Feds Conducted Research on National ‘Digital Credentials’ the Same Month They Announced Digital ID Plan

A person passes her smartphone over a scanner as she uses the new mobile app for expedited passport and customer screening being unveiled for international travelers arriving at Miami International Airport in Miami, Fla., on March 4, 2015. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

As part of a $2.4 million contract, the federal government Privy Council Office commissioned focus group research on “digital credentials" on Aug. 24, 2022.

On Aug. 4, 2022, the same month the focus group was commissioned, a government report, titled “Canada’s Digital Ambition 2022,” announced the Liberals planned to introduce digital infrastructure.

“The next step in making services more convenient to access is a federal Digital Identity Program, integrated with pre-existing provincial platforms,” said the report. “Digital identity is the electronic equivalent of a recognized proof-of-identity document (for example, a driver’s license or passport) and confirms that ‘you are who you say you are’ in a digital context.”

‘Digital Credentials’ Focus Group

In conducting the research, a small group of six adult Nova Scotia residents—described as “middle class individuals who are worried about the economy and employment”—were each paid $100 to $125 to take part in an online focus group on the topic of digital ID. Participants were sharply divided on the topic.