Submitted by: Joni Brennan, President
List of recommendations
Recommendation 1: That the government prioritize digital trust in four areas critical to Canada’s leadership and the privacy, security and protection of our people and industries, including:
- Digital Trust in Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) and E-Commerce;
- Digital Trust in Finance and Regulatory;
- Digital Trust in Public Sector Modernization and Citizen Services; and
- Digital Trust in Public Safety.
Recommendation 2: That the government recognize the necessity of embracing and prioritizing verification and authentication tools as part of its AI strategy.
Recommendation 3: That the government allocate the funding needed to support the adoption of digital trust tools to the benefit of government, businesses, and citizens alike.
Introduction
In today’s geopolitical and economic climate, Canada needs to urgently act to maximize economic security, growth and productivity — all of which depend on a foundation of trust. In an era where digital transactions drive commerce, investment, and public services, ensuring the authenticity of identities, data, and financial interactions is essential for stability and long-term success.
Without secure and privacy-respecting verification, businesses face higher fraud risks, increased compliance costs, and reduced consumer confidence. Investors and trading partners demand transparent, verifiable transactions and economic resilience, which depend on our ability to safeguard financial systems, facilitate secure trade, and unlock the full potential of AI-driven innovation. Strong verification systems are also key to removing barriers to interprovincial and international trade, ensuring Canadian businesses can compete in global markets with trusted credentials.
Yet, new threats to economic stability are emerging at an unprecedented pace. The spread of misinformation, AI-generated fraud, and identity theft undermines business operations, weakens consumer confidence, and creates vulnerabilities in financial markets. AI enables the rapid manipulation of information and identities, making it more difficult for organizations to verify legitimacy and protect against fraud.
Without urgent action, these challenges will erode trust, slow economic growth, disrupt financial systems, and weaken Canada’s competitive position. Labour mobility is also at risk—without trusted digital credentials, skilled professionals such as doctors, engineers, and tradespeople face delays in moving where needed most, affecting both businesses and public services.
Canada can drive economic security, labour mobility and digital trust by strengthening identity verification, authentication, and fraud prevention measures. By prioritizing trust as a national asset, we can enhance economic competitiveness, attract investment, and build a future where innovation thrives in a secure and resilient digital environment.
About DIACC
The Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) was created following the federal government’s Task Force for the Payments System Review, with a goal to bring together public and private sector partners in developing a safe and secure digital ecosystem.
DIACC is committed to accelerating digital trust adoption and reducing information authenticity uncertainty by certifying services against its Pan-Canadian Trust Framework — a risk mitigation and assurance framework developed collaboratively by public and private sector experts that signals trustworthy design rooted in security, privacy, inclusivity, accessibility, and accountability.
Recommendations
Against this backdrop, DIACC offers three recommendations for the federal government:
Recommendation 1: That the government prioritize digital trust in four areas critical to Canada’s leadership and the privacy, security and protection of our people and industries, including:
- Digital Trust in Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) and E-Commerce;
- Digital Trust in Finance and Regulatory;
- Digital Trust in Public Sector Modernization and Citizen Services; and
- Digital Trust in Public Safety.
Digital Trust in Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) and E-Commerce
Canada’s e-commerce sector is growing faster than ever due to emerging technology and changing customer habits. While this creates significant opportunities, it also presents challenges for small and medium businesses (SMBs), their partners, and customers. With a significant amount of business happening online, SMBs must navigate a growing competitive landscape of online security risks and earn customer trust to help unlock interprovincial and international growth opportunities. By prioritizing digital trust, Canada can foster a robust e-commerce environment that empowers SMBs, enhances consumer confidence, and boosts economic growth. Interoperable frameworks such as the DIACC Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF) foster digital trust by protecting personal electronic information as it travels across an organization, ensuring that e-commerce systems remain secure, adaptable, and trusted.
By prioritizing digital trust and implementing authentication and verification tools, the government can help drive the following benefits:
- enhanced customer trust and loyalty;
- streamlined business processes by automating identity verification and reducing the need for manual checks;
- faster, more efficient operations and reduced administrative costs, allowing businesses to allocate resources more effectively;
- data minimization and the secure handling of personal information, increasing customer confidence;
- a competitive advantage for Canada’s SMBs by helping them innovate and offer their customers new, secure digital services; and
- a reduction in incidents of fraud, resulting in significant cost savings for businesses. These savings can be reinvested into other business areas, driving growth and innovation and improving overall business performance.
Digital Trust in Finance and Regulatory
The finance and regulatory sector is undergoing rapid digital transformation. While the industry pioneers new technology and moves away from conventional platforms, it faces rising fraud, privacy breaches, and growing consumer skepticism fueled by misinformation, disinformation, and challenges verifying information in an AI-driven world. As a result, the government is encouraged to build on the existing regulatory framework and develop new regulations to facilitate secure digital transactions, including compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.
Further, digital trust and verification services will be critical as the government moves forward with its commitments to open-banking, with interoperability also being paramount as the federal framework and existing provincial frameworks work together. Similarly, the government has committed to reducing incidents of mortgage fraud and strengthening proof of borrower and title insurance, and digital trust and verification services can and should play a critical role in making that commitment a reality.
By prioritizing digital trust, Canada can secure its financial systems and enhance competitiveness in the global economy. Interoperable frameworks like the DIACC Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF) ensure systems remain resilient, adaptable, and trusted.
Digital Trust in Public Sector Modernization and Citizen Services
Public services are undergoing rapid digital transformation, adopting new technologies to improve efficiency and accessibility. At the same time, they face significant challenges and barriers including data security risks, privacy concerns, and public skepticism fueled by misinformation.
As public services continue to move online, digital trust and verification services will be critical for ensuring that services are secure and accessible. From online healthcare consultations to digital government services, these technologies provide the necessary security infrastructure to protect public interactions and data.
By implementing digital trust solutions, the federal government will be able to provide secure, user-friendly online access to services; streamline identity verification for faster service delivery; facilitate seamless data sharing between agencies; reduce administrative burdens and operational costs; and improve service delivery times and citizen satisfaction.
Digital Trust in Public Safety
The public safety sector is undergoing rapid digital transformation, embracing new technologies to enhance emergency response, law enforcement, and disaster management. However, this shift also brings challenges such as data security risks, privacy concerns, and the need for reliable information verification in critical situations.
Implementing robust digital trust solutions can significantly improve emergency response by enabling secure, real-time data sharing between agencies; verifying the authenticity of emergency communications; and facilitating rapid and accurate identification of individuals in crisis situations.
Public safety agencies are encouraged to leverage technologies such as AI and blockchain to enhance their digital trust capabilities and improve emergency response. AI can be used for real-time data analysis and decision-making, while blockchain can ensure the integrity and immutability of critical information.
DIACC encourages collaboration between public safety agencies, technology providers, and other stakeholders to develop standardized digital trust practices, and interoperable frameworks like the DIACC Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF) ensure that public safety systems remain secure, adaptable, and trusted.
Together we can create a public safety ecosystem that leverages digital trust to protect citizens, respects privacy, and solidifies Canada’s position as a secure and effective emergency management leader.
Recommendation 2: That the government recognize the necessity of embracing and prioritizing verification and authentication tools as part of its AI strategy.
In today’s world, where AI is becoming smarter every day, and information can be generated and manipulated at unprecedented speed and scale, ensuring the accuracy and trustworthiness of information is critical. It is vital to maximize the benefits of an AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)-fueled data ecosystem for Canada while also fostering citizen trust and protecting their safety.
To effectively address the challenges we’re facing while realizing the benefits of AI, the federal government should prioritize verification and authentication tools as part of its broader AI strategy. Prioritization must include funding, collaboration, and urgent action to support the development, adoption and certification of tools that verify information authenticity while protecting privacy and empowering Canadians. Governments, banks, telcos, tech companies, media organizations, and civil society must work together to deploy open, standards-based solutions and services to verify the authenticity of information.
The economic imperative of investing in these capabilities is clear. According to a study by Deloitte, the Canadian economy could unlock an additional 7 per cent (CAD $7 trillion) in economic value through AI and AGI technologies. People and organizations can only realize this potential for the good of society by investing in tools, processes, and policies that support verifying the authenticity of the information generated and processed by AI and AGI technologies.
Recommendation 3: That the government allocate the funding needed to support the adoption of digital trust tools to the benefit of government, businesses, and citizens alike.
Today, solutions can signal verified trust by getting certified against a technology-neutral risk and assurance framework like DIACC’s Pan-Canadian Trust Framework, developed collaboratively by public and private sector experts.
Verifiable information authenticity relies on critical principles, including provenance and traceability: provenance establishes the origin and history of information, ensuring it comes from a reliable source, while traceability allows for audibility of the flow of information, enabling people, businesses, and governments to verify its accuracy and authenticity. These principles are essential in combating the spread of misinformation and disinformation, which can have far-reaching consequences in an AI-fueled world.
Provenance and traceability are potent information authenticity tools that can help:
- businesses and professionals reduce liabilities and meet obligations to verify information about their clients and their operations;
- citizens and residents interact securely and efficiently with governments;
- customers and clients transact with privacy and security anywhere, anytime;
- industries manage decision-making and securely supply chains using trusted data;
- producers verify essential data related to environmental, safety, and operational goals and
- creators track intellectual property to ensure fair payment and cultural protection.
Conclusion
A proactive approach—rooted in collaboration between government, industry, and technology leaders—will ensure that Canada remains a trusted hub for global trade, seamless labour mobility, and secure financial transactions. We can unlock new economic opportunities, strengthen international partnerships, and fuel long-term prosperity by enabling frictionless and verifiable trade, business, and employment interactions.
Thank you once again for the opportunity to provide our input in advance of Budget 2025 and as we collectively move forward on the path to a digitally and economically prosperous Canada.