Management of the Social Insurance Number
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• Introduction
  • The Social Insurance Number Was Created in 1964
  • The Role of the Social Insurance Number Has Expanded Gradually
  • Roles and Responsibilities Are Dispersed
  • Focus of the Audit
• Observations and Recommendations
  • Importance of the SIN
    • The SIN has become a de facto national identifier for income-related transactions, contrary to the government's intent
    • A common numerical identifier is important in the growing number of data matches
  • Integrity of Data in the Social Insurance Register
    • The Social Insurance Register: 33 million SINs issued
    • Significant gap between number of living SIN holders and size of the Canadian population
    • Existing sources of information are not fully exploited and more could be done to develop new sources
    • Millions of SINs are not certified for identity
    • Birth-related information is not easily validated with the issuing organizations
    • Valid SINs are held by thousands of individuals with no legal status in Canada
  • Processing and Control of the SIN
    • More rigour needed in the proof-of-identity program
    • Relying mainly on the birth certificate as the foundation of identity has major drawbacks
  • Investigations of Fraud and Abuse Related to the SIN
    • Minimal effort is dedicated to SIN investigations
    • SIN investigations could provide substantial results
    • The quality of SIN investigations needs to be improved
    • Existing performance indicators discourage SIN investigations
    • Penalties resulting from successful SIN investigations are minimal
  • Impacts on Other Users
    • Use of SIN as a de facto national identifier has caused numerous problems for other users
  • Legal and Policy Framework for Managing the SIN
    • Privacy of information is a key dimension of managing the SIN
    • Extensive use of personal information by HRDC attracts attention of privacy advocates and the Privacy Commissioner
    • Unregulated use of SIN in the private sector is a key vulnerability
    • Progress in clarifying the role and improving the management of the SIN is slow
• Conclusion
• About the Audit