Alberta to add proof of citizenship markers to driver’s licences
By Alexander Howey, September 27, 2025—
Alberta is to become the only province to add new mandatory markers to indicate Canadian citizenship status on driver’s licenses and ID cards.
This marker will only apply to Canadian citizens. Non-Canadian citizens, including permanent residents, will not have a new marker added to their licences.
Additionally, Alberta health insurance numbers will be added to the cards as well.
These changes will be made to all new and renewed driver’s licenses in the fall of next year. It will come at no additional cost to those renewing or applying for a driver’s licence.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith explained her rationale for these changes in an announcement on Sept. 15, claiming they will streamline access to student aid, health benefits and disability supports and “safeguard the integrity of our electoral process.”
Additionally, she asserted these changes will provide security to Alberta’s health care system, claiming that “there are more than half a million health care numbers registered than there are people living in Alberta.”
When asked if there will be guardrails implemented to ensure this policy doesn’t lead to discrimination, Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally responded, stating that “there will be no discrimination. We will not be putting the status of a non-Canadian on there.”
These changes follow Smith announcing the Alberta Next panel last summer, where she is travelling the province to consult citizens on potential referendum questions and garner support for measures intended to counter federal policies. Online surveys were launched on the panel’s website to inform people about what questions the government will put to a referendum next year.
Among these questions, included in a video viewed before taking the survey, was whether the provincial government should take more control of the immigration system to counter what the panel describes as “disastrous” immigration policy. The video goes on to claim that housing prices and high unemployment rates are a result of federal “open-border” policies.
“If Alberta isn’t satisfied with the number or kind of newcomers moving to our province, we may have the option to withhold provincial social programs to any non-citizen or non-permanent resident who does not have an Alberta-approved immigration status,” read a statement in the video.
Critics of the forthcoming changes are questioning the government’s motives behind this decision.
“This UCP government has not been able to provide clarity on why this citizenship marker is necessary,” wrote NDP Opposition critic for Immigration and Multiculturalism Lizette Tejada in a statement. “Other than voting, we cannot identify any programs that are exclusively offered to Canadian citizens.”
“Is the UCP government now planning on illegally and unconstitutionally restricting programs from legal residents of Canada?” she asked.
In an interview with CBC, privacy and civil liberties lawyer David Fraser called the move “unprecedented.”
Provinces in the past had enhanced driver’s licences that listed citizenship, but they were optional and were for streamlining travel to the United States. These licences have since been discontinued and Alberta is the first province to make a citizenship marker mandatory.
Fraser highlighted privacy concerns surrounding the display of one’s citizenship status when required to show identification. He emphasized that it is very rare for anyone to have the right to demand your citizenship status and warned of how it could open the door to discrimination.
More information regarding licences and ID cards will be announced at a later date. The full announcement video can be viewed here.