Liberal cabinet vows $6.4M digital ID strictly voluntary

The Trudeau Liberal cabinet says any national digital ID program will be strictly voluntary. Records show federal agencies have spent millions on a digital ID program since 2019.Digital identification program records were tabled in the House of Commons at the request of Conservative MP Ben Lobb, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. Lobb asked, “With regard to government programs aimed at establishing digital identification, how much money has been spent exploring or studying options in relation to such a program?”Federal spending on research and development of digital identification technology totaled $6.4 million, said the Inquiry Of Ministry.Costs included $1.5 million spent by the Canada Revenue Agency, $1.4 million by the Department of Transport, $1 million each by the Departments of Immigration and Fisheries and Treasury Board, $150,000 by the Correctional Service of Canada, $106,398 by the Public Service Commission and $62,780 by the Canada Border Services Agency.“There are no plans to consider or introduce a federally issued digital ID,” cabinet wrote.“Furthermore options that result in making the use of digital credentials being made mandatory are also not being considered. The digital, self-service delivery channel is optional.”“The government is and has been engaged in research and exploration for quite some time.”Managers were working to “address the Budget 2024 commitment to ‘establish a modern, single sign-in portal for federal government services’ to support the ‘fast and efficient delivery of government services.’”“There has been monitoring of provincial and territorial, international and industry trends in the space for digital credentials for several years but options and a strategy for a federal approach to the use of digital credentials for Canada has not been fully developed,” wrote cabinet.Shared Services Canada, the federal IT department, in an October 28 notice to contractors said it was “working to establish digital credentials” for the general public. No parliamentary committee to date has scrutinized the program.“With more business conducted online, the Government of Canada and interested partners need a common set of capabilities to enable people to be issued, hold and present these types of credentials to make trusted claims about themselves in ways that are user friendly, cryptographically secure, privacy respecting, machine verifiable and to prevent misuse of their credentials by others,” said the notice. It did not elaborate.The notice compared “digital credentials” to mandatory federal ID like Social Insurance Numbers. “Digital credentials are the equivalent of traditional physical credentials, enabling users to digitally prove things about themselves online and in person through a ‘holder component,’ e.g. digital wallet,” wrote Shared Services Canada.

Liberal cabinet vows $6.4M digital ID strictly voluntary

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