This is why Saskatchewan cancelled their digital ID program

• By Rebel News

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Rebel gets results! The province of Saskatchewan has cancelled their digital ID program. But there is more to this cancellation than meets the eye and I am going to find out what it is.

The province made the announcement late last week.

Here is the story in the Leader-Post:

Saskatchewan is pausing the process to bring a new digital ID into the province after saying it’s heard concerns from residents.

An emailed statement sent on behalf of the Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement said the costs to develop the initiative, intended to make accessing services easier, would have been significant.

[Jim] Reiter [the minister responsible] said the cost would have been in the millions. He didn’t provide an exact figure because of “proprietor issues.”

One of the main concerns has been privacy. From its inception, Reiter had said it would not be mandatory. 

A couple of weeks ago, I reported to you that I had been given the largest access to information bill I have ever received and it was from the province of Saskatchewan when I applied for documents on their digital ID program.

They didn't send us documents in the form of a PDF attachment to an email like we normally see when we file for access. They sent us a bill for $15,317.50 for documents which included $12,437.50 in photocopying fees and about $2,900 in labour to pay a government staffer to do the work.

It was a paywall designed to stop me from looking.

Instead of giving up, we appealed. Two weeks ago, the office of the privacy commissioner in Saskatchewan replied suggesting they were going to investigate the fees and asked if we were willing to take digital documents.

Then, suddenly, the program was cancelled on the eve of documents being turned over. It's all a little too tidy.

I am not done looking for these documents and I won’t stop until I have them.

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