AI Governance in Canada

Starling Centre researchers are working to strengthen AI oversight in Canada through empirical investigations of the impacts of automation, research led collaborations and events to share and mobilize knowledge, contributions to civil society consultations and co-developing policy interventions.

This work to date has led to three related intiatives:

1. Hosting the Canadian Conference on AI Governance held in Ottawa on Nov. 18, 2025

2. An ongoing review of the briefs and testimonies submitted to the review of the draft Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, with the aim of identifying: a) consensus and key points of contention among researchers and civil society actors who have to date been under-represented in government consultations on AI and b) key gaps in existing regulatory efforts

3. Developing and contributing to research informed briefs in response to parliamentary and public reviews

The 2025 Canadian Conference on AI Governance

The Canadian Conference on AI Governance was held in Ottawa on Nov. 18. The event was held in recognition that 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 October 2025 launch of a federal government 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, the conference was organized because 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 and Nation to Nation consultations with First Nations as well as Indigenous leadership on Indigenous Data Sovereignty.

The Starling Centre convened a one-day workshop on Canadian AI Governance that took place on Nov. 18, 2025, at the Westin Hotel, Ottawa. Sixty invited participants attended expert-led sessions on topics including:

a) AIDA post-mortem and afterlife (Alissa Centivany and Joanna Redden) and Lessons Learned from AIDA and Next Steps (Alanna Acchione and Aditi Vashistha);

b) Indigenous Data Sovereignty (Aaron Franks, Research Lead and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey, Senior Research Officer Data Sovereignty Research Collaborative, First Nations Information Governance Centre)

c) Environment and Stability (Anne Pasek, CRC Media, Culture and Environment, Trent University)

d) AI-Labour Reconfigurations (Aiha Nguyen, Program Director Labor Futures, Data & Society)

e) Civil Rights (Cynthia Khoo, Technology and Human Rights Lawyer, Tekhnos Law)

Participants engaged in afternoon workshops that focused on sector specific concerns, forward looking policy generation and discussion about how to improve consultation and policy processes, as well as next step planning.

A report highlighting research findings and summarizing the discussions is being developed for publication in the Winter of 2026.

There was so much interest in this event we look forward to hosting future events to accommodate contributions and participation from more people.

This event was supported by SSHRC and Western Research.