A local member of a panel convened to provide recommendations to the provincial government on the future of the B.C. Services Card isn't too confident his group's work will amount to much.
Klaus Voigt is attending two sets meetings in Vancouver as part of the consultation into the one-stop identity card the government has rolled out to replace both the driver's licence and CareCard.
The panel, consisting of 36 members of the public from across the province, was created in response to the B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner expressing concern over the card's rollout out in February without any public consultation on the program as a whole.
"Given the program's profound reach and the amount and type of personal information involved, it is critical that citizens are included in the dialogue," said a statement from Elizabeth Denham.
In a report to the deputy minister of Citizens' Services and Open Government, Denham's major recommendation was to consult directly with citizens about the "vision, scope, privacy risks and safeguards of this initiative."
Panel members were selected from a pool of people who responded to a random household mailout.
"Government transparency promotes accountability to its citizenry," she said.
That element of transparency is a little clouded when the discussion is held after the fact, according to Voigt.
"It's like pushing the boat in the water before you know it floats," he said.
During the meetings this month, Voigt and his fellow panelists are sitting through presentations by government project leads and experts in the fields of digital identity and security, including representatives from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
By the time the entire exercise wraps up on Dec. 1, the group will have put together a report of recommendations for the government to consider.
But there's only so much the panelists are allowed to say. The specific tasks laid out for the panel include reviewing the province's approach to digital services and recommending actions the province can take to build confidence in the card as well as recommending principles and priorities for the design and implementation of the digital services and the next phase of the provincial identity management program.
A white paper on the consultation process also specifically outlines areas they can't touch - the elimination of a choice for a combined services card and the "wholesale unwinding of the identity management program."
Regardless of what the panel members actually think about the card and the program - Voigt said he likes the idea of having government services all rolled in to one place - several of them voiced concerns about the last-minute consultation approach, said Voigt.
"How stupid, to tell you before the meeting it doesn't matter what you say, we're not going to do it anyway," said Voigt.
Following the submission of the panel's final report, the government will have 60 days to respond.
