Update from the Province of Nova Scotia - Arlene Williams (Slides)

1. Digital Identity in Nova Scotia
Making it easier for Nova Scotians to do the things they
need to do
IDENTITY NORTH EAST
OCTOBER 2, 2019

2. We live in a digital age…
Citizens expect to connect with
services & products every day,
online & instantly.

3. Our Mission.
Deliver simpler, clearer, faster
public services.

4. Our Strategy.
Better Services: Simpler, Clearer, Faster.
Platforms: Build once, use many times.
Enabling & Scaling: “Teach to Fish”.

5. Why platforms?
Building common platforms for use across
government is cheaper, provides a
consistent experience, easier to improve,
& new services are built faster.

6. * Pan-Canadian Trust Framework
What is digital Identity?
An electronic representation of a person,
used exclusively by that person, to receive
valued services & to carry out transactions
with trust & confidence.*

7. Digital Identity Progress to Date
Take what we
learned from the
Discovery
Research and
enable a safe,
quick and easy
way to prove who
you are online.
Discovery
Research with
users
Foundational
Technology
Investment
2016/17 2018 Now
Services Card
Opportunity
Assessment
2014
Despite a push to digital transactions in government, the existing identity
verification processes within Nova Scotia remain largely paper-based.

8. Objectives of discovery
► What does the Province need to trust an
individual’s identity online?
► What are people willing to share to prove
who they are digitally?
Identify options for digital verification to higher
levels of assurance.

9. What did we learn in discovery?
Privacy &
Legislation
Government
Registries
Safe &
Easy
Trust in
GovernmentPeople will
share!
One
Account

10. ► Advance a pilot to digitally verify the identity of an individual
by leveraging existing authoritative sources of Identity
information that the Province is responsible for.
► The first step of that pilot is to conduct a legislative & privacy
review to ensure authorities to support the pilot are in place.
Key recommendation from discovery

11. Identity Platform Lessons Learned

12. In the Public Sector you
can’t lead the work alone.
Create a partnership model early on for
delivering this work & make sure it has
representation from key business areas such as
Foundational Identity (Vital Statistics).

13. Legal authority to collect,
use & disclose data.
Ensure you have a clear understanding of your
Legal Authorities early on & what that means
for collecting, using, and disclosing data.

14. Put the user at the centre of
everything you do.
Remember, you’re doing this work to improve
citizen’s lives and experiences – don’t lose site
of that.

15. Service delivery model.
Don’t forget the Service Delivery Model – plan
for it early on and design it well.

16. Just start!
Pick something you can deliver & pilot it.

17. ► Continue to improve & evolve our Digital Identity Platform.
► Continue to onboard more services.
► Conduct a legislative & privacy review to support
leveraging authoritative data for identity verification.
What’s next

18. Thank you
Arlene Williams
Director Digital Services & Digital Platforms
Department of Service Nova Scotia & Internal Services
https://beta.novascotia.ca/government/service-nova-scotia
@ArlenePino
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