Tag Archives: policy

The DIACC partners with HTF on recommendations for a trusted and safe adoption of Digital ID

TORONTO, JUNE 7, 2022 — The Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) is excited to announce its partnership with the Human Technology Foundation (HTF) on a trusted, citizen-centric digital identity adoption. The purpose of the project is to develop a white paper for the fall of 2022 that will provide recommendations to Canadian and European policymakers on ongoing projects, with the common goal of unlocking secure, equitable access to the global digital economy. 

At a time when digital advancements are accelerating rapidly, policy modernization has the opportunity to enable people, businesses, and governments with access to digital ID verification solutions and services that are designed to empower people with security, privacy, and accountability. 

Although multiple Canadian provinces have either launched or made investments in digital ID products and services, federal funding and cohesive leadership remains the missing piece. Notably, in June of 2021, the European Commission proposed a trusted and secure digital ID framework for all European citizens. 

This highly anticipated project will begin with executive international insights from a DIACC Special Interest Group (SIG), alongside a renowned HTF Advisory Board. 

Both parties pride themselves on shared values for trusted, social, and people-centred benefits of digital ID. 

The DIACC is known for their core values of privacy, security, and choice to empower all Canadians to participate in the global digital economy confidently and safely.

The HTF leverages expert thought leadership to identify technology solutions that will lead to a more respectful society. They pride themselves on placing a human intention at the core of all interdisciplinary research projects.  

The DIACC and the HTF are comprised of people – designing solutions for people. Both organizations are proud to declare their resulting white paper as a free, publicly available resource upon completion. 

Members of both the DIACC and HTF communities who wish to review and share insights about the draft SIG project charter may sign up here: https://forms.gle/EosuLJNobAv9nJqD8. 

ABOUT DIACC

DIACC is a growing coalition of public and private sector organizations who are making a significant and sustained effort to ensure Canada’s full, secure, and beneficial participation in the global digital economy. By solving challenges and leveraging opportunities, Canada has the chance to secure at least three percent of unrealized GDP or $100 billion of potential growth by 2030. Seizing this opportunity is a must in a digital society as we work through the COVID pandemic challenges. Learn more about the DIACC mandate. 

ABOUT HTF

Human Technology Foundation, created in 2012, is a foundation but also a research and action network placing the human being at the heart of technology development. For them, these technologies are also part of the solutions for building a society that is more respectful of everyone. The Human Technology Foundation network has several thousand members and operates in Paris, Montreal and Geneva. Indeed, if most technologies are neither good nor bad in themselves, they are not neutral either: they carry intentionality and a vision of the human being that must be questioned. From this perspective, the Human Technology Foundation is striving to put technology back at the heart of social debates.

Letter to the Hill Times Editor

May 7, 2021

Re: A little-known Trans-Canada digital identity regime in the works, in whose interest? by Ken Rubin, The Hill Times, May 3, 2021.

Dear Editor, 

In his column, “A little-known Trans-Canada digital identity regime in the works, in whose interest?”, Ken Rubin inaccurately writes that “On the legislative front, business-backed groups like the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada are calling for revamping Canada’s outdated public-sector Privacy Act to allow for a more permissive legal regime that clears the way for digital IDs and one-stop digitized government services. … Canadian governments need to hit ‘pause’ and rethink their digital identity scheme and digital legislation which are pushing sufficient and secure privacy protection largely aside.”

The Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) was created following the federal government’s Task Force for the Payments System Review to bring together public and private sector partners in developing a safe and secure digital ID ecosystem that will enable Canada’s full and beneficial participation in the global digital economy.

The DIACC has more than 100 members spanning several sectors including public policy leaders and chief information officers from the federal and provincial governments, networks for payments and for identity verification, technology service providers, strategy and integration experts and financial institutions.

The DIACC fully shares the author’s concern for Canadian’s privacy. This concern is why, for 10 years, the DIACC has built up this important sector as the trusted voice for driving the development of a pan-Canadian trust framework, standards, and initiatives that support the establishment of a fully digital, and privacy-respecting country that Canadians want. DIACC prioritizes a federated approach to work in alignment with Canada’s federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigienous governments. This approach does not support linking of identities, rather, it leverages and extends Privacy by Design principles to enable Canadians to choose which identity credentials they wish to use respecting diversity and promoting inclusion. 

According to recent research, the majority of Canadians believe it is important for federal and provincial governments to move quickly on enabling digital ID in a safe and secure manner. It also shows that collaboration between governments and the private sector continues to be considered the best approach to create a pan-Canadian digital ID framework.

In today’s digital economy, and as the pandemic has made clear, Canadians should be empowered to give informed consent for its use across multiple platforms and in economic areas where proving identity is crucial for secure transactions.

Establishing digital ID that works for Canadians is not about creating one identity to be used for surveillance or tracking. It’s about using the credentials that Canadians already have offline (eg: passports, driver’s licenses, health cards, citizenship cards, bank cards, student cards); having those credentials securely issued digitally; and being able to use them for digital transactions  —  from opening a bank account from the comfort of home, to accessing medical records, to receiving government benefits quickly and easily.

When it comes to legislation, there is no clear policy directive in C-11 that allows Canadians to understand what they can expect in terms of accessing the data the public services have about them. This is why it’s essential for the federal government to empower Canadians to be able to use the credentials associated with them in a modern digital economy, with security and privacy. If Canada is going to be a modern digital society and economy, Canadians must understand what they can expect about data that exists about them in both the public and private sectors. 

Canadian governments should not ‘hit pause’ on digital ID, they should be investing in truly unlocking digital. Investing in digital ID not only makes economic sense but also establishes digital tools to support societal trust, provides security, strengthens privacy, and mitigates fraud. This is a win for all.

Sincerely,

Joni Brennan
President, Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada