Canadian Conference on AI Governance

There is increasing and rapid deployment of Artificial Intelligence across all areas of life. While AI systems can be used in ways that improve well-being, health, service efficiency and decision-making, they can also be used in ways that discriminate, exacerbate inequality, infringe upon rights, socially sort, disrupt democratic processes, limit access to services, introduce error, intensify surveillance, and exacerbate the effects of the climate crisis.

While the Canadian government has demonstrated its commitment to AI, we lack a cohesive framework for regulating public and private uses of AI in Canada. The first piece of federal legislation to focus on the regulation of AI use in Canada, The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), was under review by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology but ultimately died on the Order Paper due to the federal election earlier this year.

AIDA was an important development, but it was also controversial. It had been criticized as more performative than substantially binding, for being developed without necessary public consultations, for overrepresenting the interests of large technology companies, and for demonstrating little appreciation of data harms and how AI applications can disproportionately negatively affect already marginalized communities. Despite the lack of public consultation in advance of the introduction of AIDA, the swift and extensive response from civil society organizations demonstrates widespread concerns about the implications of AI. There were 116 briefs submitted in response to Bill C-27 (AIDA was part 3 of the Bill) and 137 witnesses presented to the INDU Committee.

We are now at the crossroads in Canadian AI governance. While some people think that a revised Artificial Intelligence and Data Act will be introduced within the next two years, others are concerned that the Canadian government may follow the American lead and forego regulatory oversight of AI in deference to private sector self-governance.The recent launch of a new AI task force to revise the federal government’s AI Strategy has been criticized as industry-led and again failing to work toward meaningful public consultation. Given the high level of civic response to AIDA over the last few years, polling that demonstrates that most Canadians do not trust AI and want stronger regulations, we have a unique opportunity to build upon the work that has already been done in Canada to ensure any future efforts to regulate AI are informed by research, civil society and public concerns.

To work toward this goal the Starling Centrewill convene a one-day workshop on Canadian AI Governance to take place on Nov. 18, 2025, at the Westin Hotel, Ottawa. Sixty invited participants will attend expert-led sessions on topics including: AIDA post-mortem and afterlife; Indigenous Consultation and Data Sovereignty; AI-Labour Reconfigurations; Environmental Impacts of AI Infrastructure Development and Use; and Human and Civil Rights Implications of AI. Participants will also engage in interactive breakout sessions on sector-specific concerns and forward-looking policy generation.

This workshop immediately precedes the Canadian Science Policy Centre’s (CSPC) annual conference, Nov. 19-21, which brings together members of academia, government, and private and non-profit sectors from across Canada and abroad to find ways to engage science and policy to solve today’s most pressing contemporary challenges. Participants in the Canadian AI Governance Workshop are encouraged to stay to attend the CSPC Conference (register here).

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