SUPREME COURT OF CANADA CITATION: Alberta v. Hutterian ...
SUPREME COURT OF CANADA CITATION: Alberta v. Hutterian ...
SUPREME COURT OF CANADA CITATION: Alberta v. Hutterian ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
in <strong>Alberta</strong> and elsewhere, and that drivers’ licences, the most commonly used and accepted form ofidentification, could be and were being used for identity theft. The new facial recognition data bankwas aimed at reducing the risk of this type of fraud.[10] Under the new system a digital photograph of every licensed driver is placed in a facialrecognition data bank. This data bank is connected to facial recognition software which analysesthe digital photographs of people who apply for licences. The software performs two kinds ofcomparison: one-to-one and one-to-many. The one-to-one comparison allows the government to besure that the person trying to renew or replace a licence is the same person represented by theexisting photo in the data bank. The one-to-many comparison allows it to be satisfied that a personapplying for a new licence does not already hold another licence in another person’s name.[11] A comprehensive photo requirement, whereby all valid licences are associated with aphoto in the data bank, is essential to ensuring the efficacy of these mechanisms. To the extent thatlicences exist without holder photos in the central photo bank, others can appropriate the identityof the licence holder without detection by the facial recognition software. The Province also ledevidence that this system was adopted with a view to harmonization with international andinterprovincial standards for photo identification.[12] The Province has proposed measures to accommodate the <strong>Hutterian</strong> claimants’ objectionto the universal driver’s licence photo requirement. The first is that the licence display a photo, butthat the licence be carried in a sealed envelope or folder marked with the indication that it is theproperty of the Province, and that a digital photo be placed in the Province’s facial recognition bank.