Invitation to provide input into the Canadian National Technical Specification for Digital Credentials and Digital Trust Services that was released for public review from January 9th to 27th, 2023

UNCLASSIFIED / NON CLASSIFIÉ

Hello, I am from the Government of Canada's Digital Credential Program at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. My team and I are very interested in participating in this community as we have been engaging in a lot of work related to digital credentials (which is a technology agnostic term we are using to refer to multiple digital wallet/holder-based approaches, including W3C Verifiable Credentials and mDL). As part of this, we would like to invite you to participate in the Canadian standards development for digital credentials and digital trust services, in particular seeking your input into the National Technical Specification for Digital Credentials and Digital Trust Services that was released for public review from January 9th to 27th, 2023. This is part of a four-phase project focused on establishing a National Standard of Canada and a full-scale conformity assessment program that are aligned with international best practices. This project has the following goals:

  *   Ensuring digital credentials and digital trust services are interoperable, so they can be seamlessly used across Canada and with trading partners;
  *   Making it easier for individuals and organizations to know which digital credentials and digital trust services they can trust;
  *   Enabling individuals and organizations to use the trusted wallet of their choice across Canada and with trading partners; and
  *   Enabling innovation and fair competition in the digital credentials space.

This project is taking an iterative approach to the standards development process, starting with the National Technical Specification, and moving next to a Prototype Accreditation Program that will test the requirements through a pilot certification process in Spring/Summer 2023 with certification bodies and developers of digital credentials and digital trust services. Here is the news release for the public review of the National Technical Specification: https://ciostrategycouncil.com/cio-strategy-council-launches-public-review-on-national-technical-specification-for-digital-credentials-and-digital-trust-services/<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fciostrategycouncil.com%2Fcio-strategy-council-launches-public-review-on-national-technical-specification-for-digital-credentials-and-digital-trust-services%2F&data=05%7C01%7CPaul.Jackson%40tbs-sct.gc.ca%7Cc28ff9d1e7cd4f6edcfc08daf3131476%7C6397df10459540479c4f03311282152b%7C0%7C0%7C638089560661148562%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ewbP4MgNXG%2FHyDQW6RrBvDoADiH5jiGdTfzz34%2FGCSI%3D&reserved=0>. The results of both the public review and the pilot testing would then be used to develop a National Standard of Canada. Here is an overview of the overall project: https://www.scc.ca/en/flagship/digital-credentials.

The actual National Technical Specification itself can be found here: https://ciostrategycouncil.com/standards/find-a-standard/standards-in-digital-credentials/digital-credentials/<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fciostrategycouncil.com%2Fstandards%2Ffind-a-standard%2Fstandards-in-digital-credentials%2Fdigital-credentials%2F&data=05%7C01%7CPaul.Jackson%40tbs-sct.gc.ca%7Cc28ff9d1e7cd4f6edcfc08daf3131476%7C6397df10459540479c4f03311282152b%7C0%7C0%7C638089560661148562%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FhCsxZ4RBi6WcBx%2B5SsfXEKV0oRPIgzwBemC6eERpc4%3D&reserved=0>. We welcome any feedback you may have on this National Technical Specification, as the goal is to work towards alignment across Canada, and with trading partners, on interoperability and mutual support for digital credentials. The intention is for this National Technical Specification to be technology agnostic, so that it could support at minimum Verifiable Credentials and mDL. If you are interested in providing comments, they can be provided by clicking on the area of the document where you want to provide feedback and then by filling out the small comment form.

Thank you and looking forward to working with you through the W3C Credentials Community Group,

Paul Jackson
(he | him / il | lui)

Director, Technology and Innovation
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada
Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca<mailto:Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca> / Tel: 613-791-7902

Directeur, Technologie et innovation
Bureau du dirigeant principal de l'information
Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada / Gouvernement du Canada
Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca<mailto:Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca> / Tél : 613-791-7902

Do not hesitate to reply in the official language of your choice. / N'hésitez pas à répondre dans la langue officielle de votre choix.