Canada is missing a national approach to establish interoperable systems to validate identity online

Ottawa, 2 December 2024—A report from Auditor General Karen Hogan tabled today in the House of Commons concluded that the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has made little progress in leading the development of a national approach for validating a person’s identity digitally to access services online from all levels of government and elsewhere in the public and private sectors. This means that digital access at all levels of government and in the private sector is evolving without common parameters or guidance to ensure the interoperability of secure and reliable identity validation systems.

The audit found that the secretariat delayed this work because of a lack of funding to move it forward. However, the secretariat worked with Employment and Social Development Canada and Shared Services Canada on a needed component of a national approach—a one-stop online sign-in system that validates a person’s identity to access federal services. This would replace the almost 90 separate sign-in portals that are currently used by individual federal departments. In 2024, Employment and Social Development Canada received $25.1 million over 5 years to establish
the system.

The audit also found that the secretariat and the departments do not yet know what it will cost federal organizations to make the transition to this new federal sign‑in system or how those costs will be funded. A 2023 audit from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on modernizing information technology systems found that most organizations do not have enough funding to meet their modernization needs.

“A national approach is important to ensure seamless and secure access to online services in the public and private sectors for Canadians across the country,” said Ms. Hogan. “As we concluded our audit, it was unclear whether the development of a national approach would proceed and whether the transition to a new federal sign‑in system could be funded without presenting an unmanageable financial burden on
federal organizations.”