The “once-only” principle

When you move, the government of Canada warns you:

To keep getting your benefits, payments and services, you must change your address with each government department or agency. Your new address is not shared automatically because government systems aren’t connected.

My home province of Quebec is better, operating a service that allows you to simultaneously change your address with seven important departments and organizations, including those responsible for your driver’s licence, health insurance, and voter registration.

Estonia, on the other hand, is famous for its digital government. It operates on the “once-only” principle: citizens provide their data (like an address) only once, and it is reused across government agencies.

This seems remarkable to a Canadian. It isn’t uncommon to have to provide my address multiple times on different forms as part of the same submission.

Estonia isn’t unique in this principle, although it is probably the best-known example. Other European countries have similar arrangements, helped by their longstanding tradition of maintaining comprehensive population registers.

Updating seven agencies at once is nice, but the point of the “once-only” principle is that you shouldn’t have to update seven agencies in the first place.