It's the biggest Alberta separatist account on the internet. It has links to a movement leader

It's the biggest Alberta separatist account on the internet. It has links to a movement leader

Rise of Alberta account drives 4 times as much engagement as next most popular

One of the most influential voices on Alberta separatism is not a politician or even a clearly-identified person at all, but a combination social media account and merchandise line that is among the independence movement’s breakout stars.

The RiseOfAlberta account was created in the spring of 2025 and describes itself as “accelerating Alberta’s journey towards independence.” Since then it has amassed almost 100,000 X followers with a firehose of shareable clips and AI-generated memes about Alberta.

“They’ll depict, for example, eastern Canadians as very bureaucratic, government loving people, whereas Albertans are these Wild West people that hate government and love building,” says Chris Ross, a senior analyst at the Media Ecosystem Observatory, a research initiative that studies Canada’s online world and recently released a report into the dominance of separatist influencers.

“It’s a very idealistic, utopian perspective of what their idea of an Albertan is.”

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In between separatist talking points, the account dabbles in the conspiratorial side of the movement, posting images of Alberta workers standing up to “globohomo,” derogatory online slang for the 2SLGBTQ+ movement, echoes Donald Trump’s call to see “mass immigration” as an “existential threat to Western civilization" and refers to climate change as “fake and gay.”

Many points are punctuated by an ad for an Alberta-branded blanket or hat.

Distrustful of mainstream institutions, some in Alberta’s separatism movement have constructed their own online world populated by independence-minded influencers. Within that, Rise of Alberta is a behemoth, driving four times the engagement of the second-most popular account, according to the report. (The account is aware of this, based on a response to a curious American back in January: “I’m the biggest Alberta Independence account on X,” it wrote. “Happy to chat.”)

But as the account has grown its influence, the person behind the curtain has remained a mystery. The account has not responded to curious social media users, nor did it respond to direct messages sent by CBC News and Radio-Canada asking about the account’s identity.

It’s also not clear where the money from the premium camo hoodies and charcuterie boards is going, though the account has said that the proceeds help cover the costs of the “tools” used to make its graphics.

Now, CBC News has found that the account has links to another heavyweight figure in the separatist movement, Keith Wilson, a lawyer who leads the Alberta Transition Council.

According to an analysis by CBC News and Radio-Canada, the same email address was used to set up the Rise of Alberta website, the site where merchandise is sold, and the website for one of Wilson’s companies and the site for the Alberta Transition Council.

When asked by CBC News, Wilson said that he was pleased that the account was so successful, and that it had come up with some “incredible, interesting and funny ads.” But he was clear he was not the one behind the account: “Not everybody’s interested in being famous, right?” he said.

“I can tell you, it’s not me.”

In a followup call and email, Wilson acknowledged that he knows the person behind the account, explaining that it was run by the person who had set up his websites — “a website designer and webmaster” — which was why the same email had been used.

He “clearly” had a relationship with the person, he said, but he declined to provide more detail or to identify the person.

“The individual has chosen to engage in political commentary anonymously,” he wrote. “I respect that choice.”

Wilson stressed he had no say over the content Rise of Alberta posted and had "nothing to do with" the money the store was making.

He does provide some assistance to the person running the Rise of Alberta account, he said, including listing its merchandise on the “store” tab of his personal YouTube channel.

“I let him do that,” he said. “It doesn’t cost me anything and helps him.”

Returns of unwanted Rise of Alberta merchandise are also sent to the mailing address for his law firm, he said, though he added there weren’t many. (“Those blankets are amazing,” he said. “I have three.”)

While the person posting on the Rise of Alberta account remains unclear, they frequently share video clips of Wilson, and comment positively on his activities in the separatist movement. With the launch of Let Alberta Decide in June, the account posted that it was “incredibly encouraging” that Wilson was helping lead a “serious campaign.”

Wilson, who has publicly debated former premier Jason Kenney on the topic of independence, is also very active online, but strikes a different tone. He tweets clips of his own commentary and links to articles from the news sites dismissed by Rise of Alberta as “fake news.” The post pinned to the top of his page quotes the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire.

Rise of Alberta “constantly amplifies Keith Wilson’s posts, essentially acting as a campaign tool, but without any of the normal consequences,” says Ross, who was the lead author of the Media Ecosystem Observatory’s recent report on separatism influencers.

This is particularly notable because Rise of Alberta is “by far” the most influential account driving the conversation about separation, Ross said. The recent report found the account is single-handedly driving 11.8 per cent of all online engagement about the upcoming referendum, he said.

One in five of the images posted by the account is an ad for merchandise, according to an analysis by researchers from Common Ground at the University of Alberta.

The second most influential account, according to the report, is Keith’s personal X account, meaning the two accounts get almost 15 per cent of the online shares, likes and comments on separatism-related content.

In a normal election, party leaders would be scrutinized over their online campaign materials, Ross said. But because there are no elected politicians championing the separatist side, that vacuum has been filled by highly active, anonymous social media accounts, he said.

“The movement is structurally revolving around the Rise of Alberta account online, but no democratic form of scrutiny can interface with it,” he said. “It is bizarre, but the result of a modern campaign organized outside of party politics.”

(Wilson disagrees with this characterization, pointing out that he has more than 80,000 followers and many other big accounts interact with his posts. Besides which, he says, the separatism movement predates the Rise of Alberta account.)

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Last November, a social media user pointed out the similarities between something Wilson and Rise of Alberta posted, and questioned whether they were the same person. Both accounts denied it.

“It’s not, but I am flattered,” Rise of Alberta posted with a cowboy emoji.

“I am too,” Wilson responded.

CBC News and Radio-Canada were able to link the Rise of Alberta website and Keith Wilson via the emails used to set up their respective websites by using DomainTools, a web analytics tool. An archived version of the Rise of Alberta website also listed the same mailing address as Wilson’s law firm in St. Albert, Alta.

While Rise of Alberta’s website was registered anonymously, meaning the identity of the owner is not publicly displayed, the company hosting it provides an anonymized email address to contact the website’s owner.

That same email address was first used a decade ago to register the website for Veritas Litigation Support, a company founded by Wilson. Starting last year, it has since been used for 16 other websites, most of which are related to Alberta independence.

It was also used for the websites for the Alberta Transition Council, an independence group led by Wilson, and Let Alberta Decide, a registered third-party advertiser co-chaired by Wilson.

The email has also been used to register a site called Rise of Saskatchewan, which is not active.

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Wilson said the person behind Rise of Alberta sets up all of his websites, and he’s not sure why the sites all list the same email.

“I have been using the services of the person who runs that account for my websites for many years, and I don’t track all of the other stuff that they do,” he said. “I just know the stuff they do for me and they’re very good at it.”

The origin story on the Rise of Alberta website says the account began in the spring of 2025 because the person behind the account “had become convinced that Alberta would be better off as an independent country, and [they] wanted somewhere to say it.”

Things really took off after Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected last year, and soon posts were reaching millions of people, the site says. A few months later, followers started asking for merchandise and the store was born. (CBC News sent messages to the Rise of Alberta website and Facebook page, asking about the person running the account, and did not receive a response.)

Wilson says the person behind Rise of Alberta is “highly skilled” and “very creative.” Wilson also said he hadn’t seen the posts in which Rise of Alberta referred to climate change as “fake and gay” or referenced “globohomo,” and reiterated that he had nothing to do with what that account posted.

There’s a cost to being a public separatist in Alberta, Wilson says. There’s the risk to your career, to say nothing of the physical risk, he says. He gets hate mail and death threats, he adds.

“There’s a logical explanation as to why someone would want to remain anonymous, and I’m going to go as far as to suggest it’s almost admirable that the person’s not seeking personal fame, unlike every other social media influencer.”

With files from Michelle Bellefontaine