On Oct. 12, the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCNM) issued an advisory, stating Charrybelle Talaue, AKA Charrybelle Perez Talaue, AKA Charrybelle Talaue Baldesancho, had falsely declared she was a BC registered nurse applying for a job at a Vancouver Island hospital.

This week, Central Saanich police charged the woman with forgery and impersonation, and failure to comply with the conditions of an undertaking and there could be more charges.

The case shines a spotlight on the rise of identity theft and the wide circulation of fraudulent IDs in Canada.
Talaue, the woman charged, is alleged to have forged a marriage certificate, an Alberta health card, a Canadian Citizenship document, and a name change affidavit. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, stolen health-care cards available on the black market are often used as “foundation” or “breeder documents” to establish a fake identity or to obtain a document of greater value, such as a passport. 

According to a UNICEF report, breeder documents are often not necessarily designed as security documents with additional features that are difficult to reproduce. Even when official issuers try to make these more secure, forgery and reproduction technologies have managed to keep pace.

While forensic specialists easily can identify imitations, the general public or administrative staff looking to hire may find it difficult to distinguish fakes. The Canadian Police Knowledge Network offers a course on how to identify false documents. 

Little print shop of dishonour

Last January, Richmond RCMP seized stolen mail and thousands of blank identification cards when they discovered an alleged forgery lab in a Vancouver-area home. Their warrant also uncovered thousands of blank cards and templates and the equipment used to produce fraudulent credit cards, driver's licenses, and permanent residence cards. 

Alberta and Manitoba lag behind

‍Alberta and Manitoba’s health cards are still made of paper and do not contain a photograph, a bar code, a magnetic strip, or any other security feature, such as holographic images, adopted by other provinces. In Alberta, printing paper cards at local registries has been in place since the 1960s. 

In those provinces, health card applications or replacement requests rely on information supplied in “good faith” by applicants. Health card applicants in Alberta are still able to submit a rental agreement to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP) application as proof of residency and may mail photocopies of supporting documents to the AHCIP office.

In Talaue’s case, she used a falsified Canadian Citizenship card as proof of identity to apply for a health card.