Discover Narcity
Get the latest and greatest stories every day in your inbox.
Fact File: Elections Alberta has measures to prevent voter fraud in referendum
Fact File: Alberta rules guard against voter fraud
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
An online user claimed on social media that Alberta residents who are not Canadian citizens can falsely declare their citizenship at polling stations and vote in the Oct. 19 referendum. The user questioned Elections Alberta's verification process and raised the spectre of a surge of ineligible voters changing the outcome of an election. Elections Alberta said it checks applicants' information against the province's voter list, adding that lying about citizenship is an offence. One expert noted the voter list contains citizenship status pulled from a national database.
THE CLAIM
In an Oct 6 post on X, which had received about 19,000 views as of Oct. 15, the user claims the province's election rules allow non-Canadian Alberta residents who have an accepted ID with their name and address to make a false citizenship declaration and vote.
"Officials do not require a passport, birth certificate, citizenship card, or other proof of citizenship at the polling station," the user said. "Yes, it's illegal for a non-citizen to vote. But, it's possible."
The user questioned how Elections Alberta checks an applicant's citizenship status, adding that the office simply takes their declarations at "face value" and puts them into the provincial voter registry system. The user questioned whether the province's current system could allow "a significant number" of ineligible voters to change the outcome of an election.
THE FACTS
Albertans will vote Oct. 19 in a referendum that asks a total of 10 questions covering immigration and Canada's Constitution. The central question facing voters is whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the process to hold a binding referendum on separation.
Eligible voters must be Canadian citizens, residents of Alberta and at least 18 years old. An Elections Alberta spokesperson said the office has a series of measures in place to protect against voter fraud.
She said by email that anybody who arrives at a polling station without first registering to vote needs to provide accepted ID, such as a driver's licence, and sign a declaration confirming their Canadian citizenship. The declaration is a legal document not an "honour system," she said, and lying on it is an offence under the provincial Election Act.
According to Elections Alberta website, anybody found trying to vote illegally face possible fines of up to $50,000 and possible jail terms of up to two years.
The spokesperson said that the office records the applicant's information to guard against the same person voting twice, and any potential breaches are provided to the province's election commissioner. She added that scrutineers are also presence to monitor voting.
Lori Williams, an associate professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Alberta's voter registry system tends to contain the voters' citizenship status, derived from their tax return forms filed to the federal government.
"The voters list emerges from things like our tax returns, and of course, Canada Revenue Agency knows that we're citizens, so some verification can be done within the Elections Alberta system," she said.
According to a Government of Canada website, Canadians can consent to the revenue agency sharing their personal information used on their filed tax return forms with Elections Canada to update their status in the government's National Register of Electors.
In the tax return form, applicants are asked if they are a Canadian citizen and if they consent to their personal information, including their citizenship status, being shared with Elections Canada to update its National Register of Electors. Provincial or territorial electoral offices can pull their residents' personal information from the national register to update their own voter registries.
Elections Alberta says there is no evidence that ineligible voters are a growing problem. It has issued a total seven letters of reprimand for voter fraud since 2015, four to people found to be ineligible and three to people found to have voted more than once.
Williams said it is theoretically possible that a non-citizen could try to vote, but Elections Alberta has an effective system and laws in place to deter anybody from trying to do so.
"If you do test it and disclose it that you've tested it, you're liable to fine and/or imprisonment," she said. "This is a significant deterrent to anybody tempted to test whether the system works."
One of the 10 questions being asked in the referendum is whether the province should require individuals "to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
By Timon Johnson | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Keep reading
Show less
Two Montreal police officers suspended over new allegations of misconduct
Two Montreal police officers suspended
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
Montreal police say they have suspended two officers from a station downtown and opened a misconduct investigation.
However, police said they could not provide further details due to their legal responsibilities to protect personal information about their employees and to avoid compromising the professional standards unit's ongoing investigation.
Police say they take the allegations seriously.
According to a report by the daily newspaper La Presse, one of the officers allegedly urinated on an unhoused person while on duty.
The newspaper, which said it relied on several police sources, reported that fellow officers denounced their colleague.
The other suspended officer allegedly posed for photos in which he appears to mock a suspect placed in a humiliating position during an arrest.
The Canadian Press has not independently verified the allegations.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada reacted to the allegations online, saying that the alleged acts are "very serious" and "violate the dignity to which everyone is entitled."
She also commended the officers who came forward.
In a statement, the police brotherhood described the allegations as "shocking" but did not comment further.
These allegations have surfaced hours before the “homeless night,” march in Montreal. The annual event is aimed at raising public awareness about the reality of homelessness.
The suspensions also come at a time when Montreal police and the city are trying to rebuild trust with the public.
In June, police dismantled a 16-member patrol unit at another station in a multicultural neighbourhood of Montreal due to separate allegations of racism and misconduct.
Four officers from the police's Station 39 in the Montréal-Nord borough have been suspended and Crown prosecutors are reviewing the evidence to determine whether to pursue criminal charges.
Police have confirmed they reviewed a number of allegations of misconduct, including allegations that some officers kept locks of hair from racialized people as trophies.
In internal documents obtained by The Canadian Press in September, police described a "radicalization" among some of its officers as the force attempts to change its culture of impunity.
Alain Babineau, a former RCMP officer now working with a civil-rights group, said he was not surprised to read about the new allegations against the officers working downtown.
"We all knew Station 39 was not an anomaly," Babineau said over the phone, referring to the allegations out of Montréal-Nord. "How do you rebuild trust when your officers are rogue?"
Babineau's group, the Red Coalition, is calling for a public inquiry into Montreal police misconduct.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Keep reading
Show less
Vancouver officer tells Myles Gray hearing of 'unnerving' call for help
Gray hearing: Officer tells of 'unnerving' call
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A Vancouver police officer has told a public hearing into the fatal arrest in 2015 of Myles Gray about an "unnerving" call for assistance from a colleague who had encountered the man.
Const. Beau Spencer says he knew Const. Hardeep Sahota and her tone of voice on the radio call raised immediate concern, while an "animalistic roar" he later heard as he and his partner headed to the scene was like nothing he had ever heard on a police radio.
Spencer is among seven Vancouver officers facing a public hearing set off by B.C.'s Police Complaint Commissioner into whether they committed misconduct during the confrontation.
He says in his second day of testimony that he and his partner were "quite anxious" to get to the scene, as radio calls from there "continued to escalate."
He says another call came in when three officers were on the scene, and it did not sound like the person they were dealing with was "under control" and this was "very concerning."
No charges have been laid over Gray's death, which a 2023 coroner's inquest ruled was a homicide, a term that does not assign legal blame.
The commissioner's notice of public hearing said an earlier disciplinary process had dismissed misconduct allegations, but the discipline authority found the process "strangely lopsided" and had to decide the case despite "discrepancies and inconsistencies in statements made by (Vancouver Police Department) members."
The earlier inquest heard Gray was left with injuries that included a fractured eye socket, crushed voice box and ruptured testicles, while a paramedic said Gray's bruising was so severe, he initially thought Gray was not a white man.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Keep reading
Show less
Urgences-santé engage des étudiants pour l'été et c'est payé jusqu'à 22,91 $/h
Et tu n'as pas besoin d'être ambulancier.
Si tu n'as pas encore trouvé une job pour cet été, sache que l'organisation ambulancière Urgences-santé recrute présentement des étudiant.es à temps plein pour la saison estivale. L'équipe médicale recherche des préposé.es à l'entretien pour les ambulances, les équipements et la bâtisse. Tu pourrais recevoir un salaire allant jusqu'à 22,91 $ de l'heure et même t'ouvrir des portes dans le domaine de la santé.
Pour appliquer, quelques conditions sont demandées. Tu devras donc t'assurer de posséder un diplôme d'études secondaires, de détenir un permis de conduire de classe 5, d'être capable de soulever des charges d'au moins 40 kg et bien parler et écrire le français. Si tu as déjà travaillé dans un poste similaire ou que tu possèdes déjà des connaissances médicales, c'est encore mieux.
Si tu es choisi.e, tu auras plusieurs tâches à accomplir comme vérifier la conformité des équipements, effectuer des réparations et faire l'inventaire ainsi que le nettoyage du matériel paramédical. Tu devras vraiment t'assurer que tout fonctionne bien pour que le personnel de gestions de crise, comme les ambulancier.ères, puissent bien faire leur travail. Tu pourrais aussi être amené.e à t'occuper de l'inspection des véhicules d'urgence. Les quarts de travail par jour peuvent être assez longs et sont généralement de 8 à 12 heures.
L'offre comprend des avantages non négligeables comme un salaire horaire plus élevé que le salaire minimum au Québec ainsi que plusieurs avantages sociaux. Tu pourrais aussi recevoir des primes de soir, de nuit ou de fin de semaine.
Si tu souhaites avoir un emploi durant ta scolarité, Urgences-santé mentionne dans son offre que tu pourrais bien avoir l'option de travailler à temps partiel durant l'année scolaire si tu désires rester dans l'équipe.
Sache par contre que les disponibilités demandées sont plutôt particulières. Tu devras être disponible 24/7 et une fin de semaine sur deux pour une période de quatre mois. Tu seras placé.e sur une liste de rappel, aucun nombre d'heures de travail n'est garanti, mais dès ton inscription sur la liste tu as la chance d'accumuler de l'ancienneté.
Il te faudra aussi être disponible pour te déplacer aux trois centres d'Urgences-santé soit à Montréal, Laval et à Lasalle.
Préposé.e chez Urgences-santé
Salaire : entre 19,95 $ et 22,91 $
Compagnie : Urgences-santé
Applique ici