Investigating the Use of Blockchain to Authenticate Data from the Statistics Canada Website

Executive summary

“Do you know what a non-fungible token (NFT) is?” This question started a chain reaction that resulted in an investigation by a diverse team into how Statistics Canada (StatCan) could use blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, to authenticate a document. The question was posed as part of a more significant idea of how the Dissemination Division might use NFTs, or similar technology, to authenticate the products leaving the StatCan website. Initially, our team was composed of internal StatCan employees: Mathieu Laporte, Director of the Dissemination Division; Jacqueline Luffman, Chief of Publishing Services; and Lillian Klein, Research Librarian. These individuals discussed the idea among other StatCan staff to evaluate whether it was feasible. However, as we recognized a gap in our blockchain experience, we reached out to academics who research various aspects of blockchain technology. Through those meetings, we were connected to four blockchain experts: Dr. Florian Martin-Bariteau from the University of Ottawa, Dr. Jeremy Clark from Concordia University, Dr. Victoria Lemieux from the University of British Columbia and Dr. Tracey Lauriault from Carleton University. We met with these experts for a brainstorming session, where Jeremy Clark presented the idea of using digital signatures to authenticate StatCan documents. With this idea in mind, a team of researchers was formed to explore up-to-date cryptographic technology and applications to develop a comprehensive understanding of the technology and determine whether using this technology in StatCan’s work would be meaningful. Our research team includes Kathryn Fedchun, a PhD student at Carleton University; Didem Demirag, a PhD candidate at Concordia University; and Lillian Klein, a research librarian with StatCan. This paper summarizes months of collaborative work completed by this team.

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