Alberta Rolls Out Digital Wallet to Replace Paper Health Cards, Store Government Documents

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivers the state of the province address in Edmonton on Oct. 25, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jason Fransson

The government of Alberta is launching a digital platform to store all government-issued documents on mobile devices, starting with health care cards.

A digital version of Albertans’ health care cards will be the first document available in a newly launched app called the “Alberta Wallet,” which will allow residents to carry and manage government-issued documents on their phones, Premier Danielle Smith said at an Aug. 29 press conference.

She said the new optional tool will address the “ongoing embarrassment of the flimsy paper Alberta health care cards,” while offering Albertans “ease of use and convenience.”

“Our world is digital, and people have embraced this in droves—we developed the Alberta Wallet because Albertans expect their government to keep up with them,” she said. “We are adapting to an always-on high-speed digital future.”

Smith said protecting Albertans’ privacy and personal information is a priority for her government, noting the new digital tools are designed with encryption and security features to ensure information is only accessible to users and not shared with third parties without their consent.

She said that using the digital health card or wallet is optional, adding that her government “completely understand[s] that not everyone is comfortable with computers and mobile phones.”

Albertans can still use their paper health cards, and a durable plastic option integrating health cards and driver’s licences will be available next year, the province said.

Some Alberta residents as well as those outside, including Lisa Robinson, a city councillor in Pickering, Ont., raised privacy concerns after the announcement, with Robinson calling the digital wallet “the blueprint for a digital dictatorship,” suggesting that digital IDs and digital currency could give governments increased control.

“Once your freedom depends on an app, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the state,” she said in an Aug. 30 social media post.

In response to these concerns, Alberta Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish said the digital wallet and health card were designed to meet Alberta’s privacy laws as well as national and international standards. “This means no one can track when, where or how you use your documents, and your information cannot be accessed or shared without your consent,” Glubish told The Epoch Times in a Sept. 2 statement.

Digital health cards will be available to Albertans aged 14 and older. Parents can add their children’s health cards to their digital wallets, and spouses or partners can add each other’s cards as well.

The digital wallet is accessible through users’ Alberta.ca account or through the Alberta Wallet app on Apple and Android devices.

More documents will later be available through the platform, Glubish said at the Aug. 29 press conference. Those could include marriage or birth certificates, school transcripts, and trade certificates, he said.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to include comment from the Alberta ministry of technology and innovation.