Alberta voter data leaked as separatists file signatures for independence vote

An attender wears an Alberta flag during the Alberta independence town hall in Calgary on 26 January 2026. Photograph: Leah Hennel/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Alberta separatists have delivered more than 300,000 signatures to elections officials in western Canada, in support of their attempt to force an independence referendum in Canada’s oil-rich province.

But the effort stumbled immediately as a separatist-linked group posted the personal data of nearly 3 million residents online in one of the largest data breaches in Canadian history, fomenting fears of a possible political interference crisis.