“It was not the direction the government intended to explore at that time,” said the report.
“Given that identity is a provincial and territorial jurisdiction, apart from immigrants and newcomers to Canada who are provided with an identity document from the Department of Immigration, implementing an electronic national primary identity document is limited.”
The report was a response to a May 12 committee hearing on the Social Insurance Number program that’s been in effect since 1964.
“Could you tell us whether any work has been undertaken to replace the use of the Social Insurance Number with a digital identifier, and if so what conclusions have been drawn?” said Senator Lucie Moncion (Ont.).