People deliver signatures in support of an independence referendum to Elections Alberta’s offices in Edmonton on Monday.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Alberta marched one step closer to holding its first referendum on provincial independence, as separatists announced they had collected more than 301,000 signatures from residents endorsing a vote this fall.
Speaking outside Elections Alberta’s offices in Edmonton on Monday, separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre told throngs of supporters waving Alberta flags that his group, Stay Free Alberta, had surpassed the target of approximately 178,000 signatures required under provincial law to force a vote. One by one, he and volunteers handed off boxes full of signatures to Elections Alberta officials.
“This day is historic in Alberta,” said Mr. Sylvestre, who was greeted like a conquering hero as he arrived in his truck. On a stage, he stacked dozens of boxes containing the signatures and posed for photos.
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Mr. Sylvestre then urged Premier Danielle Smith to ensure his group’s question on secession is included on the province’s Oct. 19 referendum ballot, regardless of the courts or Elections Alberta’s decision on the validity of the signatures.
The seemingly successful campaign by Alberta separatists has increased the likelihood that Canada could be facing two referendums on provincial secession. In Quebec, the Parti Québécois has promised to hold a sovereignty referendum if it wins the provincial election this fall.
The dalliance with independence in the two provinces is part of a broader conversation around Canadian sovereignty and national unity that has been galvanized over the past year and a half by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and his repeated comments about annexing the country.
Alberta separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre hugs a supporter in Edmonton on Monday.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Roadblocks still exist for Stay Free Alberta’s referendum question, however.
The group is facing a court-ordered injunction that will prevent Elections Alberta from tallying the signatures until a judge delivers a decision in a case brought forward by First Nations in the province.
Early last month, Justice Shaina Leonard oversaw a three-day hearing in which a group of First Nations argued an independence vote would violate their constitutionally protected treaty rights.
Justice Leonard then issued the temporary injunction blocking Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer from certifying the signatures. Her final ruling is expected to arrive in the coming days or weeks.
So, on Monday, the 43 boxes of documents containing the signatures were sealed and locked in cabinets that will be monitored with 24-hour security.
If Justice Leonard’s ruling derails the petition, Ms. Smith will likely face pressure from separatists – many of whom support her United Conservative Party – to call an independence referendum anyway.
Mr. Sylvestre, on Monday, read aloud a letter to the Premier, calling on her to honour the petition’s success.
He later told reporters that he expects Ms. Smith to follow the wishes of her UCP base and he encouraged supporters to become party members.
“I think you should be able to give leaders instruction,” Mr. Sylvestre said.
Recently, Ms. Smith said she believes Alberta should remain in Canada while proposing ways the province can wrest control from Ottawa.
Separately, rifts have emerged within the independence movement over allegations that a separatist group called the Centurion Project, run by long-time political organizer David Parker, had unauthorized access to Alberta’s 2.9-million-person list of electors. Centurion volunteers could then use an app to look up electors by partial name or address.
Alberta RCMP are investigating. Centurion’s app went dark last week after Elections Alberta secured an injunction requiring the organization to stop distributing the list or parts of it to the public.
Mr. Parker, who co-founded the Take Back Alberta movement and mentored Mr. Sylvestre in grassroots organizing under that banner, has said he will comply with investigations into the Centurion Project.
David Parker, co-founder of Take Back Alberta, speaks to a small audience in the basement of Deer Run Community Centre in Calgary in April, 2023.Jude Brocke/The Globe and Mail
“The allegations that I personally received or distributed any unauthorized voter data are false,” he said on X on Monday, noting the issue involves “active court proceedings and investigations” and that he would not comment further.
Elections Alberta alleges the Centurion Project had unauthorized access to a list supplied to the Republican Party of Alberta, itself a proponent of separation. Cam Davies, leader of that party, has said he would co-operate with the investigations.
The app, which Centurion used as tool for separatist volunteers to identify other separatist sympathizers in the province, produced search results displaying first and last names, addresses, electoral divisions and polling subdivisions of electors. The database contained nearly three million entries.
But the root database that supplied that information to the app’s users contained even more personal data. The Globe and Mail accessed the root database, which contained elector identification numbers and middle names, along with phone numbers for more than two million entries.
Elections Alberta on Friday said when verification of Stay Free Alberta’s petition does begin, it will include determining whether it contains any fake names the agency seeded in the Republican Party of Alberta’s copy of the list of electors, a standard security measure deployed to trace breaches.
If Elections Alberta discovers any of the fake names on the petition, further scrutiny will follow, the agency said, without describing what that would entail.
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On Monday in Question Period, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi argued the petition process has been rendered invalid by the allegations, and demanded the government step up its response to the alleged privacy breach. Ms. Smith batted away his concerns.
“I would just ask the members opposite to believe in the process,” she said, noting both Elections Alberta and the RCMP are investigating.
Centurion’s get-out-the-vote tool has caused consternation within separatist ranks.
Mr. Sylvestre, on Monday, said he met with Mr. Parker less than two weeks ago at a Boston Pizza in Lacombe, Alta., where Mr. Parker pitched him on the Centurion app.
“I looked at it for less than a minute, and then I said, ‘No, we’re not doing this,’” Mr. Sylvestre said, adding that his decision has fractured his relationship with Mr. Parker, and they haven’t spoken since.
Mr. Sylvestre said he was unaware the app may have contained data from voter lists but was wary of it anyway: “Sometimes you have to go with your gut.”