“It is not something people have to worry about. And the data is so locked down really tight that there’s no way to download a list, there’s no way to download addresses or cellphones or anything.

“That’s one thing we really like about this website. The data is safe on it.”

Those are the words of Tim Hoven in a Centurion Project training video posted April 13, talking about the information that’s easily searchable and accessible through an app created by the separatist organization.

But it all came crashing down on Thursday.

A court granted an injunction to Elections Alberta after the watchdog found that the Centurion Project’s database was actually the province’s most recent list of electors, containing information on 2.9 million residents.

And that’s a problem. Big enough that RCMP are now investigating.

Registered political parties have access to Alberta’s voter list but they are expected to safeguard the sensitive information. Offenders face fines up to $100,000 and up to a year imprisonment for breaching the Elections Act.

In this case, Elections Alberta believes the list used by Centurion was originally provided to the Republican Party of Alberta, a pro-independence party.

Alberta law prohibits third-party organizations, such as the Centurion Project, from accessing the list of electors.

And for good reason. Lists of electors are important tools for campaigns because they allow candidates and parties to identify potential voters and gauge support. Which is exactly what Centurion was hoping to do.

The Centurion Project is working to organize and train volunteers to identify and recruit supporters for Alberta’s independence movement ahead of a potential question on independence being included on the government’s Oct. 19 referendum ballot.

The app, which went dark after the court injunction, allowed users to search for residents by name or address and filtered for towns, ridings and polling subdivisions.

“The Centurion Project is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming months,” wrote David Parker, one of the organization’s leaders, on X on April 20. “We have the backing, we have the momentum, and now we have the tool.”

Parker is an avid separatist and is the co-founder of Take Back Alberta, an organization previously home to many on the right flank of Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party.

While Parker and other leaders of the Centurion Project have referred to the data available through the app as harmless, no different than what you would find in a phone book, The Globe and Mail found that wasn’t exactly the case.

The root database powering Centurion’s app contains significantly more information than what was accessible with a simple search. The Globe accessed the app’s root database, which contains names and addresses for 2,957,857 Albertans. The root database also contains unique elector identification numbers, middle names and 2,083,175 phone numbers.

That is one powerful phone book.

This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.