Public feedback and stakeholder engagement will inform strategy for Canada to be an AI leader
OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 26, 2025/CNW/ – Canada stands at a turning point in history, as technology transforms every aspect of our lives and global forces reshape our future. This moment demands a renewal of thinking–a collective commitment to reimagining how we harness innovation, achieve our artificial intelligence (AI) ambition and secure our digital sovereignty.
Today, the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, announced the launch of an AI Strategy Task Force and a 30-day national sprint that will help shape Canada’s approach to AI.
Over the coming months, the government will set out a renewed AI strategy to position Canada at the forefront of this revolution. This work, and the collaboration of stakeholders from across sectors and of Canadians, are especially important to help meet this pivotal moment in history, where new technological capabilities are emerging alongside profound geopolitical shifts.
The government will seek advice on a broad range of AI-related themes, including:
- research and talent
- AI adoption across industry and governments
- commercialization of AI
- scaling Canadian AI champions and attracting investments
- building safe AI systems and strengthening public trust in AI
- education and skills
- building enabling infrastructure
- security of the Canadian infrastructure and capacity
One source of fresh thinking will be input gathered through the AI Strategy Task Force, a group of experts including members of industry, academia and civil society, who will consult their networks to provide actionable insights and recommendations. Canadians are also invited to share their perspectives through the Consulting Canadians portal.
The national sprint will run from October 1 to October 31, 2025.
In November, members of
the AI Strategy Task Force
will share the bold, practical ideas they gathered.
The AI Strategy Task Force comprises the following leaders of the AI ecosystem and will be consulting their networks on specific themes:
Research and Talent
- Gail Murphy, Professor of Computer Science and Vice-President – Research & Innovation, University of British Columbia and Vice-Chair at the Digital Research Alliance of Canada
- Diane Gutiw, Vice-President – Global AI Research Lead, CGI Canada and Co-Chair of the Advisory Council on AI
- Michael Bowling, Professor of Computer Science and Principal Investigator – Reinforcement Learning & Artificial Intelligence Lab, University of Alberta and Research Fellow, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and Canada CIFAR AI Chair
- Arvind Gupta, Professor of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Adoption across industry and governments
- Olivier Blais, Co-Founder and Vice-President of AI, Moov.AI and Co-Chair of the Advisory Council on AI
- Cari Covent, Technology executive
- Dan Debow, Chair of the Board, Build Canada
Commercialization of AI
- Louis Têtu, Executive Chairman, Coveo
- Michael Serbinis, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, League and Board Chair of the Perimeter Institute
- Adam Keating, CEO and Founder, CoLab
Scaling our champions and attracting investment
- Patrick Pichette, General Partner, Inovia Capital
- Ajay Agrawal, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto and Founder, Next Canada and Founder, Creative Destruction Lab
- Sonia Sennik, Chief Executive Officer, Creative Destruction Lab
- Ben Bergen, President, Council of Canadian Innovators
Building safe AI systems and public trust in AI
- Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering, University of Waterloo
- Joelle Pineau, Chief AI Officer, Cohere
- Taylor Owen, Founding Director, Center for Media, Technology and Democracy
Education and Skills
- Natiea Vinson, Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Technology Council
- Alex Laplante, Vice-President – Cash Management Technology Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and Board Member at Mitacs
- David Naylor, Professor of Medicine and President Emeritus
Infrastructure
- Garth Gibson, Chief Technology and AI Officer, VDURA
- Ian Rae, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aptum
- Marc Etienne Ouimette, Chair of the Board, Digital Moment and Member, OECD One AI Group of Experts
Security
- Shelly Bruce, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation
- James Neufeld, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, samdesk
- Sam Ramadori, Co-President and Executive Director, LawZero
Quotes
“The Government of Canada is moving quickly toward our vision for AI and digital sovereignty. The AI Strategy Task Force and the ideas gathered through our national sprint will generate bold, pragmatic and actionable recommendations to guide Canada’s next AI strategy. This strategy will accelerate the development of nation-building AI and data infrastructure, drive economy-wide adoption and help build the strongest economy in the G7.”
–
The Honourable Evan Solomon,
Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
Quick facts
- The Government of Canada is committed to building the strongest economy in the G7, one that prioritizes innovation and the use of emerging and digital technologies to support growth.
- Canada was the first country in the world to launch a funded national AI strategy–the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy (PCAIS)–to drive adoption of artificial intelligence across Canada’s economy and society. Including investments from PCAIS, Canada has invested approximately $742 million in the Canadian AI ecosystem since 2017.
- Guided by the voices of Canadians, the government launched a $2 billion Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy in 2024 that is making strategic investments in public and commercial infrastructure to ensure that Canadian innovators, businesses and researchers have access to the compute capacity they need.
- Since 2019, the Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence has advised the government on building Canada’s AI strengths and global leadership, identifying opportunities for growth, and ensuring that AI advancements reflect Canadian values and benefit all Canadians. The council will continue to provide advice to the government, including on the implementation of the new AI strategy.
- In contrast, the AI Strategy Task Force has a mission-focused, time-limited mandate to provide recommendations on members’ respective areas of expertise to inform the development of the new strategy.
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