Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government has silently released a digital ID system through an app in the Google Play Store.Titled the “GC Wallet,” the app was developed by Employment and Social Development Canada and is described as a “secure and convenient way to store and access your official digital credentials.”.The app allows users to keep documents such as temporary visas and pilot licenses on their phones and share them through encrypted, offline QR codes.The government says the GC Wallet is intended to be a “foundational component” of a forthcoming digital credential ecosystem and is expected to expand beyond its initial documents to include a broader range of official federal credentials.Ottawa advertises features including offline access, automatic updates, expiry notifications, and security protections aligned with federal digital standards..Former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s brother Kyle Kemper sounded the alarm on X, saying that the app can “use your device’s camera to scan QR codes and import credentials issued by authorized institutions. Present your digital documents using dynamic QR codes or secure on-screen displays, making it easy to verify your identity and other information at airport boarding gates and other checkpoints.”The rollout has revived comparisons to ArriveCAN, the federal travel app that became a national controversy due to bugs, wrongful quarantine orders, and a ballooning $54-million price tag.Online, critics were quick to point out that digital IDs contain vast personal data that can be stored in centralized or federated databases and used by governments for state surveillance on citizens, such as China’s Social Credit Score system.Ottawa has not provided a timeline for a wider launch of the app, but GC Wallet, currently in beta trial, is available on Android and iOS, but it remains restricted to invited participants in a limited pilot program and is not open to the general public.
