Critics are questioning what problem the Alberta government’s move to add mandatory citizenship markers to provincial identification aims to solve, and say it opens the door to potential privacy breaches and discrimination.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Monday the move is all about streamlining services and preventing election fraud.
Zool Suleman, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, said the United Conservative Party government’s impetus is unclear, and all Canadians should be worried about an increasing “creep” that forces the disclosure of more personal information.
“There’s some kind of hovering fear which some people are inflaming, which is that there are people who are voting who are not supposed to vote, or there are people accessing services they’re not supposed to access