OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – The Canadian federal government hired outside consultants who will be tasked with looking into whether or not officials should proceed with creating a digital ID system for all citizens and residents.
Canada’s Department of Social Development claimed in a May 20 note that the proposal is so complex it does not have the expertise to determine whether such a system is needed.
“Building this kind of system is complex and requires certain specialized tools and expertise we don’t have in-house,” the department noted.
“Based on international best practices, we are asking industry to help.”
The cost for hiring the consultants has not been disclosed, as per Blacklock’s Reporter. Also, there has been no parliamentary oversight to investigate the contracting.
The Social Development department said that it is moving “to next steps to our engagement of external contractors,” also noting, “This solution will give departments the ability to issue digital versions of the physical credentials they already provide today.”
The government claims that it is looking at “proceeding with procurements for issuing and verifying digital credentials” because they are “secure, digital versions of physical documents like work permits or boating licenses that can be stored in a digital wallet.”
“They offer a quicker, safer, more secure and more cost-effective way to access government services,” the government note claims.
While the department for now says that such a digital ID system would not be mandatory but “voluntary,” it noted that it is moving toward a centralized, “single sign-in portal” that would replace about 60 different systems.
Canada’s Privy Council research from 2023 noted that there is strong public resistance to the use of digital IDs to access government services.
Current Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has a history of supporting central bank digital currencies and in 2022 supported “choking off the money” donated to the Freedom Convoy protests against COVID mandates.
As late as February, the Liberal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s immigration ministry, as reported by LifeSiteNews, was secretly asking Canadians via surveys if they would accept a national identification program that would likely end up requiring each citizen to always have a type of “digital” passport on them.
While the Liberal government under Trudeau insisted the program would be optional, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre nonetheless sounded the alarm by promising to introduce a new bill that would “expressly prohibit” digital IDs in Canada.
Digital IDs and similar systems have long been pushed by globalist groups like the World Economic Forum, an organization with which Liberal Party leader Mark Carney has extensive ties, under the guise of ease of access and security.
Critics, however, have warned that the purpose of such a system is actually to centralize control over citizens. This opinion seems to be mirrored by the general public, with a Bank of Canada survey finding that Canadians are very wary of a government-backed digital currency, concluding that a “significant number” of citizens would resist the implementation of such a system.
