People’s Consultation on AI
A civil society initiative to advance AI law, policy, and regulation
centred around human rights and the public interest
Background
On October 31, 2025, more than 160 academics, experts, advocates, civil society and human rights organizations across Canada submitted a joint letter they had signed, protesting a severely deficient consultation process to develop a “national AI strategy” led by Evan Solomon, the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation.
The letter highlighted several key concerns with the Minister’s “national sprint” consultation, including: an unrealistically short 30-day window for experts and impacted communities to provide informed and thoughtful feedback; an “AI Strategy Task Force” that was overwhelmingly weighted towards industry and was not representative of human rights nor civil society concerns; and biased and leading language and framing throughout consultation materials such as an associated survey, which implicitly built in a range of highly contested assumptions about AI as foregone conclusions.
For an issue with such far-reaching ramifications across so many spheres of our lives, communities, and society, it is unacceptable that the government appeared committed to developing any national “AI strategy” based only on the narrow subset of voices. Moreover, it was the exact subset that stands to profit the most from an “all in” approach to AI, setting up an inherent conflict of interest at the expense of human rights and a just and equitable future for all. Especially notable was the fact that while historically marginalized communities disproportionately bear the brunt of AI-facilitated harms, and have developed the most on-the-ground expertise and community-informed policy and related responses to emerging AI issues, these are the groups who had the least or even no representation on the Task Force.
In light of the above deficiencies, the letter—now re-opened and still accepting signatures—also announced that, instead of legitimizing Minister Solomon’s fatally flawed process, signatories would instead participate in a parallel and independent process, the People’s Consultation on AI.
This is that consultation.
The People’s Consultation on AI is a collaborative civil society initiative meant to:
- Help individuals and organizations share their insights, experiences, and comments to inform a “national strategy” on AI that is truly in the public interest;
- Break free from the limited, industry-dominated frames of Minister Solomon’s consultation, broadening the scope of the consultation to be dramatically more expansive and a more accurate representation of the range of views and concerns about AI that are present across Canada; and
- Provide organizations and individuals, representing a wider range of affected communities, with a genuine opportunity to have a voice in AI issues and policy.
Endorsements
Endorsement means general supportiveness of this initiative. Those responsible for creating and managing this consultation, its process, and related materials are a separate ad hoc working group of individuals from multiple institutions and organizations. Contact us through the form on this page if you would like to be added to endorsements, or otherwise get involved.
Members of and/or Contributors to the PCAI Ad Hoc Working Group
- Aislin Jackson, Policy Staff Counsel, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
- Andrew Clement, Professor emeritus, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
- Blayne Haggart, Professor of Political Science, Brock University
- Cynthia Khoo, Principal Lawyer, Tekhnos Law; and Senior Fellow, Citizen Lab, University of Toronto
- Evan Light, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
- Fenwick Mckelvey, Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Concordia University
- Jane Bailey, Full Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law Section), University of Ottawa, Co-Leader of The Rethinking Consent Project
- Jason Woywada, Executive Director, Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
- Jeff Doctor, Impact Strategist, Animikii Indigenous Technology
- Jennifer Raso, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
- Joanna Redden, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University
- Karine Gentelet, Full Professor, Social Sciences, Université du Québec en Outaouais & Scientific Director of Collaboration with Civil Society, Obvia
- Lyne Nantel, Conseillère en consultation publique et participation citoyenne, Obvia
- Kristen Thomasen, Associate Professor and Chair of Law, Robotics, & Society, Windsor Law
- Matt Hatfield, Executive Director, OpenMedia
- Natasha Tusikov, Associate Professor, Department of Social Science, York University
- Renee Black, Founder & CEO, GoodBot
- Rosel Kim, Senior Staff Lawyer, Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
- Siobhan O’Flynn, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Canadian Studies, University of Toronto
- Sophie Toupin, Assistant professor, Département d’information et de communication, Université Laval
- Tim McSorley, National Coordinator, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
- Xan Dagenais, Communications and Research Coordinator, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
- Additional individuals not named but who materially contributed to helping make the PCAI happen, in both English and French