British Columbia is moving forward with plans to upgrade its CareCard program. According to The Vancouver Sun, the new card will provide access to a variety of regional services including electronic health records, driver license and school registration for children.

The local government plans to sign a $20 million, six year deal with Toronto-based SecureKey to provide all of the necessary technology, including contactless readers which enable citizens to tap their card to access the government stored information.

The cards will be made up of an embedded security chip with advanced security features used to combat fraud. The chip itself won’t store any information. Instead it will be used to verify a person’s ID and route them, creating a secure network, back toward government information.

While a lot of the services will not be immediately available, the mandatory cards will be issued to general public later this year, in November. The proposed features are expected to roll out over the next five years.

Read more here.

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