Cooper Regel LLP has applied to be class counsel for the suit.

Steven Cooper, a partner at the firm, spoke to CTV News Edmonton about the suit on Tuesday.

“We have every single voting-age Albertan who has ever exercised their right to vote, their information is out there. This is a massive payday for malicious actors out there,” he said.

“We’ve been involved in other privacy breach cases. You have very little doubt that the malicious forces of the world, wherever they may be, are going to be terribly interested in this information.”

Cooper says certain classes of Alberta’s population, including domestic violence survivors and legal and public figures are particularly at risk.

He says a proposal for a vulnerable person subclass was also included for the following:

• victims of domestic violence;
• peace officers;
• those in justice system;
• healthcare professionals;
• journalists;
• elected officials; and
• other persons whose safety interests are heightened by disclosure of residential information.

“The released information is not recoverable, it’s out there forever, and this also poses a problem,” Cooper said.

The pro-separation Centurion Project made a publicly accessible website database with names, addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying information from the voter list.

The website was shut down in early May after Elections Alberta got a court injunction.

The agency told The Canadian Press in May that the list had been accessed by 568 people before it was pulled down.

According to the court documents, Elections Alberta said the database was traced back to an official voter list that was legally provided to the pro-independence Republican Party of Alberta.

RCMP and Elections Alberta have both launched investigations into how the list was provided to the Centurion Project.

Cooper says the government needs to be held to the highest standard when it comes to protecting people’s personal information.

“When they are guilty of failing to meet those standards they have to understand that people like me and people like Clint Docken are going to be coming after them,” he said.

The class action suit still has to be certified.

“We have to convince a judge that this is something that should go ahead,” Cooper said.

If the suit does go ahead, Cooper says it could be several years before it is resolved.

“I really have no idea what the retorts are going to be from the defendants,” he said.

“Governments tend to be a little more reasonable in pushing things ahead than individual institutions.”

Elections Alberta says it has not been served in the lawsuit yet.

“First and foremost, we want to reiterate that the unauthorized use of the list of electors by the Centurion Group Ltd. is a matter we take very seriously,” a spokesperson said in an email on Tuesday.

The province says it isn’t commenting on the claim.

“The protection of Albertans’ personal information is taken very seriously by our government. Alberta has received the Statement of Claim and is reviewing it. As this matter is before the courts, we will not be providing further comment,” Heather Jenkins of the Ministry of Justice said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg and The Canadian Press