Interesting question, who’s responsibility is it? Mine or ours? A June 25, 2026 Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) announcement (received via email) announces a virtual panel addressing that question in the context of dementia prevention,
June 29 [2026]: Dementia Prevention in Canada: Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility
Join us on June 29 [2026] from 11:00–12:30 PM EST for an engaging virtual panel on dementia prevention in Canada. Under the theme “Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility,” experts from research, healthcare, innovation, and policy will explore how dementia prevention extends beyond individual lifestyle choices to include the social, economic, and environmental factors that shape people’s ability to act. Drawing on recent international survey findings, the discussion will examine barriers to brain-healthy living, the role of public policy and technology, and how Canada can build a more equitable and brain-healthy society through shared responsibility and coordinated action.
This panel will examine dementia prevention in Canada through the lens of a central tension: while growing evidence shows that individuals can reduce their risk through lifestyle and health-related factors, the ability to act on that knowledge is shaped by the systems and environments around them. Framed by the theme “Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility,” the discussion will explore how dementia prevention should be understood not only as a matter of personal responsibility, but also as a societal and policy imperative that requires coordinated action across healthcare, communities, and governments.
A central focus of the conversation will be where responsibility for prevention should sit, and how to avoid placing undue burden on individuals, without ignoring the importance of individual agency. Panelists will consider how Canadians understand modifiable dementia risk, what can be learned from other public health campaigns, and how technology may support brain-healthy choices. Informed by a recent international survey of 2000+ adults, the panel will examine barriers that Canadians encounter when they consider brain healthy choices, as well as system-level gaps that exist in community design and service access that, if addressed, could support population health outcomes and more resilient health systems at scale.
Attendees will gain insight into how dementia prevention can be framed in ways that are both actionable and equitable, recognizing individual responsibility while confronting the structural realities that shape people’s options, including socioeconomic inequality, geography, transportation, and access to care and supportive services. By bringing together perspectives from clinical care, research, innovation, community-based interventions, and aging policy, the session will surface the practical and ethical questions at the heart of prevention: what individuals can reasonably be expected to do, what systems must enable, and how Canada can build a more brain-healthy society through shared responsibility.
President & Chief Scientist, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, and the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI); Sandra A. Rotman Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, Rotman Research Institute.
Dr. Samir K. Sinha
Dr. Samir Sinha is a Geriatrician and Clinician Scientist at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Director of Health Policy Research at Toronto Metropolitan University’s National Institute on Ageing, as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Medicine.
A Rhodes Scholar, Samir is a highly regarded clinician and international expert in the care of older adults. As a former member of the Government of Canada’s National Seniors Council and a current member of its Minsterial Advisory Board on Dementia he helped to develop and now oversee Canada’s National Dementia Strategy and recently led the successful development of Canada’s new National Long-Term Care Services Standard.
Internationally, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales. Furthermore, as a longstanding member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and a recently appointed member of the Board of Trustees for HelpAge International, he remains committed to supporting the implementation and administration of unique, integrated and innovative models of geriatric care and support that reduce disease burden, improve access and capacity and ultimately promote health.
Dr. Dallas Seitz
Dr. Dallas Seitz is the Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) where he also holds the Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Chair in Late-Life Mental Health Research. He is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry.
He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health and past president of Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry.
He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Saskatchewan (2003) and his postgraduate residency training in Psychiatry at the Queen’s University in 2008. He completed a research and clinical fellowship at the University of Toronto at Baycrest Centre and Women’s College Hospital. Dr. Seitz completed his PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto in 2014.
Dr. Nicole Anderson
Dr. Anderson is a Senior Scientist, Director of the Ben & Hilda Katz Interprofessional Research Program in Geriatric and Dementia Care, and Associate Scientific Director of the Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness in the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education [Toronto]. She is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Medicine (Psychiatry) at the University of Toronto. She is a registered clinical neuropsychologist. Her research focuses on how memory is affected by healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment, and on cognitive and lifestyle interventions to promote brain health and reduce dementia risk.
Dr. Saskia Sivananthan
Dr. Saskia Sivananthan, an internationally recognized strategy and policy advisor on dementia care, is the co-founder and CEO of the Brainwell Institute [in Toronto] – a nonprofit dementia policy think tank. She is also an Affiliate Professor at McGill University.
She was formerly Chief Research and KTE [knowledge transfer and exchange] Officer at the Alzheimer Society of Canada where she oversaw a tripling of funding for dementia research, and created multiple platforms for people living with dementia to engage in research, advocate and co-design programming for their needs. In 2020 she was appointed by the Federal Minister of Health to the ministerial advisory board on dementia.
Previously, Dr. Sivananthan served as a senior strategy and policy advisor consulting for the World Health Organization (WHO) on its overall global dementia strategy. Dr. Sivananthan co-drafted the WHO’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia which was unanimously adopted at the 170th World Health Assembly by all 194 member-states. This plan served as the template for Canada’s National Dementia Strategy. It identified key priorities and established international goals to fight stigma and advance dementia care.
Very, very Toronto. Given that the CSPC usually gets at least one member of their virtual panels from another part of the country, I’m wondering if they assembled this group very quickly and relied on locally based experts.
Get Tickets [You have to go to the event page and click Get Tickets from there; Cost is CA$60.]
Vancouver AI is a neural network of curious humans. We bridge art galleries and research labs, corporate towers and garage workshops, because the future isn’t built in silos.
In a world of black-box algorithms and corporate capture, we are cultivating a commons. A space where prototypes become shared tools and community values become governance. We move from ephemeral noise to perpetual knowledge.
The Movement: BC AI Ecosystem Association: This gathering is a node in a much larger provincial mission. We are building the public-interest infrastructure for AI in British Columbia—ensuring that our local-first intelligence outlives its creators and powers the next era of West Coast innovation. We aren’t just “using” AI; we are defining how it lives here.
March 25 [2026]: This month, we bring the strategy down to earth, onto wheels, and across the big screen.
Lawrence Okolo (VASI [Vancouver Autonomous Systems Initiative] Lead): Beyond the screen. Lawrence is a Senior ML Engineer putting Large Language Models on wheels. He joins us to demo the latest in autonomous hardware built right here in Vancouver.
Mayumi Rollins (Tiny Ghost Studios): The AI Film Club is exploding.
Mayumi joins us to showcase the best of the BC + AI Film Club contests…. a highlight reel of the first three rounds of community animation… and to launch participation for Round 4.
Kris Krug (theupgrade.ai): Fresh from the Banff AI Summit, KK returns with a dispatch from the peaks.
Expect a high-fidelity synthesis of the national roadmap and a look at our “Coastal Immortality” vision.
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This brings me to the summit in Banff.
[Canada] National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture
Here’s a description of the summit, which took place March 15 – 17, 2026 and was invitation-only,. From the government of Canada’s event page, Note: Links have been removed,
About the Summit
The National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, presented in partnership with the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, will convene leaders from the cultural, government, technology, academic, and civil society sectors to shape a shared vision for the future of culture in the age of artificial intelligence.
The Three Pillars of the Summit
Build
Building AI-powered tools that respond to the needs of creators and cultural industries.
Empower
Empowering the Cultural Sector through AI Adoption, Talent, and Training.
Protect
Protecting creativity by taking steps to make artificial intelligence solutions responsible, reliable, and supportive of human creation.
An Interactive and Collaborative Experience
The Summit will offer a highly interactive experience designed to foster active engagement and collaboration. Each pillar will begin with leadership remarks followed by expert panels from various sectors, exploring practical applications and real-world challenges. Interactive reflection sessions will allow participants to share ideas, contribute to action-oriented solutions, and engage in cross-sector dialogue. An AI showcase will highlight practical tools supporting the cultural sector. The program will also include formal and informal networking opportunities to encourage exchanges and partnerships.
Event details
Date
March 15, 16 and 17, 2026
Location
Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity Banff, Alberta
Agenda
March 15 – Opening Evening
Registration and welcome
Opening ceremony, including a land acknowledgment
Opening keynote address
March 16 – Build and Protect
Opening plenary session
Welcome remarks and Summit overview
Opening addresses by federal ministers
Pillar 1: Build
Building AI-powered tools that respond to the needs of creators and cultural industries.
Expert keynote
Expert panel
Interactive reflection zones and collaborative sessions
Pillar 2: Protect
Protecting creativity by taking steps to make artificial intelligence solutions responsible, reliable, and supportive of human creation
Expert keynote
Expert panel
Evening showcase
March 17 – Equip and Advance
Pillar 2: Protect (continued)
Interactive reflection zones and collaborative sessions
Pillar 3: Empower
Empowering the Cultural Sector through AI Adoption, Talent, and Training.
Expert keynotes
Expert panel
Interactive reflection zones and collaborative sessions
BC + AI Executive Director Kris Krug reports from the National Summit on AI and Culture at the Banff Centre. Indigenous AI, YouTube creators at the policy table, and what happens when 233 people try to figure out AI and culture at 5,000 feet.
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Opening Night: Kind Electricity
The summit opened not with a minister or a CEO but with Shani Gwin, founder of Pipikwan Pêhtâkwan, presenting Wasgun, an Indigenous-led AI tool built to do something I’ve never heard an AI tool described as doing: protect Indigenous people online while educating everyone else about how to talk and work with them appropriately.
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Here’s what wâsikan kisewâtisiwin does: it functions as a browser plugin and document assistant that identifies misinformation, bias, and racism directed at Indigenous people. For Indigenous users, it blurs harmful content so you can safely browse the internet without reading terrible things about yourself or your family.
For everyone else, it’s what Shani calls “a really good intern,” underlining problems in your writing, suggesting corrections, pointing you back to community when the answer isn’t something AI should be providing.
The name came through ceremony. Elder Theresa Strawberry, who didn’t know what the company did at the time, gave them a name that translates to “kind electricity” or “kind energy.” The teaching: traditionally, thunder was a loving sound for Indigenous people. It meant rain was coming. Sustenance. Cleansing. But newcomers to these lands get scared of the thunder. “We have to teach them not to be scared,” Elder Theresa said. “It’s a loving sound. It’s a loving energy.”
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Shani took that and ran: “A lot of people are scared of AI and it can be a kind tool, a kind and loving tool if we build it with those values and that intention and we take our time.”
Wasgun partnered with Amii (Alberta’s national AI institute) and here’s the part that stuck with me: Amii’s team, including CEO Cam Linke, has come to ceremony with Wasgun’s elders. Not a photo op. Not a one-time land acknowledgment. They go regularly to make sure they’re on the right track, that theyhave approval to keep going. I’ve seen a lot of “Indigenous partnerships” in tech. This is the first one I’ve encountered where the AI institute shows up for ceremony.
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Then Shani went somewhere I didn’t expect. She started talking about matriarchal AI.
“They’re saying this is becoming sentient and it’s blackmailing people,” she said. “I thought, okay, it’s a patriarchal, hierarchical white tool. What would we need to combat that? An anti-AI. One that’s gonna whack that other AI at the back of the head and say, settle down.”
If you ask OpenAI for an organizational chart, you get a pyramid. Wasgun might give you a flower. Pipikwan Pêhtâkwan’s actual org model, where each person is their own flower, connected but autonomous, with leadership that exists to make sure everyone else succeeds. Matriarchal AI would provide different knowledge systems as equals, not rank colonial knowledge as the default right answer.
“What if we moved slow like a sloth,” Shani said, “and we thought of seven generations forward and backward? What if we made our decisions based on impact? Let’s not move fast and break the earth.”
And then, the line that I think defines this entire summit: “Success is not an individual endeavor. There’s room for everyone.”
At BC + AI, we opened our first community event with a Squamish ceremony. We have Carol Anne Hilton (CEO of the Indigenomics Institute) on our board with full governance authority. We believe in ceremony-grounded, relationship-first development. Hearing Shani articulate the same values, from a completely different nation and a completely different project, at a federal summit, that felt like confirmation that this approach isn’t niche. It’s the future.
Where the Summit Actually Happens
If you’ve been to enough conferences, you know: the real summit happens at breakfast. The panels are for the record. The meals are for the relationships.
I showed up to the Vista dining room in what I’m calling the Canada tuxedo, full denim, because if you’re meeting with Canada’s culture leaders, you commit to the bit, and sat down at a table with three YouTube creators and a guy from Alberta who makes Excel tutorials.
That’s not a joke. Jamie Keet runs Teacher’s Tech, a YouTube channel with 1.1 million subscribers. His big break? A Microsoft Excel tutorial. Then COVID hit and everyone in the world suddenly needed to learn how to make a Zoom call, and Jamie became everyone’s unofficial IT support. Ten years of consistency, one or two videos a week, twins at home, and now he’s at a national AI summit alongside the head of the Canada Media Fund and a federal minister.
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Who’s in the Room (and Who Isn’t)
Here’s what I can tell you about the 233 people at this summit: it’s a mix of old guard and new voices, and the tension between them is the most interesting thing happening.
On one side: the Canada Media Fund, SOCAN, ACTRA, the Writers Guild, Access Copyright, the Canadian Media Producers Association, the institutional infrastructure of Canadian culture. These organizations control funding, negotiate rights, lobby government, and set the terms for how cultural workers get paid. They’ve been doing it for decades, and AI is the biggest disruption they’ve ever faced.
On the other: YouTube creators, AI startups, digital media companies, tech educators, independent artists. People who built careers outside the traditional system and are now being invited to help figure out what comes next.
In between: the federal government. Minister Evan Solomon (AI and Digital Innovation), Minister Marc Miller (Canadian Identity and Culture), and a cast of deputy ministers, directors general, and policy advisors who will write the actual rules.
BC sent eight organizations. We identified 24 BC connections in the attendee list before we arrived, everyone from Philippe Pasquier at SFU’s Metacreation Lab to Catherine Winder at Wind Sun Sky Entertainment to Prem Gill at Creative BC to Loc Dao at DigiBC. That’s not accidental. We did our homework.
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What’s missing: any BC provincial government representation. Alberta’s here. Quebec’s here. Ontario’s here. PEI sent someone. But BC, a province with 645 respondents to the federal AI Task Force consultation, second only to Ontario, didn’t send anyone from Victoria. That gap is worth noting.
And one specific person worth naming: David Myles, MP for Fredericton-Oromocto. Two-time Juno Award winner. Music artist turned politician. Entertainment background with applicable context for this conversation. I had him on my target list before I arrived, and when someone at breakfast identified him across the dining room, I knew I’d picked the right table.
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The BC Bench
I want to talk about some of the BC people, projects and orgs here…. because these are the people doing the work, and a summit like this is where their work gets seen at the national level.
Philippe Pasquier is a professor at SFU’s School for Interactive Arts and Technology and the director of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI. He’s been doing AI art research since 2008, before most people in this room knew what a neural network was.
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Anthonia Ogundele runs Ethos Lab on Main Street in Vancouver, a Black and Indigenous youth center doing real creative work with real tech and real youth. This isn’t an afterschool homework club. Her team shipped a sleep-tracking mobile game built by 16-year-olds. She’s running an AI Experimentation Club where kids aged 14 to 24 learn what AI is, how it works, and when not to use it.
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Jesse McKee is Head of Digital Strategy at 221A, which operates 140,000 square feet of cultural space across nine properties in Vancouver. Jesse’s a friend and collaborator. He’s building a Web3 and AI hub that could become a permanent cultural infrastructure for the kind of work this summit is talking about. 221A isn’t waiting for federal funding to start. They’re doing it. When I think about what a creative AI ecosystem actually needs: physical space, institutional support, community programming, Jesse and 221A are already providing it.
Loc Dao is Executive Director of DigiBC, the industry association for BC’s creative technology sector. That’s 250-plus companies in games, animation, VFX, and virtual production. Every major studio and hundreds of indie shops. Loc isn’t here to talk about AI in the abstract. The people he represents are already building with it, shipping products, hiring around it. When this summit talks about BUILD, Loc knows exactly which companies are ready to move and what they need from Ottawa to do it.
Four people. Four completely different approaches to AI and culture. A researcher proving consent-based training works. A community leader putting AI tools in the hands of Black and Indigenous youth. A cultural infrastructure builder creating permanent space for this work. And the head of an industry association whose members are already shipping AI products. All from BC.
But this isn’t only a BC story. Some of the most important people at this summit are from Eastern Canada.
Ana Serrano, President and Vice Chancellor of OCAD University, is on the BUILD panel. Ana and I have been collaborating on the Democracy Exchange Conference, working on their AI programming together. She’s already sent several OCADU staff through our AI Upgrade for Creative Professionals program. That’s not a summit handshake. That’s a working relationship, and it predates this gathering.
Sarah Spring, ED [executive director] of Canadian Journalism Collective, former Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada, co-founder of Parabola Films. Sarah and I first met in Banff twenty years ago, before AI, before YouTube, before any of this. She represents the best of Canadian cultural infrastructure. Doubled DOC’s membership to 1,500. Put a 50% IBPOC [sic] board mandate in place.
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What We’re Watching For
The summit is organized around three pillars: BUILD (research partnerships), EMPOWER (training and adoption), and PROTECT (policy tools to manage risks). These map roughly to the same tension I keep seeing in federal AI strategy: how do you protect existing cultural workers from AI disruption while also empowering new creators and building the next generation of tools?
I’ll be honest about what I’m worried about. When I said at breakfast that “Solomon wants to champion the champion, they want to put their money behind scale, there’s very little interest in innovation at the grassroots level,” I meant it. That’s the pattern. Federal strategy picks winners, funds the established players, and hopes innovation trickles down. The Task Force evidence backs this up: 645 BC respondents, zero recognition in the final reports.
But this summit has an opening. Shani Gwin’s presentation wasn’t a grassroots afterthought, it was the keynote. YouTube creators aren’t in a breakout room, they’re at the main table. The question is whether that inclusiveness survives contact with the policy-making process, or whether the final recommendations default to protecting incumbents.
We’re watching. And we’re here with research, relationships, and receipts.
Paul Deegan, president and CEO (chief executive officer) News Media Canada, in a March 20, 2026 comment (AI’s use of news content must come with a cost; p. NP 2) published in the National Post argues that tech companies should bear some of the costs of covering news rather scraping ‘free’ content for AI from traditional media sites,
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We embrace and fully support the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence. Our newsrooms are deploying AI to boost efficiency and accuracy, while improving reader experience.
Real news is the antidote to the disinformation and misinformation crisis which is fuelled by AI and social media. Real news – created by real journalists who adhere to codes of ethics – is expensive to create. Fact-gathering, fact-checking, editorial and legal review, and being accountable cost real money.
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Moving from culture and media to democracy.
AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum on April 16, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario
The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) is co-hosting, along with The Dais (public policy and leadership think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University), OCAD [Ontario College of Art and Design] University, and others: AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum: an EU [European Union] Hub Ontario Initiative in person, panel event. From a March 19, 2026 CSPC announcement received via email),
AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum – April 16, 2026
CSPC is excited to announce the AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum, taking place on April 16, 2026 (12:00–5:00 PM, TBC) at the Université de l’Ontario français, 9 Lower Jarvis St, Toronto. Join us for an in-person forum [emphasis mine] bringing together Canadian and European leaders to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence, democracy, and human rights. Hosted by CSPC under the EU Hub Ontario, this event will foster cross-sector dialogue on advancing digital innovation while safeguarding ethical and legal standards.
Here’s more about this in person event from the event page, Note: Links have been removed,
Université de l’Ontario françaisToronto, ON
Thursday, Apr 16 [2026] from 12 pm to 5 pm
Overview
Half-day forum convened under the European Union Hub in Ontario initiative
The AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum is a half-day forum convened under the European Union Hub in Ontario initiative and organized by the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC), in partnership with The Dais, OCAD University, and others.
Taking place on April 16, 2026, at the Université de l’Ontario français in Toronto, the Forum will bring together policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, civil-society organizations, and international partners to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence, democracy, and digital rights.
The event marks an exciting new chapter in the EU’s presence in Ontario. It offers a unique platform for exchanging Canadian and European perspectives in the context of the EU–Canada Digital Partnership Council. Together, participants will explore ways to strengthen democratic institutions, promote civic participation, and advance trusted digital innovation in bilateral cooperation. Discussions will foster cross-sector dialogue between European and Canadian stakeholders on how to advance collaboration in artificial intelligence and digital technologies while safeguarding ethical, legal, and human-rights standards.
Topics, among others, will include:
Ethical, social, and legal dimensions of digital governance
EU–Canada approaches to AI regulation and innovation
Digital rights, data governance, and public trust
The role of industry, civil society, and youth in shaping the digital future
Responsible AI adoption across the economy and society
The Forum will feature panel discussions, policy dialogue, and networking opportunities as part of the broader DemocracyXChange 2026 Summit in Toronto.
For more information or questions related to this event, please email: info@sciencepolicy.ca
The 7th edition of Canada’s premier democracy summit returns to Toronto on April 16-18, 2026 at Toronto Metropolitan University and OCAD U. Join us for three days of keynote speakers, panels and workshops, created to both examine and tackle today’s most urgent civic issues.
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Lots of food for thought and opportunities to participate.
A September 5, 2025 announcement (received via email) from Toronto’s ArtSci Salon highlights three upcoming events. In date order, from the online version of the September 5, 2025 announcement, Note: The online version is on mailchi.mp and is time limited,
Book Launch To Place a Rabbit by Madhur Anand in conversation with Shyam Selvadurai
Tuesday, Sept. 9 2025 7:00 pm [ 7 – 8:30 pm ET] Another Story Bookstore 315 Roncesvalles avenue Toronto
I found more information about the book launch on its eventbrite RSVP page, Note: Links have been removed,
ABOUT THE BOOK
This delightfully clever, artfully layered novel begins when a scientist who has written a popular book of non-fiction attends a literary festival, where she strikes up a friendship with a charismatic novelist. The novelist reveals that her new work is an experiment: a novella she wrote in English only to have it translated and published solely in French—a language the novelist cannot read. Moreover, she has lost her original English manuscript of this work. Hearing this, the scientist, who is fluent in French, impulsively offers to retranslate the novella back into English for the novelist.As she embarks on this task, the scientist finds herself haunted by vivid memories and distracting questions—particularly about a passionate affair from her own life with a French lover. These insert themselves into her translation process, troubling it, then disrupting it entirely. She desperately tries to complete her task before losing control of both the work and her well-organized existence—but soon the novelist and the French lover reappear in the present, further complicating both life and art.Here is sparkling, irresistible debut fiction from one of our most consistently inventive voices, the award-winning and multi-talented Madhur Anand.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Madhur Anand’s debut book of creative non-fiction This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (2020) won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Her debut collection of poems A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (2015) was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named one of 10 all-time “trailblazing” poetry collections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her second collection of poems Parasitic Oscillations (2022) was also a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. To Place a Rabbit is her first novel. Anand is a professor and the director of the Global Ecological Change and Sustainability Laboratory at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Shyam Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Funny Boy, his first novel, won the W.H. Smith/ Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award in the US. He is the author of Cinnamon Gardens and Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, and the editor of an anthology, Story-wallah! A Celebration of South Asian Fiction. His books have been published in the US, the UK and India, and published in translation in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey and Israel. His latest novel, The Hungry Ghosts, was published April 2, 2013 in Canada, India and Sri Lanka. Shyam co- wrote the screenplay for his first novel Funny Boy, for which he won the Canadian Screen Award and the New York Cinema Independent Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Shyam’s new novel Mansions of the Moon is a historical novel about the Buddha’s wife, Yasodhara. In 2016, Shyam had the interesting honour of having a spider named after him: Brignolia shyami, a small goblin spider.
Call for Proposals: RE:SciComm February 19-20, 2026 Oakham House, Toronto Metropolitan University, 55 Gould Street, Toronto
RE:SciComm (formerly SciCommTO) — a dynamic, in-person conference exploring the art, science, and strategy of science communication in Canada. The conference will attract science communicators, researchers, journalists, graduate students, and outreach professionals from across the GTHA [Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area] and beyond.
The RE:ScieComm conference website offers a clue as to why it was mentioned in ArtSci Salon announcements,
Join us for a dynamic conference exploring the art, science, and strategy of science communication in Canada.
Whether you’re behind the mic, in front of a classroom, or crafting stories for the screen, RE:SciComm is the place to build your skills, grow your network, and join the national conversation on science engagement and communication.
In an era shaped by climate change, public health crises, and rapid advances in AI, the need for effective science communication has never been clearer. Science impacts all of us — but how we talk about it, and who gets heard, matters more than ever. RE:SciComm will dive into the challenges and opportunities of today’s engagement landscape, from tackling misinformation to reaching communities historically excluded from science conversations.
Why RE:SciComm?
Formerly known as SciCommTO, the original 2020 conference drew wide praise for its collaborative spirit and practical focus. Now we’re rebooting with fresh energy, a broader scope, and a renewed commitment to advancing inclusive and effective science communication.
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Call for Proposals Now Open ◐
We’re looking for bold, practical, and thought-provoking session proposals that explore the future of science communication. Workshops, panel discussions, interactive sessions, debates, or something unexpected — if you’ve got an idea that could inspire or empower fellow communicators, we want to hear from you.
*Speakers and Conference Program will be released in October 2025. Registration will open October 2025.
DEADLINE Monday, September 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET
Conference Themes
Re:framing
What does inclusive, community-first science communication look like? This theme is about democratizing science and shifting perspectives—getting research out of the lab, beyond academic journals and conferences, and into public spaces where it can be shared, shaped, and understood by all. It’s about centering equity, decolonization, and Indigenous ways of knowing in how we communicate science. Whether it’s through co-creation, storytelling, art, language, or lived experience, we’re looking for sessions that challenge the status quo and open up new possibilities. Let’s explore fresh frameworks, participatory approaches, and best practices that make STEMM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine] more accessible, responsive, and representative of the world we live in.
Re:building
As we navigate a rapidly changing world, how do we rebuild public trust in STEMM, and reimagine science communication for today’s reality in Canada? This theme explores emerging challenges and opportunities—from misinformation and AI to science policy and education. We invite sessions that tackle the unique contexts of science engagement in Canada, offering insight into how science communicators can meet the moment with integrity, creativity, and care. Let’s reshape the narrative and design strategies that help STEMM thrive across diverse communities.
Re:igniting
Let’s get inspired. This theme is all about renewal—of relationships, collaborations, ideas, and purpose. What fuels your passion for science communication, and how can we grow the field together? We’re looking for sessions that celebrate creativity, connection, and momentum—whether through innovative formats, bold new projects, or reflections on what keeps us going. Together, we’ll build a more vibrant, interconnected, and future-focused science communication community across Canada.
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Conference Co-Hosts
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The Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience) is Canada’s oldest scientific society, celebrating its 175th year of science engagement. Through award-winning events and programs, RCIScience sparks curiosity and builds a stronger science culture across Canada.
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SciXchange at Toronto Metropolitan University is dedicated to making science accessible, engaging, and inclusive for all. From hands-on outreach to science communication training, SciXchange brings science to life for communities across the GTHA.
I very much appreciate the visual puns used to illustrate and ‘illuminate’ the conference themes.
This next and last event is more typical of the ArtSci Salon’s offerings, although the more accessible (IMO) description for the event and the artist was on this University of Toronto Jackman Humanities Institute event page,
Description
Join us for a series of events running through September 25 to October 16 that include an opening reception, additional tour and two panel discussions. Together, these events aim to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents while normalizing its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. It will also explore more broadly on the role and significance of mathematics and math education in today’s shifting socio-cultural and economic contexts.
“i don’t do math” is a photographic series exploring dyscalculia, a learning difference that affects a person’s ability to understand and work with number-based information. While dyslexia (difficulty with language) has become widely recognized thanks to years of advocacy and early detection, dyscalculia remains largely unknown. Research estimates that 3–7% of children, adolescents, and adults are affected (Haberstroh & Schulte-Körne 2019), though the actual numbers may be higher, as only a small fraction of those who struggle with math are ever screened (Sparks 2023).
Despite its prevalence, dyscalculia is often misunderstood—dismissed as a lack of education or mistaken for a personality trait. Left unrecognized, it can impact many aspects of daily life. It is also frequently confused with math anxiety, a sense of apprehension that interferes with math performance and while the two are not the same, dyscalculia can contribute to the development of math anxiety.
Photographer Ann Piché approaches this project both as an artist and an advocate, documenting the experiences of people affected by dyscalculia while engaging educators, learners, and parents in conversations about its effects and possible supports. Her exhibition presents abstract images paired with mathematical formulae, visually translating unfamiliar equations into recognizable photographic forms. The pairing of images and formulas conveys the frustration many with dyscalculia feel when navigating a number-centric world, while accompanying text-based panels guide viewers through the assumptions and challenges that shape these experiences.
The series consists of 15 photographs and 5 text-based panels, including works created during fieldwork visits in courses taught by University of Toronto, Department of Math, Professors Amenda Chow and Sarah Mayes-Tang of Calculus and Symmetry and Professor Pam Sargent of Business Calculus, Professor Ada Chan of Pre-Calculus at York University, and Dr. Pamela Brittain of K–12 Curriculum Education from the Fields Institute.
Ann Piché is a photo-based artist in Ottawa, Canada. Working in technology since the early 1990’s, Ann was the first female electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Experiencing the disconnect that can exist between science and the arts she constructs visual links to build those connections, creating accessible entry points for conversations about the less familiar.
A graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), Ann’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions in Canada and in group exhibitions internationally. Her collaborations include the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. A recipient of grants from the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council, Ann has been published in North American magazines such as SHOTS and PhotoED.
Ann’s images are not software generated. Working primarily in digital photography, she stages her images using real and constructed landscapes with custom-built sets. Her work explores photographic abstraction and experimental camera techniques, a visual acknowledgement of the anxiety we can feel when facing the unfamiliar.
This initiative is supported by JHI Program for the Arts, the ArtSci Salon & the Fields Institute, and New College. Many thanks to the Departments of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and York University for their collaboration.
ABOUT “I don’t do math” is a photographic series referencing dyscalculia, a learning difference affecting a person’s ability to understand and manipulate number-based information.
This initiative seeks to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents, and to normalize its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. In addition, it seeks to reflect on and question broader issues and assumptions about the role and significance of Mathematics and Math education in today’s changing socio-cultural and economic contexts.
The exhibition will contain pedagogical information and activities for visitors and students. The artist will also address the extensive research that led to the exhibition. The exhibition will feature two panel discussions following the opening and to conclude the exhibition.
Photographer Ann Piché is using her artistic practice both to document the struggles experienced by people affected by dyscalculia, and to educate math educators, students, and parents about its effects and potential support strategies.The series consists of 15 photographs and 5 text-based panels, including work produced during fieldwork visits in Prof. Amenda Chow and Prof. Sarah Mayes-Tang’s Calculus and Symmetry classes; Prof. Pam Sargent’s business calculus class (all three professors are from the dept. of Math.); Prof. Ada Chan’s pre-calculus class (dept. of Math., York University); and Dr.Pamela Brittain’s K-12 and curriculum education program (Fields Institute).
Opening: Thursday September 25, 5:00 pm [ET] Tour: Saturday September 27, [2025] 2:00 pm [ET] (meet us at the Fields Institute, Atrium 2nd floor) —- Panel Discussion: Monday, September 29, 4:00 pm [ET] Ann Piché (independent artist) Daniel Ansari (Department of Psychology and Education, Western University) Darja Barr (Department of Mathematics, University of Winnipeg) room 230, the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences 222 College Street, Toronto —- Stay tuned for the Final Panel Discussion on October 16, 10:00 am with Andrew Fiss (Professional & Technical Communication, Michigan Technological University Humanities Department) and other panelists
All panels will be recorded and posted on our Youtube channel
The work you see in the above is being displayed at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale or Biennale Architettura 2025; 19th International Architecture Exhibition being held in Venice, 10.05 – 23.11 2025 (May 10 – November 23, 2025). Note: Links have been removed.
ETH researchers present a living material consisting of a hydrogel and cyanobacteria embedded in it.
The photosynthetic bacteria extract CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into biomass and carbonate-containing minerals.
The 3D-printable building material is intended to help reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and infrastructure in the future.
At the Venice Biennale and the Triennale in Milan, two exhibits explore how the living material could be used in architecture.
The idea seems futuristic: At ETH Zurich, various disciplines are working together to combine conventional materials with bacteria, algae and fungi. The common goal: to create living materials that acquire useful properties thanks to the metabolism of microorganisms – “such as the ability to bind CO2 from the air by means of photosynthesis,” says Mark Tibbitt, Professor of Macromolecular Engineering at ETH Zurich.
An interdisciplinary research team led by Tibbitt has now turned this vision into reality: it has stably incorporated photosynthetic bacteria – known as cyanobacteria – into a printable gel and developed a material that is alive, grows and actively removes carbon from the air. The researchers recently presented their “photosynthetic living material” in a study in the journal Nature Communications.
Key characteristic: Dual carbon sequestration
The material can be shaped using 3D printing and only requires sunlight and artificial seawater with readily available nutrients in addition to CO2 to grow. “As a building material, it could help to store CO2 directly in buildings in the future,” says Tibbitt, who co-initiated the research into living materials at ETH Zurich.
The special thing about it: the living material absorbs much more CO2 than it binds through organic growth. “This is because the material can store carbon not only in biomass, but also in the form of minerals – a special property of these cyanobacteria,” reveals Tibbitt.
Yifan Cui, one of the two lead authors of the study, explains: “Cyanobacteria are among the oldest life forms in the world. They are highly efficient at photosynthesis and can utilise even the weakest light to produce biomass from CO2 and water”.
At the same time, the bacteria change their chemical environment outside the cell as a result of photosynthesis, so that solid carbonates (such as lime) precipitate. These minerals represent an additional carbon sink and – in contrast to biomass – store CO2 in a more stable form.
Cyanobacteria as master builders
“We utilise this ability specifically in our material,” says Cui, who is a doctoral student in Tibbitt’s research group. A practical side effect: the minerals are deposited inside the material and reinforce it mechanically. In this way, the cyanobacteria slowly harden the initially soft structures.
Laboratory tests showed that the material continuously binds CO₂ over a period of 400 days, most of it in mineral form – around 26 milligrams of CO2 per gram of material. This is significantly more than many biological approaches and comparable to the chemical mineralisation of recycled concrete (around 7 mg CO2 per gram).
Hydrogel as a habitat
The carrier material that harbours the living cells is a hydrogel – a gel made of cross-linked polymers with a high water content. Tibbitt’s team selected the polymer network so that it can transport light, CO2, water and nutrients and allows the cells to spread evenly inside without leaving the material.
To ensure that the cyanobacteria live as long as possible and remain efficient, the researchers have also optimised the geometry of the structures using 3D printing processes to increase the surface area, increase light penetration and promote the flow of nutrients.
Co-first author Dalia Dranseike: “In this way, we created structures that enable light penetration and passively distribute nutrient fluid throughout the body by capillary forces.” Thanks to this design, the encapsulated cyanobacteria lived productively for more than a year, the materials researcher in Tibbitt’s team is pleased to report.
Infrastructure as a carbon sink
The researchers see their living material as a low-energy and environmentally friendly approach that can bind CO2 from the atmosphere and supplement existing chemical processes for carbon sequestration. “In the future, we want to investigate how the material can be used as a coating for building façades to bind CO2 throughout the entire life cycle of a building,” Tibbitt looks ahead.
There is still a long way to go – but colleagues from the field of architecture have already taken up the concept and realised initial interpretations in an experimental way.
Two installations in Venice and Milan
Thanks to ETH doctoral student Andrea Shin Ling, basic research from the ETH laboratories has made it onto the big stage at the Architecture Biennale in Venice. “It was particularly challenging to scale up the production process from laboratory format to room dimensions,” says the architect and bio-designer, who is also involved in this study.
Ling is doing her doctorate at ETH Professor Benjamin Dillenburger’s Chair of Digital Building Technologies [sic]. In her dissertation, she developed a platform for biofabrication that can print living structures containing functional cyanobacteria on an architectural scale.
For the Picoplanktonics installation in the Canada Pavilion, the project team used the printed structures as living building blocks to construct two tree-trunk-like objects, the largest around three metres high. Thanks to the cyanobacteria, these can each bind up to 18 kg of CO2 per year – about as much as a 20-year-old pine tree in the temperate zone.
“The installation is an experiment – we have adapted the Canada Pavilion so that it provides enough light, humidity and warmth for the cyanobacteria to thrive and then we watch how they behave,” says Ling. This is a commitment: The team monitors and maintains the installation on site – daily. Until 23 November [2025].
At the 24th Triennale di Milano, Dafne’s Skin is investigating the potential of living materials for future building envelopes. On a structure covered with wooden shingles, microorganisms form a deep green patina that changes the wood over time: A sign of decay becomes an active design element that binds CO2 and emphasises the aesthetics of microbial processes. Dafne’s Skin is a collaboration between MAEID Studio and Dalia Dranseike. It is part of the exhibition “We the Bacteria: Notes Toward Biotic Architecture” and runs until 9 November [2025].
The photosynthetic living material was created thanks to an interdisciplinary collaboration within the framework of ALIVE (Advanced Engineering with Living Materials). The ETH Zurich initiative promotes collaboration between researchers from different disciplines in order to develop new living materials for a wide range of applications.
Before exploring the Canadian connection a little further, here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials by Dalia Dranseike, Yifan Cui, Andrea S. Ling, Felix Donat, Stéphane Bernhard, Margherita Bernero, Akhil Areeckal, Marco Lazic, Xiao-Hua Qin, John S. Oakey, Benjamin Dillenburger, André R. Studart & Mark W. Tibbitt. Nature Communications volume 16, Article number: 3832 (2025) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58761-y Published: 23 April 2025
On the occasion of Canada’s participation in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Canada Council for the Arts present Picoplanktonics at the Canada Pavilion, from May 10 to November 23, 2025.
Amidst the ongoing global climate crisis, the Living Room Collective has developed a ground-breaking exhibition that showcases the potential for collaboration between humans and nature. Comprised of 3D printed structures that contain live cyanobacteria capable of carbon sequestration, Picoplanktonics is an exploration of our potential to co-operate with living systems by co-constructing spaces that remediate the planet rather than exploit it.
The Living Room Collective’s exhibition is the culmination of four years of collaborative research by Andrea Shin Ling and various interdisciplinary contributors. It is focused on harnessing the design principles of living systems to develop sustainable, intelligent and resilient materials and technologies for the future. By leveraging ancient biological processes alongside emergent technologies, it proposes designing environments under an ecology-first ethos.
“The Canada Council for the Arts is delighted to unveil Picoplanktonics by the Living Room Collective at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Through the lens of architecture, this year’s Canadian exhibition brings technological innovation and ecological stewardship together. It is a unique exhibition, sure to inspire global audiences and to ignite important conversations, about how our built environment might better house and use natural systems for a more sustainable future.”
– Michelle Chawla, Director and CEO, Canada Council for the Arts
When visitors enter the Canada Pavilion, they will encounter 3D printed structures that were originally fabricated in an ETH Zürich laboratory. These are the largest living material structures produced using a first-of-its-kind biofabrication platform capable of printing living structures at an architectural scale. The unique Picoplanktonics experience stems from adapting the Canada Pavilion to provide enough light, moisture, and warmth for the living cyanobacteria within the structures to grow, thrive and change. For the duration of the exhibition, caretakers will be onsite tending to the structures, emphasizing care and stewardship as essential elements of the design.
As global carbon emissions continue to rise to untenable levels, Picoplanktonics presents a vision of how a regenerative system of construction could operate. It is an ongoing experiment centered on leveraging the reciprocal relationship between living structures, the built environment, and humans. In this way, the Living Room Collective is rethinking building principles and prioritizing ecological resilience beyond human species survival.
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“Picoplanktonics marks four years of research at ETH Zürich with international collaborators in material science, biology, robotics, and computational design. As we move these living prototypes into the Canada Pavilion, we are thrilled to invite the public into this open experiment and reveal all phases of the material’s life, including growth, sickness, and death, while collectively imagining a regenerative design approach that seeks planetary remediation.”
–Andrea Shin Ling, The Living Room Collective
The Living Room Collective
The Living Room Collective is a group of architects, scientists, artists and educators who work at the intersection of architecture, biology and digital fabrication technologies—led by Canadian architect and biodesigner Andrea Shin Ling. Alongside core team members Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui and Clayton Lee, the collective seeks to move society away from exploitative systems of production to regenerative ones by inventing design methods and processes that center on natural systems.
They see the Biennale Architettura 2025 as a platform to generate national and international conversations that ask: How does one fabricate a biological architecture? What are the conditions of stewardship? What are the strategies to instigate this at scale, regionally and globally?
Andrea Shin Ling is an architect and biodesigner who works at the intersection of design, digital fabrication and biology. Her work focuses on how the critical application of biologically and computationally mediated design processes can move society away from exploitative systems of production to regenerative ones. She is the 2020 S+T+ARTS Grand Prize winner for her work as Ginkgo Bioworks’ creative resident designing the decay of artifacts in order to access material circularity. Andrea is a founder of designGUILD, a Toronto-based art collective, and was a researcher in the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab, where she worked on AguahojaI, a 3D-printed bio-material pavilion. She is currently a doctoral fellow at the Chair of Digital Building Technologies at ETH Zurich.
Nicholas Hoban is a computational designer, fabricator and educator. He works at the intersection of computational design, robotics, construction and simulation in pedagogy, research and practice. Nicholas is the director of applied technologies at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture [University of Toronto], Landscape, and Design and a lecturer within the Daniels technology specialist program, leading various research and teaching labs while developing curriculum for studios and seminars on advanced fabrication and robotics within architecture. His research focuses on the application of robotics within fabrication and construction and on how we can solve critical problems in geometry through integrated processes. Nicholas was a lead fabricator and computational designer for two previous Venice Biennales: for the 2014 Canadian Pavilion for Lateral Office’s Arctic Adaptations and for the 2016 Swiss Pavilion for Christian Kerez’s Incidental Space.
Vincent Hui is a distinguished professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science, imparting knowledge across diverse domains from design studios to digital tools. His pedagogical excellence has earned him multiple teaching accolades, as he delves into the intersections of architecture, fabrication and allied disciplines. With over 25 years of experience, his extensive publication portfolio focuses on design pedagogy, simulation, prototyping and technological convergence, complemented by a rich body of creative work showcased globally. Collaborating with esteemed organizations such as the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and the Canadian Architecture Students’ Association (CASA), Vincent endeavours to empower the next generation of designers, navigating emergent shifts in praxis. Committed to bridging academia and industry, he advocates for experiential learning initiatives and outreach endeavours for aspiring designers. His remarkable contributions have culminated in his induction into the esteemed RAIC College of Fellows.
Clayton Lee is a curator, producer and performance artist. He is currently the director (artistic) of the Fierce Festival, in Birmingham, UK. He was previously the director of the Rhubarb Festival, Canada’s longest-running festival of new and experimental performance, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Clayton has also worked as creative producer on Jess Dobkin’s projects, including For What It’s Worth, her commission at the Wellcome Collection, in London, UK; as curatorial associate at the Luminato Festival; and as managing producer of the CanadaHub at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His performance projects have been presented in venues across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. He was one of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s 2023 artists-in-residence.
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There are still a few months left if you want to attend. Bon Voyage!
The Canadian federal budget was unveiled on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 and the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) is holding another five hour extravaganza (symposium) on it. Presumably this will be online as no location has been announced. (BTW, I have a few comments about the 2023 budget, which should be posted in the near future.)
Here are more details about the 2023 CSPC budget symposium, from a March 30, 2023 CSPC announcement (received via email),
The federal government released the 2023-24 budget on Tuesday, March 28th. CSPC is once again hosting a Symposium for a comprehensive analysis of the Federal Budget, and the reactions of various sectors.
The CSPC Budget Symposium will be held on Tuesday, April 11th [2023] and will feature numerous speakers from different sectors across the country. A detailed budget analysis will be presented by Dave Watters and Omer Kaya from Global Advantage Consulting Group, followed by panel discussions of various speakers.
Confirmed Speakers include:
Aminah Robinson Fayek – Vice-President of Research and Innovation, University of Alberta
David Watters – President, Global Advantage Consulting Group
Jeanette Jackson – CEO, Foresight Canada
Karimah Es Sabar – CEO, Quark Venture
Malcolm Campbell – Vice-President of Research, University of Guelph
Matthew Foss – Vice-President of Research and Public Policy, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB)
Namir Anani – President/ CEO, Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)
Omer Kaya – CEO, Global Advantage Consulting Group
Padmapriya Muralidharan – Chair, Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars [CAPS-ACSP]
Steven Liss – Vice-President of Research, Toronto Metropolitan University [TMU]
For the curious, the CSPC held an April 21, 2022 symposium: Decoding Budget 2022 for Science and Innovation (for details see my April 19, 2022 posting; scroll down to the 2022 budget symposium subhead).
David Watters who was supposed to be their ‘keynote’ speaker last year is listed as a 2023 co-keynote presenter and Omer Kaya who filled in as the ‘keynote’ for the 2022 symposium is back as a featured 2023 co-keynote presenter. There are two other returnees to the symposium, Karimah Es Sabar and Malcolm Campbell.
The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) in a September 15, 2022 announcement (received via email) announced an event (Age of AI and Big Data – Impact on Justice, Human Rights and Privacy) centered on some of the latest government doings on artificial intelligence and privacy (Bill C-27),
In an increasingly connected world, we share a large amount of our data in our daily lives without our knowledge while browsing online, traveling, shopping, etc. More and more companies are collecting our data and using it to create algorithms or AI. The use of our data against us is becoming more and more common. The algorithms used may often be discriminatory against racial minorities and marginalized people.
As technology moves at a high pace, we have started to incorporate many of these technologies into our daily lives without understanding its consequences. These technologies have enormous impacts on our very own identity and collectively on civil society and democracy.
Recently, the Canadian Government introduced the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) and Bill C-27 [which includes three acts in total] in parliament regulating the use of AI in our society. In this panel, we will discuss how our AI and Big data is affecting us and its impact on society, and how the new regulations affect us.
For some reason, there was no information about the moderator and panelists, other than their names, titles, and affiliations. Here’s a bit more:
Moderator: Yuan Stevens (from her eponymous website’s About page), Note: Links have been removed,
Yuan (“You-anne”) Stevens (she/they) is a legal and policy expert focused on sociotechnical security and human rights.
She works towards a world where powerful actors—and the systems they build—are held accountable to the public, especially when it comes to marginalized communities.
She brings years of international experience to her role at the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University [formerly Ryerson University], having examined the impacts of technology on vulnerable populations in Canada, the US and Germany.
Committed to publicly accessible legal and technical knowledge, Yuan has written for popular media outlets such as the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen and has been quoted in news stories by the New York Times, the CBC and the Globe & Mail.
Yuan is a research fellow at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa and a research affiliate at Data & Society Research Institute. She previously worked at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society during her studies in law at McGill University.
She has been conducting research on artificial intelligence since 2017 and is currently exploring sociotechnical security as an LL.M candidate at University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law working under Florian Martin-Bariteau.
Brenda McPhail is the director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Privacy, Surveillance and Technology Project. Her recent work includes guiding the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s interventions in key court cases that raise privacy issues, most recently at the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Marakah and R v. Jones, which focused on privacy rights in sent text messages; research into surveillance of dissent, government information sharing, digital surveillance capabilities and privacy in relation to emergent technologies; and developing resources and presentations to drive public awareness about the importance of privacy as a social good.
My research has spanned many areas such as resource allocation in networking, smart grids, social information networks, machine learning. Broadly, my interest lies in gaining a fundamental understanding of a given system and the design of robust algorithms.
More recently my research focus has been in privacy in machine learning. I’m interested in understanding how robust machine learning methods are to perturbation, and privacy and fairness constraints, with the goal of designing practical algorithms that achieve privacy and fairness.
Bio
Before joining the University of Alberta, I spent many years in industry research labs. Most recently, I was a Research team lead at Borealis AI (a research institute at Royal Bank of Canada), where my team worked on privacy-preserving methods for machine learning models and other applied problems for RBC. Prior to that, I spent many years in research labs in Europe working on a variety of interesting and impactful problems. I was a researcher at Bell Labs, Nokia, in France from January 2015 to March 2018, where I led a new team focussed on Maths and Algorithms for Machine Learning in Networks and Systems, in the Maths and Algorithms group of Bell Labs. I also spent a few years at the Technicolor Paris Research Lab working on social network analysis, smart grids, and privacy in recommendations.
Benjamin Faveri is a Research and Policy Analyst at the Responsible AI Institute (RAII) [headquarted in Austin, Texas]. Currently, he is developing their Responsible AI Certification Program and leading it through Canada’s national accreditation process. Over the last several years, he has worked on numerous certification program-related research projects such as fishery economics and certification programs, police body-worn camera policy certification, and emerging AI certifications and assurance systems. Before his work at RAII, Benjamin completed a Master of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, where he was a Canada Graduate Scholar, Ontario Graduate Scholar, Social Innovation Fellow, and Visiting Scholar at UC Davis School of Law. He holds undergraduate degrees in criminology and psychology, finishing both with first class standing. Outside of work, Benjamin reads about how and why certification and private governance have been applied across various industries.
Panelist: Ori Freiman (from his eponymous website’s About page)
I research at the forefront of technological innovation. This website documents some of my academic activities.
My formal background is in Analytic Philosophy, Library and Information Science, and Science & Technology Studies. Until September 22′ [September 2022], I was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Ethics of AI Lab, at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Ethics. Before joining the Centre, I submitted my dissertation, about trust in technology, to The Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society at Bar-Ilan University.
I have also found a number of overviews and bits of commentary about the Canadian federal government’s proposed Bill C-27, which I think of as an omnibus bill as it includes three proposed Acts.
The lawyers are excited but I’m starting with the Responsible AI Institute’s (RAII) response first as one of the panelists (Benjamin Faveri) works for them and it’s a view from a closely neighbouring country, from a June 22, 2022 RAII news release, Note: Links have been removed,
Business Implications of Canada’s Draft AI and Data Act
On June 16 [2022], the Government of Canada introduced the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), as part of the broader Digital Charter Implementation Act 2022 (Bill C-27). Shortly thereafter, it also launched the second phase of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
Both RAII’s Certification Program, which is currently under review by the Standards Council of Canada, and the proposed AIDA legislation adopt the same approach of gauging an AI system’s risk level in context; identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks both pre-deployment and on an ongoing basis; and pursuing objectives such as safety, fairness, consumer protection, and plain-language notification and explanation.
Businesses should monitor the progress of Bill C-27 and align their AI governance processes, policies, and controls to its requirements. Businesses participating in RAII’s Certification Program will already be aware of requirements, such as internal Algorithmic Impact Assessments to gauge risk level and Responsible AI Management Plans for each AI system, which include system documentation, mitigation measures, monitoring requirements, and internal approvals.
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The AIDA draft is focused on the impact of any “high-impact system”. Companies would need to assess whether their AI systems are high-impact; identify, assess, and mitigate potential harms and biases flowing from high-impact systems; and “publish on a publicly available website a plain-language description of the system” if making a high-impact system available for use. The government elaborated in a press briefing that it will describe in future regulations the classes of AI systems that may have high impact.
The AIDA draft also outlines clear criminal penalties for entities which, in their AI efforts, possess or use unlawfully obtained personal information or knowingly make available for use an AI system that causes serious harm or defrauds the public and causes substantial economic loss to an individual.
If enacted, AIDA would establish the Office of the AI and Data Commissioner, to support Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, with powers to monitor company compliance with the AIDA, to order independent audits of companies’ AI activities, and to register compliance orders with courts. The Commissioner would also help the Minister ensure that standards for AI systems are aligned with international standards.
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Apart from being aligned with the approach and requirements of Canada’s proposed AIDA legislation, RAII is also playing a key role in the Standards Council of Canada’s AI accreditation pilot. The second phase of the Pan-Canadian includes funding for the Standards Council of Canada to “advance the development and adoption of standards and a conformity assessment program related to AI/”
The AIDA’s introduction shows that while Canada is serious about governing AI systems, its approach to AI governance is flexible and designed to evolve as the landscape changes.
Charles Mandel’s June 16, 2022 article for Betakit (Canadian Startup News and Tech Innovation) provides an overview of the government’s overall approach to data privacy, AI, and more,
The federal Liberal government has taken another crack at legislating privacy with the introduction of Bill C-27 in the House of Commons.
Among the bill’s highlights are new protections for minors as well as Canada’s first law regulating the development and deployment of high-impact AI systems.
“It [Bill C-27] will address broader concerns that have been expressed since the tabling of a previous proposal, which did not become law,” a government official told a media technical briefing on the proposed legislation.
François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, together with David Lametti, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, introduced the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022. The ministers said Bill C-27 will significantly strengthen Canada’s private sector privacy law, create new rules for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence (AI), and continue to put in place Canada’s Digital Charter.
The Digital Charter Implementation Act includes three proposed acts: the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act, and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA)- all of which have implications for Canadian businesses.
Bill C-27 follows an attempt by the Liberals to introduce Bill C-11 in 2020. The latter was the federal government’s attempt to reform privacy laws in Canada, but it failed to gain passage in Parliament after the then-federal privacy commissioner criticized the bill.
The proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act is meant to protect Canadians by ensuring high-impact AI systems are developed and deployed in a way that identifies, assesses and mitigates the risks of harm and bias.
For businesses developing or implementing AI this means that the act will outline criminal prohibitions and penalties regarding the use of data obtained unlawfully for AI development or where the reckless deployment of AI poses serious harm and where there is fraudulent intent to cause substantial economic loss through its deployment.
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An AI and data commissioner will support the minister of innovation, science, and industry in ensuring companies comply with the act. The commissioner will be responsible for monitoring company compliance, ordering third-party audits, and sharing information with other regulators and enforcers as appropriate.
The commissioner would also be expected to outline clear criminal prohibitions and penalties regarding the use of data obtained unlawfully for AI development or where the reckless deployment of AI poses serious harm and where there is fraudulent intent to cause substantial economic loss through its deployment.
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Canada already collaborates on AI standards to some extent with a number of countries. Canada, France, and 13 other countries launched an international AI partnership to guide policy development and “responsible adoption” in 2020.
The federal government also has the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy for which it committed an additional $443.8 million over 10 years in Budget 2021. Ahead of the 2022 budget, Trudeau [Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] had laid out an extensive list of priorities for the innovation sector, including tasking Champagne with launching or expanding national strategy on AI, among other things.
Within the AI community, companies and groups have been looking at AI ethics for some time. Scotiabank donated $750,000 in funding to the University of Ottawa in 2020 to launch a new initiative to identify solutions to issues related to ethical AI and technology development. And Richard Zemel, co-founder of the Vector Institute [formed as part of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy], joined Integrate.AI as an advisor in 2018 to help the startup explore privacy and fairness in AI.
When it comes to the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Liberals said the proposed act responds to feedback received on the proposed legislation, and is meant to ensure that the privacy of Canadians will be protected, and that businesses can benefit from clear rules as technology continues to evolve.
“A reformed privacy law will establish special status for the information of minors so that they receive heightened protection under the new law,” a federal government spokesperson told the technical briefing.
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The act is meant to provide greater controls over Canadians’ personal information, including how it is handled by organizations as well as giving Canadians the freedom to move their information from one organization to another in a secure manner.
The act puts the onus on organizations to develop and maintain a privacy management program that includes the policies, practices and procedures put in place to fulfill obligations under the act. That includes the protection of personal information, how requests for information and complaints are received and dealt with, and the development of materials to explain an organization’s policies and procedures.
The bill also ensures that Canadians can request that their information be deleted from organizations.
The bill provides the privacy commissioner of Canada with broad powers, including the ability to order a company to stop collecting data or using personal information. The commissioner will be able to levy significant fines for non-compliant organizations—with fines of up to five percent of global revenue or $25 million, whichever is greater, for the most serious offences.
The proposed Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act will create a new tribunal to enforce the Consumer Privacy Protection Act.
Although the Liberal government said it engaged with stakeholders for Bill C-27, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) expressed reservations about the process. Nick Schiavo, CCI’s director of federal affairs, said it had concerns over the last version of privacy legislation, and had hoped to present those concerns when the bill was studied at committee, but the previous bill died before that could happen.
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Now the lawyers. Simon Hodgett, Kuljit Bhogal, and Sam Ip have written a June 27, 2022 overview, which highlights the key features from the perspective of Osler, a leading business law firm practising internationally from offices across Canada and in New York.
Maya Medeiros and Jesse Beatson authored a June 23, 2022 article for Norton Rose Fulbright, a global law firm, which notes a few ‘weak’ spots in the proposed legislation,
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… While the AIDA is directed to “high-impact” systems and prohibits “material harm,” these and other key terms are not yet defined. Further, the quantum of administrative penalties will be fixed only upon the issuance of regulations.
Moreover, the AIDA sets out publication requirements but it is unclear if there will be a public register of high-impact AI systems and what level of technical detail about the AI systems will be available to the public. More clarity should come through Bill C-27’s second and third readings in the House of Commons, and subsequent regulations if the bill passes.
The AIDA may have extraterritorial application if components of global AI systems are used, developed, designed or managed in Canada. The European Union recently introduced its Artificial Intelligence Act, which also has some extraterritorial application. Other countries will likely follow. Multi-national companies should develop a coordinated global compliance program.
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I have two podcasts from Michael Geist, a lawyer and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa.
June 26, 2022: The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 132: Ryan Black on the Government’s Latest Attempt at Privacy Law Reform “The privacy reform bill that is really three bills in one: a reform of PIPEDA, a bill to create a new privacy tribunal, and an artificial intelligence regulation bill. What’s in the bill from a privacy perspective and what’s changed? Is this bill any likelier to become law than an earlier bill that failed to even advance to committee hearings? To help sort through the privacy aspects of Bill C-27, Ryan Black, a Vancouver-based partner with the law firm DLA Piper (Canada) …” (about 45 mins.)
August 15, 2022: The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 139: Florian Martin-Bariteau on the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act “Critics argue that regulations are long overdue, but have expressed concern about how much of the substance is left for regulations that are still to be developed. Florian Martin-Bariteau is a friend and colleague at the University of Ottawa, where he holds the University Research Chair in Technology and Society and serves as director of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. He is currently a fellow at the Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society …” (about 38 mins.)
