Last updated: November 3, 2025
Digital identity (DI) services are increasingly part of how people access services and prove who they are online. Understanding how these systems work, their benefits, and privacy challenges is critical because they may affect collaboration with government or external partners in the not-too-distant future.
What Are Digital Identity Services?
- A digital identity is a set of verified attributes about a person (such as name, address, credentials) that can be used in online or in-person interactions. Rather than having many separate logins and identity checks, DI services allow one identity credential to verify your identity across multiple services.
- In Canada, the Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) has developed the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF), which sets standards to ensure DI services are trustworthy, interoperable, private, and user-centred.
- In British Columbia, the BC Wallet app is being rolled out. It lets individuals hold digital credentials (for example, a "Person credential" based on the BC Services Card, or a "Digital Business Card") which they can present securely to services that accept them.
How Digital Identity Could Be Used in the Future
- Streamlined access to government services, permitting, licensing, and collaboration that require identity verification.
- Library, HR, or Student Services could use digital identity credentials to access sensitive or secure areas, authenticate online resources, or simplify onboarding.
- Research partnerships: Securely verifying identities across institutions or provinces, with trust in the credential issued elsewhere.
- Compliance & security: Using stronger authentication (beyond just username/password) for internal systems could reduce the risk of fraud or unauthorized access.
Key Benefits
- Security and trust: Digital credentials use cryptography, secure verification, and in many systems, authentication standards that reduce the risk of impersonation or credential fraud.
- Privacy & user control: Many systems allow selective disclosure (only sharing what’s needed), consent before sharing, and storage of credentials on the user’s device (not necessarily in a central database).
- Efficiency: Less manual overhead in verifying IDs, forms that auto-fill or accept digital verification, faster processing. This can save staff time and reduce errors. The BC Wallet aims for “instant verification” and smoother service delivery.
- Interoperability: Standards like PCTF help ensure that digital credentials issued in one jurisdiction or by one organization are accepted by others, under agreed rules. For UBC, that means credentials from provincial or federal systems may be usable on campus.
Privacy Risks & Concerns
While digital identity has many advantages, there are real concerns. Some key ones are:
- Data breaches: The more systems that hold identity data (even if encrypted), the more attractive targets they become.
- Surveillance risk/misuse: If systems record when, where, and how credentials are used, there is potential for tracking or profiling. Transparency and limits are necessary.
- Function creep/unauthorized use: Data collected for identity verification might be used later for unrelated purposes unless restricted by policy or law.
- Exclusion or inequity: Individuals without smartphones or secure internet access, or those whose primary IDs are non-standard, might be disadvantaged.
What to Watch Out For
- When adopting or accepting digital credentials, check whether the issuing system is certified (e.g. under PCTF) or meets similar trust standards.
- Ensure research/data management systems comply with privacy and data protection: encrypted storage, minimal necessary data, and clear consent.
- Stay aware of policies around retention and deletion of identity data.
The Future of Digital Identity in Canada & BC
Digital identity services are likely to become more common, more interoperable, and more privacy-aware in the coming years. Key trends to watch:
- Expansion of adoption: More services (government, education, private sector) will accept digital credentials. The City of Vancouver is collaborating with provincial partners to explore digital credentials to streamline municipal services, making it easier for businesses and residents to interact with the government.
- Stronger standards and certification: PCTF components (authentication, trust registries, credentials) will become more mature, with more organizations certified.
- Advanced privacy technologies: Use of selective disclosure, zero-knowledge proofs, and decentralized architectures so that verification does not require querying large central databases.
- Greater user control and flexibility: Users will have more choice of how and when to share identity information, more mobile/digital wallet-based credentials, and stronger protections over what is shared.
- Legal, regulatory, and policy evolution: As more identity services are used, oversight, privacy law, interoperability regulation, and governance will grow in importance.