Secure Channel

Secure Channel is a portfolio of services that forms the foundation of the Government of Canada's (GoC) Government On-line (GOL) initiative. Secure Channel's primary goals are to provide citizens and businesses with secure, private and high-speed access to all federal government's on-line services, and to provide an environment that enables and encourages departments to integrate with federated common services.

For the GoC, Secure Channel is the common infrastructure that provides secure and reliable network services for all federal departments. It also offers additional services for security, registration and authentication that enable departments to meet their 2005 GOL goals and deliver the most commonly used services on-line. It is the critical link between government programs and Canadians. Without the common infrastructure and services provided by Secure Channel, and the assurances it provides with respect to security and privacy, Government On-Line's Service Vision of client-centric, cross-government service anytime, anywhere cannot be realized.

Secure Channel

• enables a single sign-on, client-centric approach to on-line access to Government services;
• assures client security and privacy for on-line interactions with the Government of Canada;
• provides the infrastructure for cross-departmental and cross-jurisdictional service delivery;
• protects Government IT assets from Internet-based security attacks; and
• provides a suite of value-added services to support departmental delivery of on-line services.

Secure Channel currently offers a range of service offerings that integrate with a department's on-line application.

Benefits of Secure Channel

Secure Channel offers a range of benefits over other Information Technology (IT) solutions. By putting in place a common integrated security and service delivery infrastructure, rather than different or multiple solutions within individual departments and agencies, Secure Channel reduces overall operations and maintenance costs.

Benefits For End Users

• Accessibility to Government Programs — Government information and services are accessible regardless of location, time or demographic group
• Government as an Integrated Enterprise — A seamless view for all Government of Canada (GoC) information and services
• Privacy, Security and Authentication Efficient — The information and services are authenticated and protected to the required level
• Service Delivery — Able to respond quickly to changing service expectations

What Canadians see today

Today the programs and services Canadians receive are not harmonized across federal departments or jurisdictions. This situation leads to program gaps and program overlaps, causing confusion and inefficiencies. The procedures involved in accessing government programs are considerable, resulting in time and resources wasted for all concerned . Canadians are asked repeatedly to fill out forms since basic information about them is not re-used, shared amongst programs, nor used to automatically trigger a program or service.

Moving On-line

Extensive research supports the federal government's move to provide more services on-line. In focus group testing, participants generally agreed the government is moving in the right direction, and they want to see fast and easy access to more on-line services.

In a recent Ekos study, Rethinking the Information Highway (October 15, 2003), when Canadians were asked what their main method of contacting the government would be in two years, 44% said it would the Internet and e-mail, significantly ahead of the telephone at 35%.

Why is Secure Channel Valuable?

A common platform, like Secure Channel will help attain the promise of service transformation . As such, Secure Channel:

• is a cost-effective solution to the Government's security needs;
• standardizes authentication services across the government (and has the potential to do so across jurisdictions as well to enable a 'Canada' security brand for e-services);
• meets the Government's standards for privacy, security, accessibility, and common look and feel;
• provides a Security Operations Centre that is Communications Security Establishment (CSE) approved;
• provides Government-wide access to highly specialized expertise and advanced technology;
• frees up valuable departmental IT resources to be deployed on other higher priority activities; and
• provides scalability and robustness that can only be realized through an enterprise-wide service.

Who is building it, and how much does it cost?

Working in collaboration with other federal departments and in partnership with the private sector, the Information Technology Services Branch (ITSB) of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is managing the design and construction of this essential infrastructure component for the Government of Canada. This includes the management of the technical components of the infrastructure and the contract with the vendor selected to build the infrastructure, known as "Team BCE." The vendor, a consortium of 10 global technology companies, was selected in 2001 and is led by Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE).

Are any of the Secure Channel services now in use?

All federal departments and agencies now use Secure Channel's network infrastructure and operations services (SCNet) to connect to the Internet and to enable citizens' access to their services. SCNet replaced the previous Government Enterprise Network (GENet) in Fall 2003.

Several services for Canadians and businesses are now available. CRA's Address Change On-Line (launched September 2002) and HRSDC/SDC's Web Record of Employment (ROE) (launched May 2003), currently use the Secure Channel security and authentication service epass for on-line registration and authentication. The Web ROE application takes one of HRSDC/SDC's most important employment documents for receiving Employment Insurance benefits and enables employers to complete the transaction on-line. A Web ROE takes a few hours for processing rather than the 5-7 days for a paper ROE. Government of Canada business customers could realize savings of up to $300 million per year in labour and other related costs. To date, thousands of businesses are using the Web ROE service.

In addition, Secure Channel supports the Receiver General's on-line payment service to enable Canadians and businesses to pay for GoC goods and services on-line. The service, known as the Buy Button, is being used by several departments.

Secure Channel has also implemented the new Common Registration Service (CRS), which leverages the epass service to enable Canadians to use one epass to access several departmental applications. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was the first department using CRS with its telecom and licensing service (March 2004). Some key initiatives this year include migrating ACO and Web ROE to Secure Channel's new Common Registration Services (CRS), which will enable a single-sign to access several departmental applications. In addition, CRA plans to launch its "My Account" application on CRS in February 2005. On-line services are also being extended to public servants, which enable them to manage and view their pay and benefits information on-line.

Secure Channel is also proud to report it successfully delivered an on-line option for Statistics Canada's Census Test. It was the first time in the world that a national census bureau provided an on-line questionnaire (to fill out and submit) to citizens. The project was a success and Secure Channel will help support the 2006 Census with 13.5 million households.