{"id":147434,"date":"2025-09-16T06:06:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/147434\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T06:06:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:06:21","slug":"alberta-adding-proof-of-canadian-citizenship-to-provincial-drivers-licences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/147434\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta adding proof of Canadian citizenship to provincial driver\u2019s licences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is adding mandatory proof of citizenship markers to driver\u2019s licences and other forms of identification to streamline services and prevent election fraud.<\/p>\n

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Smith told reporters in Calgary the change would make it easier for students and people with disabilities to get funding for certain programs. Proof of citizenship or confirmation of residency status is part the application process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in making things better, faster and more convenient for everyone,\u201d Smith said Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy including citizenship information on these cards, we\u2019re streamlining access to vital services, whether applying for student aid, accessing health benefits or supporting those with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another goal, Smith said, is to protect democracy to make sure only Canadian citizens vote in Alberta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis helps safeguard the integrity of our electoral process and strengthens trust in our democracy,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

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Elections Alberta confirmed Monday that it has issued three reprimands for ineligible voting since the 2023 provincial election.<\/p>\n

The citizenship marker is to appear as \u201cCAN\u201d on identification.<\/p>\n

Smith said non-Canadian citizens, including permanent residents, would not have any new notation on their IDs.<\/p>\n

She said the move would be a first in Canada, although other provinces, including Ontario, have had special driver\u2019s licences with citizenship markers for the sole purpose of U.S. border crossings.<\/p>\n

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The change comes as Smith\u2019s hand-picked Alberta Next panel continues its tour of the province seeking support for measures meant to push back against federal policies and programs. One proposal is for Alberta to create its own provincial immigration system and withhold social services from newcomers who aren\u2019t approved.<\/p>\n

Smith was asked Monday if adding citizenship markers to ID cards is a first step in creating that program or if it would make it easier to deny services to some immigrants.<\/p>\n

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Smith said the change to ID is meant to solve separate issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are other ways that we would apply it, I guess we\u2019ll have to see on a future-going-forward basis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Alberta health care numbers are also to be added to driver\u2019s licences.<\/p>\n

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Smith said the province has registered just over 530,000 more Alberta health care numbers than there are people in the province and adding the numbers to driver\u2019s licences should help determine which are \u201coutliers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally, speaking with Smith on Monday, initially described the unaccounted for numbers as fake, opening the \u201cdoor for abuses.\u201d But Smith characterized the extra numbers as having \u201cunknown status.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked which explanation was correct, Nally said: \u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lack security features and you lack integrity in the cards, like we do now, you don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reality is we don\u2019t know, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so imperative that we do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nally said adding citizenship markers and health care numbers to driver\u2019s licences and other forms of ID won\u2019t lead to discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is pure and simple about putting citizenship on driver\u2019s licences to make it easier when applying for benefits or citizenship entitlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition NDP immigration critic Lizette Tejada said in a statement that it wasn\u2019t clear why the citizenship marker is necessary, and questioned the intent of the changes by pointing back to the proposal the premier\u2019s panel is workshopping.<\/p>\n

Tejada also said she thought the changes would only lead to headaches when people go to renew their licences, as Albertan\u2019s will need to prove their citizenship in order to do so.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOnce again, this government engages in virtue signaling while creating bureaucracy and red tape for everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some federal politicians also questioned the government\u2019s move on Monday.<\/p>\n

Daniel Bernhard, the chief executive officer of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, said he didn\u2019t understand what problems adding citizenship markers to driver\u2019s licences or other ID cards would solve.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting your citizenship status on a driver licence seems to do little more than tell police officers whether you are a citizen in the event that you get pulled over,\u201d said Bernhard, whose Toronto-based organization supports newcomers and studies immigration policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a questionable move, to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernhard also questioned if Alberta will be adding citizenship to all forms of identification that are accepted at the polls \u2014 such as library cards, boating licences or marriage certificates \u2014 if the goal is to limit voter fraud.<\/p>\n

Nally\u2019s press secretary, Brandon Aboultaif, did not immediately respond to questions asking for confirmation.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the answer, Bernhard said having the citizenship marker on some identification cards will be an unnecessary privacy issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings that have nothing to do with citizenship status will suddenly be infused with this discriminating mark of citizenship,\u201d he said, giving the example of purchasing alcohol.<\/p>\n

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Legislation is to be put forward this fall to make the changes, which the government said would come into effect next year.<\/p>\n

Nally said the change is part of a \u201ccomplete redesign\u201d for licences and ID cards and more information would be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2025 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is adding mandatory proof of citizenship markers to driver\u2019s licences and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[78631,7611,78630,49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-147434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta-drivers-licences","9":"tag-alberta-legislature","10":"tag-alberta-politics","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}