Canada’s Liberal government is moving full steam ahead with a centralized digital identification system for federal benefits claimants, including Employment Insurance and Old Age Security.

A recent budget note confirms cabinet’s green light for amendments to the Department of Employment and Social Development Act, promising “more integrated and efficient services across government,” Blacklock’s reports.

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.@ESDC_gc proceeds with digital ID law for electronic processing of federal benefits, insists it will never be mandatory: "Cohorts of society may already be distrustful of public institutions."  https://t.co/LXEFhtTubf #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/QfWbvKaVtQ

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) November 6, 2025

This is being sold to Canadians as ‘convenient’ and ‘efficient’ with no legal details provided.

“Modernizing legislative authorities to support information sharing and digital services would particularly benefit groups facing barriers due to outdated, paper-based processes, particularly seniors,” said the note.

Funding for The Benefits Delivery Modernization (BDM) Programme was first approved in 2017, with preliminary estimates earmarking the program at $1.75 billion.

While it may seem innovative, these policies often call for the invasive collection of biometric markers, location data, banking information, and vaccination records, laying the groundwork for a surveillance state.

The Department of Employment admits the project is so convoluted that it required hiring external consultants last spring at an undisclosed taxpayer cost.

A 2024 report from the Auditor General found that “it was unclear whether the development of a national approach for validating a person’s identity digitally would proceed and whether the transition to a new federal sign-in system would be funded without presenting an unmanageable financial burden on departments.”

Tam's Public Health Agency of Canada is looking to hire someone to solicit your confidential medical records through your family doctor, despite the agency’s history of disregarding personal data and privacy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

MORE https://t.co/TrSO0RvhAA pic.twitter.com/vy3xCseWn5

— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) March 14, 2024

While the government swears digital ID is voluntary, history shows “optional” quickly becomes obligatory when convenience is dangled and alternatives are made cumbersome.

Canada’s privacy commissioner flagged personal information breaches in a 2023-2024 report to parliament, noting an “increase in both the scale and complexity of breaches, as well as the increasingly sophisticated nature of threat actors, including state-sanctioned ones and those emanating from organized crime.”

At the WEF24 Digital World forum, forensics researcher Brittan Heller revealed that privacy laws fall short in regulating aspects of XR technology, including body-based data containing highly personal information that companies can harness unabatedhttps://t.co/5Nn0zX7xO2 pic.twitter.com/HU1m07VtzC

— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) January 16, 2024

In Canada, the feds, two major airports, and Air Canada have already partnered with the World Economic Forum on the Known Traveller Digital Identity pilot project.

It follows a pattern of digitization, especially in health records, as the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) recently called on contractors to help expand federal surveillance of Canadians’ electronic medical records (EMRs) through the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy.

Originating from COVID-19 pandemic surveillance initiatives, this program seeks real-time, nationwide access to primary care data to improve disease monitoring, including areas like long COVID, antimicrobial resistance, and mental health. PHAC aims to obtain this comprehensive EMR data—including full clinical notes—for research and analysis, working under ethical review boards.

However, this comes with serious privacy and consent concerns, including whether Canadians have been adequately informed and how their data will ultimately be used and stored.

These concerns echo earlier controversies over federal monitoring of citizens’ cellphone data and online activity during the pandemic, without their knowledge or consent.

South of the border, a new Congressional report warns that China’s Communist Party is exporting its AI-driven surveillance and control technologies worldwide which is creating a global framework of digital authoritarianism that threatens democratic freedoms and U.S. interests, as reported by The Bureau.

Could the West, once a bastion of freedom and civil liberties, be slowly sleepwalking toward Chinese Communist-style social credit systems under the illusion of convenience and security?