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A retired Alberta lawyer has launched a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging one of the largest privacy breaches in the province’s history exposed the personal information of about 2.9 million voters.
The statement of claim, filed Thursday in the Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton, alleges Alberta’s list of electors was unlawfully accessed and distributed for purposes not authorized under the province’s Elections Act.
The lawsuit names Alberta’s justice and solicitor general, chief electoral officer, Centurion Project Ltd., the Republican Party of Alberta, David Parker and unidentified defendants.
The representative plaintiff is Clint Docken, a retired lawyer and former class-action practitioner.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and no statements of defence have been filed. The action must be certified by the court before it can proceed as a class proceeding.
The statement of claim says Docken suffered damages that resulted in him purchasing identity theft insurance after the alleged breach.
“If these allegations are proven, this is not just a technical breach—it is a staggering failure that exposes the private lives of nearly three million Albertans to misuse,” read a statement from Steven Cooper, counsel for Docken.
The document says the breach has exposed millions of Albertans to loss of privacy, misuse of personal information, identity-related risks, profiling, targeting, harassment, and significant distress from the loss of control over their personal information.
The lawsuit alleges Elections Alberta obtained credible information on April 27 that Centurion Project Ltd. possessed a copy of the list of electors that had originally been provided to a registered political party.
The lawsuit says the chief electoral officer issued a cease-and-desist letter before getting an emergency court injunction on April 30 prohibiting further access, possession, use or dissemination of information from the list.
The document says Elections Alberta publicly stated a database that included voter information was traced to a voter list provided to the Republican Party of Alberta and publicly identified Parker as the leader of the Centurion Project at the time of the alleged use of the database.
The lawsuit says public reporting indicates that numerous individuals and entities accessed, obtained information derived from the data and that the full extent of dissemination remains unknown.
It alleges the Republic Party of Alberta received a copy of the list of electors and failed to safeguard the information.
Leader of the Republic Party of Alberta, Cam Davies, told CBC that he looks forward to what the judge will say and said political parties are permitted to use election lists.
Alberta’s voter list breach could have consequences beyond politics and privacy. Some who work with domestic violence organizations say they’re worried about the safety implications of releasing millions of people’s personal information.
Elections Alberta said in an email that unauthorized use of the List of Electors by the Centurion Group Ltd. is a matter it takes seriously, but said the agency had not been served and had no further comment at this time.
The proposed class includes anyone whose personal information was contained in the data, along with a proposed subclass for vulnerable individuals, which would include victims of domestic violence, peace officers, judges, journalists, and health care workers.
The lawsuit, if certified, seeks damages, declarations that the defendants breached the privacy rights of the class members, and court orders requiring the identification, retrieval and destruction of all unauthorized copies of the voter information.
The leak is being investigated by the RCMP and the province’s privacy watchdog.
The Centurion Project and David Parker did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News. The province’s justice minister told CBC he would send a statement Tuesday afternoon.
