Question Period Note: INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

How is Canada maintaining its global leadership role as a pioneer in the responsible use of artificial intelligence?

• Canada plays a pivotal role in shaping global norms and organizing collective action around artificial intelligence (AI).

• Working together, Canada and Germany are building the Sovereign Technology Alliance with trusted partners to strengthen sovereign AI capacity, reduce strategic technology dependencies and support our innovators.

• As a founding member, Canada continues to play a leadership role at the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), an international multi-stakeholder initiative at the OECD dedicated to advancing responsible AI.

• Canada is diversifying bilateral collaboration on AI and engaging actively in multilateral fora related to AI such as the G20 and G7, to advance collaboration and opportunities for the Canadian economy.

The Government of Canada plays a key role in shaping global governance of artificial intelligence (AI).

STA

On February 14, Minister Solomon announced Canada and Germany’s joint intent to establish the Sovereign Technology Alliance (STA), with the aim to deepen coordination with trusted partners to strengthen sovereign AI capacity and reduce strategic technology dependencies. Launched following Prime Minister Carney’s speech at Davos in January 2026, the STA is envisioned as a platform for practical cooperation on advanced technologies, with a focus on delivering real capability and shared economic benefits.

Since the announcement, the initiative has featured in a number of high-level political engagements and international discussions, including in the outcomes of PM Carney’s recent trip to Norway and participation in the Canada-Nordic-5 Summit. Early exchanges with Germany and potential partners such as Norway and Finland have highlighted several potential key areas for collaboration, including digital autonomy and sovereignty; AI infrastructure and compute; public sector; and trustworthy AI. As engagement continues, the STA is expected to generate further interest from prospective partners.

Bilateral Cooperation

On February 14, 2026, Canada and Germany signed a Declaration of Intent on Artificial Intelligence on the margins of the Munich Security Conference. Building on the Canada–Germany Digital Alliance announced in December 2025, the declaration of intent creates a practical framework to expand bilateral cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI). It reflects both countries’ shared commitment to advancing secure, resilient and sovereign AI capabilities in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

On March 14, 2026, Norway and Canada agree to explore opportunities for enhanced cooperation on sovereign technology and artificial intelligence (AI) that can help grow their capacity and reduce their dependencies, including the possibility for Norway to join the Sovereign Technology Alliance.
To enhance collective economic security and prosperity, Norway and Canada issued a Joint Statement on Sovereign Technology and AI, in which they agreed to explore collaboration to strengthen sovereign digital capacity, expand affordable access to AI computing capacity, promote safe and responsible frontier AI models, and fostering AI and technology adoption across industry and governments.

On April 14, Canada and Finland issued a Joint Statement on Sovereign Technology and AI Cooperation, which aims to expand cooperation on advanced technologies in a way that delivers shared economic benefits. Both countries will deepen coordination to strengthen sovereign technology, helping to grow capacity and reduce dependencies in an increasingly contested digital landscape. This includes exploring Finland's participation in the Sovereign Technology Alliance.

On March 5, 2026, Canada and Australia announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on AI Safety. This MOU will support continued collaboration in areas such as information exchange on AI technologies, risks, methodologies, tools and evaluations; coordination of work in support of internationally recognized guidelines and standards; joint research on AI best practices and approaches to mitigate risks; and the exchange of talent between the two countries.

Work to formalize the Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation Partnership through an MOU was agreed upon during a trilateral meeting between the digital ministers of Canada, Australia, and India at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi in February 2026.

In August 2025, Minister Solomon and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Eng. Abdullah Amer Al Swaha, agreed to advance Canada–Saudi Arabia cooperation on artificial intelligence through a Memorandum of Understanding on Artificial Intelligence Investment and Skills Development, now in the final stages of negotiation.

In January 2026, Canada and the State of Qatar signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of information and communications technology (ICT). The MOU aims to promote collaboration across priority digital sectors through exchanges between governments, the private sector, and capacity building institutions. Areas of cooperation include research and development, cloud computing, artificial intelligence ecosystems, support for startups and SMEs, policy and regulatory exchange, participation in international technology events, and investment dialogue related to digital and AI enabled services. Cooperation is intended to encourage innovation, support market development, and facilitate knowledge sharing in accordance with each country’s laws and regulations.

On October 13-14, 2025, Minister Solomon made his first official visit to the UAE. He met with H.E. Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, the UAE Minister of Investment, with whom he signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on investment cooperation in data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen collaboration between the two countries in emerging technologies.

OECD and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence

The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) was created as an international multi-stakeholder initiative following Canada and France’s 2018 and 2019 G7 presidencies, with a mission of advancing the responsible development and use of AI through practical projects. Canada has also been an active member of the OECD Working Party on AI Governance (AIGO) since its creation and currently holds a Vice-Chair role.

Canada views GPAI/OECD as a critical forum for achieving consensus among likeminded nations on AI governance and international policy frameworks on AI. GPAI is currently considering membership expansion to enhance its value as an inclusive forum, of which Canada and other key partners have been supportive, while emphasizing the importance of having a thorough assessment process to evaluate alignment.

Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation, and Science

The International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation, and Science (formerly the International Network of AI Safety Institutes) was established in November 2024 to facilitate international cooperation on AI safety. Canada is a founding member of the Network, with the Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI), and continues to play a key role in international AI safety, through research, testing, guidance, and collaboration. UK AISI is currently leading this Network, and CAISI is engaging on several activities.

G7

At the 2025 Kananaskis Summit, G7 Leaders issued the Statement on AI for Prosperity, and Canada’s presidency AI deliverables included public‑sector adoption related outputs (G7 AI Challenge, solution directory, and a roadmap to scale projects), an SME AI Adoption Blueprint, an SME trustworthy‑AI deployment toolkit, and the G7 Energy and AI Work Plan. These initiatives align with earlier presidencies by applying Japan’s Hiroshima AI Process (HAIP) to practical trust guidance for adopters, while building on Italy’s 2024 emphasis on moving from high‑level commitments to adoption support. HAIP establishes common expectations on the governance of the most advanced AI systems and has been a persistent element of G7 responsible AI work since its launch in 2023. France’s proposed AI deliverables for its 2026 presidency focus on AI safety, governance, openness, and responsible adoption. This includes reaffirmed principles, expanding participation in the HAIP reporting framework, shared risk assessment methodologies, a synthetic content detection tool, greater alignment on open source AI, SME AI readiness, and protections for minors online. The Ministerial Summit in May is expected to include the endorsement of statements on themes of: Promoting Secure AI for the Public Good, Boosting AI Adoption for Economic Growth, Ensuring Resilience and Resource Efficiency of the Digital Sector, and Fostering a Safe and Secure Space for Minors Online.

G20

The U.S. holds the 2026 G20 Presidency for which it has presented an agenda focused on deregulation and economic growth. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Department of Commerce (DOC) are co-leading Innovation Track Working Group (WG), which consolidates work previously undertaken across several previous G20 Working Groups and Task Forces, including the Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) and the Research and Innovation Working Group (RIWG) from past presidencies. In the Innovation WG, the U.S. is seeking to promote “pro-innovation” policy frameworks for AI and other emerging technologies, including identifying “barriers” to innovation (e.g. US has identified excessive red tape, digital services taxes, etc.), and policy tools to facilitate innovation (e.g., US has identified sandboxes, testbeds, and deregulation).
ASEAN

In 2026, Canada became a Dialogue Partner to the ASEAN Digital Senior Officials Meeting (ADGSOM), following submission of a concept note last year that identified key areas to deepen digital cooperation. AI is one of the three strategic areas of cooperation, where Canada seeks to leverage its expertise and contribute to capacity building, knowledge sharing, and sustainable digital development. Currently, Canada is developing a Digital Work Plan for ADGSOM, which will serve as a guiding document for implementing digital cooperation at ASEAN.

APEC

China holds the 2026 APEC presidency, and will be hosting the Leaders’ Summit in Shenzhen in November 2026 under the theme “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” “.” As part of their presidency, China is emphasizing AI’s role as a contributing element of several digital technologies, and promoting AI adoption across various industries. This is reflected by Chinese proposals across a variety of APEC sub-bodies, such as for data quality to support environment-focused AI applications, joint studies on adopting embodied AI robots, and industry-specific AI security applications.

AI Summits

Canada has participated actively in international AI Summits, which continue to serve as cornerstone high-level events for discussing and shaping common global AI priorities and responding to the latest developments. Following safety-focused summits in the UK (2023) and Korea (2024), France held a an AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025 that expanded the focus of discussions and country participation to support the global south in building AI capacity. They also launched an AI for development foundation and a Coalition for Sustainable AI that remain active to-date.

India hosted the AI Impact Summit in February, 2026 and continued with the broader thematic scope with specific emphasis on inclusion and practical deployment priorities for the Global South. Its deliverables included new multi-stakeholder collaboration platforms and a Frontier AI Commitments pledge for inclusive and ethical AI signed by leading global and Indian AI firms. The next AI Summit will be hosted by Switzerland in 2027, with an aim to advance the prior summits' progression: from risk (Bletchley), innovation-security (Seoul), economic/societal (Paris), inclusion (Delhi) to balanced governance (Geneva) and position Switzerland as a leading AI research and governance hub.

The United Nations

In 2026, UN AI governance work is coalescing around two new mechanisms agreed in the Global Digital Compact (GDC) in 2024: an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI (a standing, expert body to produce annual evidence‑based assessments) and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance (a new UN forum for governments and stakeholders to exchange on cooperation, interoperability, risks, and capacity‑building). The Global Dialogue’s first session is planned to convene alongside the ITU “AI for Good” Global Summit in Geneva in July 2026, creating a focal point for multistakeholder discussion under UN auspices. Canada has a visible footprint in this architecture through representation in the new Scientific Panel, including Yoshua Bengio (Canada) as a Co‑Chair.

Canada-European Union Cooperation

At the 19th Canada-EU Leaders’ Summit in November 2023, the two parties launched the Canada-EU Digital Partnership; a Canada–EU framework to coordinate cooperation on digital policy and emerging technologies—especially AI, digital credentials, cybersecurity, and secure international connectivity. The 20th Canada-EU Leaders’ Summit in 2025 renewed this commitment and was followed by the first Digital Partnership Council (Ministerial) meeting in December 2025 where Ministers made additional commitments through a Joint Statement and an Artificial Intelligence cooperation MoU. The new commitments include working to accelerate trustworthy AI adoption (including for SMEs) by cooperating on AI frameworks/standards, skills and talent exchanges, scientific collaboration, AI infrastructure/compute access, while also strengthening AI safety cooperation between Canada’s AI Safety Institute and the EU AI Office. The Digital Partnership is complimented by the Digital Dialogues (Deputy Ministerial), most recently taken place in 2024, which facilitate information exchanges and collaboration on digital policy. The subsequent Digital Dialogue has been proposed to take place on the margins of the G7 Digital and Technology Ministerial Meeting in May 2026 (tbc).

Separate from the Digital Partnership, Canada actively contributed to the negotiations on the Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI and human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, which Canada has signed but not yet ratified. The Convention is the first international legally binding treaty that aims to ensure that activities within the lifecycle of artificial intelligence systems are fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law, while being conducive to technological progress and innovation.

Federal Granting Agencies

The federal granting agencies that support research, research training and innovation in Canadian postsecondary institutions are key to international research cooperation. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) fund leading-edge research in AI, in partnership with international partners.

For example, in October 2025, SSHRC, in partnership with the United Kingdom’s UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in the United States, awarded fellowship funding to explore AI’s impact on the research ecosystem.

In November 2025, NSERC, SSHRC, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) partnered with the French National Research Agency (ANR) to fund collaborative research projects on artificial intelligence.

More broadly, under the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy (PCAIS), Canada aims to attract and retain research talent. Since 2017, over 125 researchers have been appointed as Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Artificial Intelligence Chairs, including over 50 leading international researchers recruited to Canada. Moreover, Canada consistently places among leading nations on international ranking systems such as the Stanford Global AI Vibrancy Index and the Tortoise Media Global AI Index.

· Canada continues to play a key role in advancing responsible AI development and deployment:

o As one of GPAI’s co-founders, and host to one of the three Expert Support Centres through the International Centre of Expertise in Montreal on AI (CEIMIA), Canada is deeply engaged at GPAI and supports in role in building consensus on international AI governance.

o The Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (CAISI) is a founding member of the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation, and Science, which includes counterpart organizations in the U.S., UK, EU, France, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia, and Kenya. The institutes lead AI safety related research initiatives.
o Canada also continues to shape common global AI priorities at AI summits, including most recently at the India AI Impact Summit in February 2026.

o Canada welcomes the establishment of the UN Independent International Scientific Panel on AI in 2026, which will allow for the advancement of the understanding of AI, including the opportunities, risks and impacts of AI on humanity.

o Canada looks forward to participating in the first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in July 2026 to discuss international cooperation, share best practices and lessons learned.

· Through Canada’s 2025 G7 Presidency, Leaders issued the AI for Prosperity Statement and the G7 published a common SME AI Adoption Blueprint—a practical, solutions‑focused resource to accelerate SME AI uptake and productivity growth.

· The G7 remains an integral forum for incubation of solutions to emerging global challenges. We are looking forward to building on this work in support of France’s 2026 G7 presidency.

· Canada is actively engaging with the 2026 G20 US Presidency’s focus on AI-driven economic growth, commercialization, and innovation, while also emphasizing our view of the importance of clear governance in building public trust necessary for spurring AI adoption.

· The inaugural Canada-EU Digital Partnership Council took place in December 2025, marking a significant milestone under the New Canada-EU Strategic Partnership of the Future. The meeting culminated in the release of a Joint Statement affirming bilateral cooperation aimed at advancing innovation, strengthening regulatory cooperation, and promoting digital sovereignty, as well as the adoption of an MOU to deepen collaboration on AI.