Technology and the Charter
Leading Canada in understanding how emerging information technologies impact rights and freedoms
Latest Developments

Justice Centre Weekly
Learn about digital ID and the value of privacy
July 14, 2023

Justice Centre reports and analysis
Digital ID, Surveillance, and the Value of Privacy | Part Two
Released August 9, 2023
Our analysis suggests that information technologies (or the ways in which these technologies are being used) may generate Charter violations. These violations engage the following Charter-protected rights and freedoms:
- Privacy rights
- Security rights
- Mobility rights
- Equality rights
- Freedom of expression
- Freedoms of assembly and association
The Justice Centre is applying expert research and analysis to the information technology sector from the perspective of the Charter. Continue reading to learn more about our priority research areas.
Research Area: Digital ID and the Charter
The context: An identification document is a solution to the social problem of establishing a sufficient degree of trust between parties for a transaction to occur. The identification documents with which Canadians are most familiar (e.g., driver’s licenses and passports) help Canadians to prove specific claims about themselves or to prove that they are who they say they are when interacting with people, organizations, or governments. Governments and policy designers claim that Digital ID will be the mere digital counterparts to traditional identification documents.
The problem: This is not the case. Many of the digital ID programs being designed in Canada and in jurisdictions across the globe have tracking and profiling capabilities. That is, many of these programs allow governments and partnering agencies to collect data about the intimate identities of their users across time, including data about histories, behaviours, preferences, interests, and biometrics. Whenever captured, such data allows governments and partnering agencies to develop complex profiles of the intimate identities of their users. In many cases, governments use the data they have collected about Canadians to unreasonably limit their Charter-protected rights and freedoms.
Why it matters: We suggest that governments should not be in the business of tracking or profiling their citizens. Digital ID programs with these kinds of surveillance functionalities violate the privacy of Canadians, and we suggest further that privacy is necessary for the enjoyment of security, autonomy, and human dignity. Further, these programs could cause equality issues, access issues, and security issues.
For example, the Known Traveller Digital Identity of the World Economic Forum generates concerns about consent, access to domestic and international travel, and inequality. The Pan-Canadian Trust Framework of the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada generates concerns about the use of biometric data (e.g., users’ typing speed, touch screen pressure, or walking gait) and about access to essential goods and services. Finally, legislation in Québec would allow governments and corporations to develop profiles of users’ workplace performance, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, or behaviour.
What you can do: Stay informed about how emerging information technologies are impacting your Charter rights and freedoms. Ask your democratic representatives to make privacy protections a priority for governments and policy designers.
Download our Digital ID brochure.
Research Area: ArriveCAN and the Charter
The Government of Canada ArriveCAN program is a digital ID program for international travelers. First introduced on April 29, 2020, the program allowed travelers to share customs information, phone numbers, and private medical information (COVID-19 vaccination status) with border officials. The program became mandatory on November 21, 2020. Regardless of vaccination status, travelers who chose not to use ArriveCAN were subjected to fines and were required to quarantine for 14 days.
While the Government of Canada initially marketed ArriveCAN as a “convenient” and voluntary method for border agents to collect data about Canadians, ArriveCAN became mandatory after only seven months. And, while digital IDs are not always harmful, mandatory identification programs generate serious concerns about privacy and other Charter-protected rights. Whenever invasive technologies becomes normalized, it is easy for people to overlook the legal violations and ethics concerns they generate.
Canadians need to be informed about Digital ID programs like ArriveCAN and their potentially harmful impacts on privacy and other Charter-protected rights. Canadians need to make conscientious and informed decisions about the appropriate use of such technologies at our international borders. Explore below the ways in which ArriveCAN engages the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Partner with us in producing independent research and education
Our research and analysis is funded by Canadians like you. We choose not to accept any government funding so that we can remain independent and pursue the issues that matter most to Canadians without interference. Please consider making a contribution to the advancement of independent research on "Technology and the Charter" today.