BRIEFING ApRIL 2018
Cautious Optimism.Adopting Blockchain to Improve Canadian Government Digital Services
At a Glance
• This briefing explores how distributed ledger technology (DLT)—such as blockchain
(BC) and its potential uses—can support better government digital services.
• BC’s distributed trust model is a promising tool to support the government’s efforts
to ensure accountability and transparency. The technology also has the potential
to simplify both the management of trusted information in a secured way and the
government’s interactions with Canadians.
• Further adoption of BC will require a demonstration of the technology’s capabilities
and growing maturity through additional proof of concepts, experiments, use cases,
and prototypes.
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Executive Summary
This briefing explores how distributed ledger
technology (DLT)—such as blockchain (BC)
and its potential uses—can support enhanced
government digital services. There is a
willingness to better understand blockchain.
While some issues will be addressed over time,
there are some significant policy questions that
need to be addressed before it can be adopted
on any meaningful level. Therefore, widespread,
enthusiastic adoption of blockchain will require
a demonstration of the technology’s capabilities
and growing maturity through additional
proof of concepts, experiments, use cases,
and prototypes.
The government plays a leading stewardship role with regard to public
records and public funds, and its maintenance of trusted information
about Canadians, businesses, assets, and activities.
BC’s distributed trust model is a promising tool to support the
government’s efforts to ensure accountability and transparency. The
trust model also has the potential to simplify both the management of the
trusted information in a secured way and the government’s interactions
with Canadians.
The greatest challenge associated with the implementation of BC is
building trust relationships in the administration (and with the users) of
the technology, as the strength and integrity of the data protection rely
on layers of self-reinforcing trust.
This briefing advises the federal government to:
• align its digital transformation efforts;
• better link data across jurisdictions and government departments;
• scale up to more efficient and responsive public services;
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• determine the next prototypes to further grow DLT maturity;
• develop a pan-Canadian DLT vision to provide direction to users, service
providers, and Canadians.
Introduction
This introduction provides an overview of DLT technology, namely BC,
while subsequent sections will explore BC applications in government,
and examine current challenges. The briefing ends with ideas for action,
mainly on the part of the Canadian federal government.
The briefing explores how DLT, such as BC and its potential uses, can
support better government digital services across various public policy
issues. Findings stem from a literature review and interviews with key
experts from several federal departments and provincial governments in
Canada, the Canadian information technology industry, and experts from
the United states, scotland, The netherlands, and estonia.
Interview discussions examined current DLT proof of concepts, use
cases, and prototypes under way; how BC technology integrates within
other existing technologies; and the challenges and opportunities BC
technology has provided to date. Additional questions explored the risk
implications in adopting BC technology; scalability; impacts on trust
for users, service providers, government, and citizens; and balancing
the potential benefits of an emerging technology over proven older and
legacy systems.
Distributed Ledger Technology
DLT’s current wave of innovation has resulted in public BCs that
have captured considerable attention, particularly when deployed
around financial platforms and decentralized peer-to-peer crypto-
based networks. The technology gained relevance as a trusted digital
distributed ledger (like a spreadsheet)—a network that provides
a secure, transparent, immutable record of events (i.e., verified
transactions, cryptocurrencies, contracts, and records).
BC’s distributed
trust model is a
promising tool
to support the
government’s
efforts to ensure
accountability and
transparency.
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Distributed ledgers can be private (fully permissioned); consortiums
(partially permissioned); or public (through distributed platforms such as
Bitcoin, ethereum, and Ripple). (see “permissions.”) The term
“blockchain” is often used to refer to these public ledgers, which derive
their utility as a mechanism to generate, track, and facilitate the
exchange of digital assets. each data record or block has a unique
identifier linked to the previous block that, once validated by the network
and added to the ledger, form a chain—hence the name.
Permissions
some networks require permission to read information on the chain (thus limiting
access to transactions on the chain) and can also determine who can write new
blocks into the chain.
Under this framework, every transaction is recorded as a block. Blocks
are chained and encrypted, and the BC grows. The distributed ledger
is a complete history—auditable and verifiable—meaning the blocks
collected can be verified and managed through automation and shared
governance protocols.
DLT is useful as a historical record of events, particularly for events that
one or more parties need to authorize or authenticate. However, it is not
optimized for storage of data because all pieces of data are replicated
across every node in the distributed network. nor is DLT optimized for
storing data that are intended to be private or secret, because the data
are distributed widely. As well, DLT is not suitable for data that change
rapidly or for information that must be widely known instantly after it has
been changed.
Thus, DLT is complex. There is a willingness to better understand the
technology and its various platforms. Benefits to governments accrue in
situations where data-sharing is required, when there is distrust or trust
is low, or when there are multiple entities writing and reading the ledger
and looking to strengthen authentication and identity validation. While
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some issues will be addressed over time, there are some significant
policy questions that need to be addressed before it can be adopted on
any meaningful level. For instance, how the technology will conform with
privacy laws and, more specifically, the right to be forgotten or right to
erasure. BC is also a shared technology, and there are cultural obstacles
to sharing infrastructure and data across jurisdictions. Further proof-of-
concept demonstrations, use cases, pilots, and prototypes are needed
to secure broad-based stakeholder buy-in. potential DLT adopters are
proceeding with cautious optimism, due to the relative scarcity of current
BC implemented and effective working solutions.
There are many arguments in favour of DLT. It facilitates a privacy-
respecting, data-sharing ecosystem and validation of digital attributes
for users. DLT users appreciate the decentralization of data-sharing,
data immutability, security features, and information integrity protection.
Individual actors are unable to remove or alter blocks and chains (like
rows in a spreadsheet) with a distributed ledger, as BCs provide an entire
secure, permanent, and encrypted record. Any potential adjustment in
one block would entail modifying all the subsequent records in the chain.
Additionally, once the chain is supplemented by another block, all related
network nodes (computers) are automatically updated, making data-
sharing across a distributed network a dynamic process.
An additional benefit of BC is its capacity to provide a degree of
privacy and (pseudo)anonymity in transaction ledgers, as users are
not compelled to provide personal information to each other. However,
there may be requirements for identification at various points in the
network, such as occurrences at exchanges, which allow trading
in cryptocurrencies. The technology supports environments where
individuals and organizations take ownership and control of their
data, creating a sophisticated structure of permissions (that is, who is
allowed to modify BC data, what they can modify, and when).1 These
attributes collectively deliver improvements in efficiency, integrity, speed,
distributed trust, and durability.
1 everyone in the network can see data that are shared on the chain. If encrypted data are stored, they
can also be seen.
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The government plays a leading stewardship role with regard to public
records and public funds. In this capacity, it maintains trusted information
about Canadians, businesses, assets, and activities. BC’s distributed
trust model is a promising tool to support the government’s efforts to
ensure accountability and transparency, and simplify the management
of this trusted information in a secured way in its interactions with
Canadian stakeholders.
Blockchain Applications to Deliver Government Digital Services
There are many compelling reasons to adopt DLT to deliver government
digital services. potential benefits include the reduction of overhead
costs (i.e., shared infrastructure, reduced auditing and reconciliation
of documents, in relation to centralized systems), improved citizen and
client services, and improved data-sharing. Governments may choose
to adopt DLT where public services require personal interaction or for
individual identification and verification associated with handling or
managing public documents, permits, and licences. This extends to
commercial and property related matters (such as the transfer of land,
real estate, lease contracts, and land registries) as well as personal
applications (such as the registration of birth and marriage certificates,
degrees, visas, and credentials). (see “General Applications.”)
General Applications
General categories may include documentation verification (commercial vs.
personal applications), tax administration, internal government services and
program administration, and consumer product regulation.
DLT can also be implemented to deliver core government activities,
such as taxation administration. However, care may need to be taken to
construct data models that do not leak personal or private information.
DLT technology can also be beneficial in consumer product regulation.
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The technology can be applied to transfers of ownership, tracking or
tracing regulated consumer products, and facilitating (smart) contracts.
In health care, BC technologies can support government digital services
to assist with streamlining patient information. Although DLT is likely
not suitable for sharing private or protected information directly, it
is potentially useful for sharing the administration of permissioned
access to records across multiple providers (i.e., not the data itself,
but who has access to the data). Financially—beyond transactions,
securities, settlements, and debt assistance—BC technologies can
back digital services around monetary benefit disbursal. This includes
the administration of family allowances and the secure transfer of funds
to welfare and pensioner recipients. As an example of this application,
in 2016, the United Kingdom’s Department for Work and pensions
experimented with DLT to allow welfare claimants to receive and spend
benefit payments through an app. The transactions were recorded, with
consent, on a distributed ledger to support the department’s financial
management and reduce benefit fraud.2
Overall, DLT is not the solution for everything, and should be applied
where its strengths will be exemplified. Determining when to use BC
should require answering technology usage criteria, or pre-conditions.
These include instances such as:
• when there are multiple distributed participants or multiple parties that
generate transactions;
• where parties need to trust the validity of transactions;
• where intermediaries are inefficient or untrusted;
• where enhanced security is needed;
• when permanent non-refutable records are needed.3
2 The DLT pilot was found to be effective and encouraging, but no decision was made for scaling up.
3 In part, based on Deloitte’s BC decision framework in Krawiec and others, Blockchain: Opportunities
for Health Care.
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Government Blockchain Use Cases Outside of Canada
Governments across the globe, from municipal to national levels, are
pursuing various proofs of concepts, experiments, use cases, and
prototypes. Few applications are in production, however. According to a
march 2017 Deloitte study, the 10 most active public sector use cases
that were in progress, planned, or announced—with a concentration of
experiments in the U.s. and europe4—were:
1. digital currency/payments
2. land registration
3. voting
4. identity management
5. supply chain traceability
6. health care
7. proxy voting
8. corporate registration
9. taxation
10. entitlements management
The netherlands, for instance, has over 46 concurrent experiments
under way, including 18 prototypes and one in production (child
allowances in the city of Zuidhorn).5 The Dutch are also pursuing the
potential of self-sovereign digital identity allowing citizens to connect and
have better control over their personal data.
estonia is viewed as a leader in adopting DLT. Adoption and
development began over a decade ago as the country faced pressures
in cybersecurity. To also address earlier distrust concerns, secure digital
ID cards are issued to estonians and residents. This allows them to
verify the integrity of their records held in government databases and to
control access. (The model is not pursued in Canada, although it offers
an inspiring vision). estonia is also now securing its citizens’ electronic
health records through Keyless signature Infrastructure (KsI) technology.
4 Killmeyer, White, and Chew, Will Blockchain Transform the Public Sector?
5 OpenGov, How the Dutch Government Is Exploring Blockchain; Dutch Government, Blockchain.
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The technology is used to safeguard all public sector data,6 allowing
government officials to monitor changes within various databases,
including who and when. The country is also looking to expand KsI
technology, making it available to all government agencies and the
private sector.
elsewhere, the United Arab emirates aims to have a paperless public
sector by 2020 through the use of BC technology (a single software
platform and online encrypted database). In south Korea, the Dayli
Financial Group is building a national BC ecosystem called ICOn. The
ecosystem will allow government, universities, hospitals, securities,
banks, and the private sector to interact “without third-party networks
that charge transaction fees or delay the process”; and to exchange
digital currencies, stocks, games, security information, and even
hospital databases.7
In the U.s., the states of Delaware and Illinois have been proactive
in developing applications and pilots. Leading the country, Delaware
embraced BC and smart contract technologies to foster sector growth,
and provide supportive legal and regulatory environments to help
“the public and enterprises lower their transactional costs, speed up
and automate manual processes, and reduce fraud.”8 In Illinois, more
recently, each pilot project can select its own BC technology provider
to develop a specific application to meet its respective needs. Thus,
several BCs are established for specific purposes across varying public
scenarios, jurisdictions, and organizations.
DLT is truly a multipotential technology. However, a single ledger for
everything won’t work. Generally, there is little to no alignment in digital
transformation efforts within or across jurisdictions to jointly adopt and
interoperate BC technology, including in Canada. Interoperability across
BCs (e.g., multiple applications on the same network) will remain a
challenge for some time. In this emerging field, BC service providers
6 Guardtime, KSI Technology Stack. Visit the web site at https://guardtime.com/technology to learn
more about KsI technology.
7 Ramirez, “Could This Blockchain in Korea Be the First to Connect an entire Country?”
8 Delaware is the legal home of 66 per cent of Fortune 500 companies and 85 per cent of U.s.
initial public offerings. Delaware Office of the Governor, “Governor markell Launches Delaware
Blockchain Initiative.”
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and developers are also continuously fine tuning how to program BC
applications for public services.
Government Blockchain Experimentation in Canada
In Canada, there are several cases of experimentation and proof
of concepts (poC) under way or completed. Indeed, government
departments will benefit from experimenting with DLT technology and
increasingly deploying it strategically. poCs generate significant lessons
around the business challenges that need to be overcome and, perhaps
critically, whether existing non-BC technologies applied more effectively
can achieve similar or better goals. Leading DLT adopters include the
national Research Council (nRC), Bank of Canada (BoC), and the
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), although there are many additional
experiments ongoing (see Appendix B).
National Research CouncilAn area where nRC is pursuing DLT is in the recording of contribution
agreements and making government research grant and funding
information more transparent to the public. All Canadian granting and
contracting departments and agencies are proactive in the disclosure of
key government contracts. nRC has begun a trial of DLT using the Catena
Blockchain suite9 (ethereum-based) to publish contribution agreement
information in real time. Therefore, when nRC creates or amends a
contribution agreement, the change is shared on BC with Bitaccess. As
well, individual contribution information is posted on an online database—a
measure that complements ongoing quarterly proactive disclosures
available through the Open Government website (open-data initiative).
Canadians can then peruse nRC’s contribution agreement disclosure
information by monetary value, date, recipient, and region.10
9 national Research Council, “exploring Blockchain for Better Business.” For more information on the
experiment, see https://nrc-cnrc.explorecatena.com/.
10 Canadians can also verify contribution agreement information by clicking on the Transaction ID link,
which takes them to the unique transaction listing on the online ethereum transaction database,
etherscan.io.
Government
departments
will benefit from
experimenting with
DLT technology.
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Bank of CanadaThe Bank of Canada completed a one-year BC pilot project named
Jasper and concluded that DLT is not yet mature enough to run a
national interbank payment settlement system.11 BoC has committed
to researching the new technology and partaking in a poC alongside
payments Canada, Canadian commercial banks, and the R3 consortium.
The Bank of Canada, payments Canada, and the TmX Group recently
announced phase 3 of the Jasper project and will develop a poC for the
clearing and settlement of securities.
Canada Revenue AgencyCRA identified the need to develop policy for the tax treatment of digital
currency and seizing digital holdings, along with privacy, banking, and
cybersecurity issues. The Agency is looking into cryptocurrencies
and the risks they pose to the Canadian tax base to inform future risk
assessment and audit approaches, in addition to developing the means
for detecting tax non-compliance. The Agency is also looking to build
a new BC-based digital identity service, expanding on secureKey
Concierge’s service, which is used by individuals to authenticate
themselves to the federal government through the banking sector.
Toronto Restaurant OperatorsThe Government of Canada, province of Ontario, and City of Toronto
undertook a poC that explored using BC to reduce the time that business
owners take to open a restaurant in the city. The process of setting up
a new restaurant involves compliance with over 25 provincial statutes
by obtaining various permits, with much duplication of information.
Rather than submit their information to each agency separately, the poC
successfully demonstrated that applicants could submit their information
only once. That is because the information was securely shared between
all agencies through a private BC platform. The poC also demonstrated
that third parties, such as banks, might hold “read access” to certain
11 Wilkins, “project Jasper”; Gillis and Trusca, “Not There Yet.”
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information that would allow mortgages to be issued to business owners
without the need to resubmit certain information.12
Following the experience with restaurant operators, the City of Toronto’s
Department of municipal Licensing is creating a digital registration
system for drivers interested in working with Uber, and is exploring
AirBnB next.13
Corporate RegistriesIBm Canada, the province of British Columbia, and the Digital ID &
Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) collaborated to develop
a poC to explore the viability of BC technology as a tool. Their
purpose was to enable more secure, effective, and efficient corporate
registrations—both within a single province and across multiple
jurisdictions.14 British Columbia’s leading achievements and increased
technology maturity are partly due to the robust relationship between
public services and technology services to jointly advance BC adoption,
and technology maturity “off-chain” government data architecture to the
hyperledger BC technology platform. Further work on the poC is required
to strengthen its viability.
Challenges and Improving Government Digital Services With Blockchain
DLT technology adoption faces numerous challenges including privacy,
regulatory standards, interoperability, and implications on public sector
and business processes. On the technology side, there are questions
of “platform scalability, validation methods, data standardization, and
systems integration,” while on the managerial side, the questions include
“business model transformation, incentive structure, and transaction
scale and maturity.”15
12 Responses from interviews.
13 Wood, “City of Toronto’s Tracey Cook.”
14 Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada, Is Blockchain the Answer.
15 Killmeyer, White, and Chew, Will Blockchain Transform the Public Sector?
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Without commonly accepted standards for BC technologies or the
networks that operate them, selecting a BC platform and architecture
remains a difficult choice. Governments must not only assess an
adequate technology and ways to integrate it within their existing
systems, but also identify stable partners, particularly small to medium-
sized start-up firms.
privacy risks are a priority concern and require constant attention and
robust encryption methods to maintain user privacy, including how to
protect an individual’s right to correct or forget their personal information
recorded on a BC. As a solution, BCs could potentially encrypt the
personal data at issue and the use of timestamps for personal data
held elsewhere; limit disclosure by design; or supply privacy impact
assessment as it pertains to a user’s privacy rights. significantly, among
all the technology’s challenges, the largest BC risk implication is the loss
in user privacy and trust. BC adoption will weaken as trust declines. It is
a journey to earn trust.
Ideas for Action Going Forward
How can governments take advantage of BC innovation while dealing
with the above risks and challenges? several countries—such as
estonia, The netherlands, and singapore—established small expert
groups, even hackathons,16 from digital services, chief information officer
bureaus, information technology departments, procurement services,
and technology adopting department authorities, to list priority BC pilot
opportunities and partners for implementation.
such groups could guide the federal government’s choices to pursue
the next prototype. Indeed, this briefing recommends that the Canadian
government support a larger BC pilot program with multiple contributors.
starting with lower-scale experiments, pilots may consider areas where
public services require too much time, duplication, manual tasks, and
cost, to demonstrate baseline capabilities. (see “pilot program.”)
16 Hackathons are a design sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in
software development—including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and
subject matter experts—collaborate intensively on software projects.
DLT technology
adoption faces
numerous
challenges
including privacy,
regulatory
standards,
interoperability,
and implications
on business
processes.
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Pilot Program
For instance, start with small pilot programs within multiple different federal
government departments, develop early cross-departmental standards through
steering committees, and scale up implementation within departments with
harmonized parallel structures.
As pilot projects create larger Canadian expertise while BC increasingly
matures, BC service providers can then test the technology, manage
ledger challenges, and improve BC platforms to meet more specific
government digital service needs. In support of this growth, the nRC’s
Industrial Research Assistance program (IRAp) continues to assist
Canadian small and medium sized enterprises (smes). IRAp also
provides advisory services and financial contributions to research and
design, and delivers and commercializes BC and distributed ledger
technologies.17 In this instance, there is a preference to focus on
investing in the Canadian BC sme ecosystem before building internal
government expertise.
expect DLT adoption to take time. Currently, any improvements to the
BC-backed government digital services are years away from production.
proof of concepts, experiments, pilots, use cases, and prototypes can
take several months to a year to complete.
meanwhile, government departments and agencies continue to share BC
experiment and pilot lessons learned internally; learn from other levels of
government and peers internationally; and work more strategically18 to:
• align DLT’s digital transformation efforts;
• better link data across jurisdictions and government departments;
• scale up more efficient and responsive public services with DLT;
• determine the next prototypes to cultivate BC maturity;
• develop a pan-Canadian vision to provide direction to users, service
providers, and Canadians.
17 many thanks to nRC’s John shannon for his insights on the Council’s experience with BC.
18 For instance, through the Treasury Board of Canada’s enterprise Architecture Review Board.
Improvements to
the BC-backed
government digital
services are
years away from
production.
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Acknowledgements
This briefing was prepared for The Conference Board of Canada’s Industry
strategy and public policy Division. Funding was provided by Innovation, science
and economic Development Canada (IseD).
This briefing was used as a primer for The Conference Board of Canada’s
roundtable and webcast Enabling Digital Government with Blockchain, held on
February 28, 2018, in Ottawa. The briefing was written and researched by Dr.
Jean-Charles Le Vallée. For their comments on an earlier draft, the author thanks
John shannon, acting Director General, Digital Technologies Research Centre,
at the national Research Council Canada; marc Brouillard, Chief Technology
Officer of the Government of Canada at the Treasury Board of Canada
secretariat; workshop participants; and the Conference Board’s sabrina Bond
and Andrew pender.
The findings and analysis of this briefing are entirely those of The Conference
Board of Canada, not of the funder. Any errors and omissions in fact or
interpretation remain the sole responsibility of The Conference Board of Canada.
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APPENDIX A
Bibliography
Delaware Office of the Governor. “Governor markell Launches Delaware
Blockchain Initiative: Reflects state’s Commitment to Innovation and
embracing the new economy.” news release, may 2, 2016. Accessed
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markell-launches-delaware-blockchain-initiative-300260672.html.
Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC). Is
Blockchain the Answer to Corporate Registries in Canada? June
6, 2017. Accessed January 29, 2018. https://diacc.ca/2017/06/06/
is-blockchain-the-answer-to-corporate-registries-in-canada/.
Dutch Government, Blockchain projects. Blockchain. 2018. Accessed
January 29, 2018. https://www.blockchainpilots.nl/home-eng.
Gillis, maureen, and Alexandru Trusca. “Not There Yet”: Bank of
Canada Experiments With Blockchain Wholesale Payment System.
CyberLex, June 19, 2017. Accessed February 13, 2018. http://www.
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Guardtime. KSI Technology Stack. 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018.
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Killmeyer, Jason, mark White, and Bruce Chew. Will Blockchain
Transform the Public Sector? Blockchain Basics for Government.
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blockchain-transform-public-sector.pdf.
For the exclusive use of Latitia Scarr, [email protected], Public Affairs Advisors.
17
Appendix A | The Conference Board of Canada
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Krawiec, R. J., Dan Housman, mark White, mariya Filipova, Florian
Quarre, Dan Barr, Allen nesbitt, Kate Fedosova, Jason Killmeyer,
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OpenGov. How the Dutch Government Is Exploring Blockchain Use
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the-dutch-government-is-exploring-potential-uses-of-blockchain-through-
many-concurrent-pilot-projects.
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Wood, eric emin. “City of Toronto’s Tracey Cook Believes the Future of
Licensing Lies With Blockchain.” IT World Canada, December 18, 2017.
Accessed February 13, 2018. https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/
city-of-torontos-tracey-cook-believes-the-future-of-licensing-lies-with-
blockchain/400111.
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APPENDIX B
Other Ongoing Government Blockchain Experiments
The following updates were provided through interviews. Thanks in
particular to the Treasury Board of Canada.
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)
since 2016, FInTRAC, the Canadian financial intelligence unit (FIU), has
been monitoring and assessing the potential impacts that widespread
uptake of BC technologies across the financial sector may have on
Canada’s ability to detect, prevent, and deter money laundering and
terrorist activity financing.
This ongoing analysis includes both an assessment of the BC
technologies that display the greatest vulnerabilities to abuse for illicit
purposes, as well as those that have the potential to enhance the
Canadian anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime.
Canadian Securities Administrators
The Canadian securities Administrators is taking steps to ensure
protection for consumers who invest in cryptocurrency offerings by tech
companies that are seeking to raise capital through initial coin offerings
(ICO), initial token offerings (ITO), and sales of securities of
For the exclusive use of Latitia Scarr, [email protected], Public Affairs Advisors.
19
Appendix B | The Conference Board of Canada
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cryptocurrency investment funds. Concerns include the use of unethical
practices or illegal schemes and poor consumer understanding of the
risks involved.
Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
IseD is working with the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) to
understand how the government can use BC to improve its operations
and service delivery. The project will consist of four use cases examining
different sectors of the government.
As part of the project, the Canadian Intellectual property Office (CIpO)
will have a case study developed that seeks to understand how the
registration of copyright could leverage BC technology under the
constraints of current legislation and CIpO’s mandate.
Elections Canada
Interest in BC remains at the research level—monitoring initiatives which
address practical applications that might support voter list management,
secure identity management, and management of electoral geography.
Natural Resources Canada
The department is currently exploring the feasibility of using BC to serve
as a public registry for the disclosure of payments by companies under
the Extractive Sectors Transparency Measures Act.
Public Safety Canada
The department is monitoring advances in BC from a cyber security
perspective. The department’s focus is primarily on the various uses and
misuses of virtual currencies (extortion or blackmail).
Public Service Procurement Canada
pspC is defining a pilot that will use DLT to verify business organizations
in order to further enable self-service capabilities for partners on the buy-
and-sell platform.
The Receiver General at pspC is going ahead with a BC case study in
collaboration with IseD and BRI to potentially replace central accounting
functions and processes.
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20
CAUTIOUs OpTImIsm
Adopting Blockchain to Improve Canadian Government Digital services
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca.
Receiver General of Canada
The Receiver General of Canada is exploring opportunities to
receive, maintain, and manage records currently recorded in the
Common Departmental Financial system and/or the Central Financial
management Reporting system.
Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada
The Treasury Board and the Communications security establishment are
undertaking a detailed assessment of BC identity solutions.
For more information about this report, please contact:
Andrew Pender
Associate Director
Industry strategy and public policy
613-526-3280 ext. 467
For the exclusive use of Latitia Scarr, [email protected], Public Affairs Advisors.
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Cautious Optimism: Adopting Blockchain to Improve Canadian Government
Digital Services
Jean-Charles Le Vallée
To cite this briefing: Le Vallée, Jean-Charles. Cautious Optimism: Adopting Blockchain to Improve Canadian
Government Digital Services. Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2018.
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