Mar 18, 2020 in Member Spotlights by DIACC

Spotlight on the Government of Saskatchewan

  1. What is the mission and vision of the Government of Saskatchewan?

The vision of the Saskatchewan Public Service is to be the best public service in Canada. We support Saskatchewan’s vision: to be the best place in Canada – to live, to work, to start a business, to get an education, to raise a family and to build a life. We are guided by Our Commitment to Excellence – dedicated to service excellence, innovation, collaboration and transparency, practice effective and accountable use of resources and promote engagement and leadership is demonstrated at all levels.

  1. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?

Digital identity brings a number of key benefits to advanced and emerging markets. It helps citizens and businesses to more easily access services, especially in internet-connected rural and remote communities that could be otherwise hard to reach. It improves privacy protection and reduces fraud risks related to identity verification, by decentralizing information and putting more control in the hands of users. It supports efficiency, with online delivery up to 50 times more cost effective than offline channels – while also instilling confidence in service providers that online services are going to the right people. It also encourages people to complete online transactions, helping them become more digitally literate and comfortable online. 

  1. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does the Government of Saskatchewan address challenges associated with this transformation?

Saskatchewan’s technology sector is a growth driver in the economy and an important future enabler of growth in our agricultural and resource sectors. By allowing citizens and businesses to more easily and conveniently access services any time from any internet-connected device, digital identity promotes efficiency for Canadians and will further position Saskatchewan and Canada to other markets as being more attractive to work with. Future challenges include retaining and attracting large-scale tech employers in Saskatchewan to anchor the province’s technology ecosystem.

  1. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in the space?

The pan-Canadian effort on digital identity is causing a resurgence of Canada’s presence on the world stage when it comes to the internet. Our country’s collective work, across the public and private sectors, is defining and governing digital identity in a standards based way. This will position us well to other markets as a country to work with, and our collective commitment to make digital identity easy to use will encourage uptake of the digital identities across the country.

  1. Why did the Government of Saskatchewan join the DIACC? 

Saskatchewan joined the DIACC because we recognize that if we are going to realize the potential of digital ID, we need to define and govern digital identity nationally, with private and public sector collaboration. 

To learn more about DIACC members, check out our other member Spotlights!