> We don't have universal domestic identity cards in Canada because, like Germany, and other countries post WWII, we have a memory of how internal passport systems get used.
Germany does have national identity cards though.
The whole "no ID card" is a very peculiar Anglo-Saxon thing: US, UK, Ireland, apparently also Canada. Of course, you have passports and driving licenses, so effectively almost everyone does have ID, just less conveniently.
They were very controversial before reunification and the integration of the eurozone. There are also de-facto cards, and de-jure cards, and they are different. It's not about having some ID, it's there being a multi-use, single ID that is controversial. Sure, we can have tons of different ones, but a linked identity that gets used across multiple services is not common.
The difference is whether the ID is for a specific service and purpose, or a single identity with a general ID regime to be used at the discretion of police and other institutions. It's a significant legal difference.
What you refer to as a peculiar anglo-saxon no-id-card thing is also what we typically call freedom. The nordic countries have had ID cards forever as well, but also public salaries and other socialist policies that worked for them very well, so aversion to them is not necessarily a "white"/west thing. Freedom is not a value unique to any one culture. What's happening today is technology changes are being used as a pretext for pushing in more radical state controls just using the tech, but without legislative discussion about whether it's desirable.
Germany does have national identity cards though.
The whole "no ID card" is a very peculiar Anglo-Saxon thing: US, UK, Ireland, apparently also Canada. Of course, you have passports and driving licenses, so effectively almost everyone does have ID, just less conveniently.