50 Influential Thought Leaders on AI Ethics in Canada
Last updated: 16 June 2026
Who Are the Most Influential Thought Leaders on AI Ethics in Canada?
Canada's most influential thought leaders on AI ethics include Yoshua Bengio at Mila and LawZero, Joelle Pineau at Cohere and McGill, Teresa Scassa at the University of Ottawa, Natiea Vinson at the First Nations Technology Council, and Sasha Luccioni at the Sustainable AI Group. These fifty leaders span computer science, law, Indigenous governance, and enterprise practice, and are rebuilding Canada's AI regulatory architecture from the ground up.
As of June 2026, Canada's AI adoption rate has doubled from roughly six percent to over twelve percent of firms in the space of one year, yet fewer than 35 percent of organisations deploying AI globally have a formal governance framework in place. The gap between adoption and accountability is the defining challenge this list addresses.
Who this is for: Event organisers booking AI ethics speakers, executives building AI governance frameworks, researchers tracking Canadian AI policy, and anyone who wants to know which voices genuinely shape AI ethics in Canada.
Canada has always punched above its weight in artificial intelligence. The country built the world's first national AI strategy in 2017, gave rise to deep learning pioneers who reshaped the global field, and assembled one of the most concentrated clusters of AI research talent on the planet across Montreal, Toronto, and Edmonton. Yet as AI adoption accelerates and governance questions grow more consequential, the voices shaping how Canada thinks about the ethics of this technology deserve far more attention than they typically receive.
The stakes are real and immediate. According to Statistics Canada, Canadian businesses' use of AI to produce goods or deliver services doubled from 6.1 percent in 2023-24 to 12.2 percent in 2024-25, and an additional 14.5 percent of firms planned to adopt AI within the following twelve months. The World Economic Forum has found that fewer than 35 percent of organisations deploying AI globally have a formal governance framework in place.
That gap between adoption and accountability is exactly the gap that the fifty thought leaders on this list are working to close, through research, policy advocacy, legal scholarship, ethical practice, and community leadership.
Canada is at a pivotal moment in its AI governance story. The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, which would have been the country's first major AI-specific legislation, stalled when Parliament prorogued in January 2025. Prime Minister Mark Carney subsequently appointed Evan Solomon as Canada's first Minister responsible for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation in May 2025. A national AI Strategy Task Force ran a thirty-day public consultation in October 2025, gathering input from over 11,300 Canadians and 28 expert Task Force members, with a renewed national AI strategy expected in 2026.
The Canadian AI Safety Institute became operational in late 2024. Canada's regulatory architecture is being rebuilt from the ground up, and the people on this list are among the most important contributors to that rebuild.
Every person included was selected on three criteria. First, substantive and documented contribution to the field of AI ethics, governance, or responsible AI through published research, policy advisory work, institutional leadership, or active practice. Second, current engagement with the field through roles held in 2025 or 2026. Third, a genuine contribution to the specific Canadian context, whether through federal advisory roles, provincial leadership, research within Canadian institutions, or the governance of Canadian AI deployment.
If your leadership team is navigating AI governance, responsible adoption, or the human-side challenges of AI-driven change, Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and author of Step Up or Step Out, helps organisations build the trust, communication, and accountability frameworks that make governance work in practice. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.
Why Does Canada's AI Ethics Landscape Look Different From Other Countries?
Canada's distinctiveness in AI ethics comes from several intersecting factors that most countries lack. The country produced foundational deep learning research through Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and their collaborators, creating a scientific community with genuine authority on AI capabilities alongside its ethical concerns. Canada was the first nation to implement a national AI strategy in 2017. The three national AI institutes at Mila, Vector, and Amii created institutional infrastructure for AI governance that most countries simply do not have.
The specific Canadian context adds further layers. Obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Canada's bilingual governance landscape, and the distinct regional contexts from Quebec's civil law tradition to Alberta's resource economy create AI ethics challenges that are genuinely Canadian in character. The governance gap in Canada has become acute precisely because adoption has outpaced accountability across healthcare, financial services, education, and public administration.
Ontario passed its Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act in late 2024. Alberta's Privacy Commissioner called for dedicated AI legislation in August 2025. The regulatory patchwork across federal directives, varying provincial frameworks, and sector-specific rules is one of the defining governance challenges this list addresses.
Factor | What It Means for AI Governance |
Three national AI institutes | Concentrated research infrastructure at Mila, Vector, Amii creates institutional capacity for governance |
First national AI strategy (2017) | Early public investment created research and policy networks other nations lack |
AIDA stalled (Jan 2025) | No national AI-specific legislation; organisations rely on a patchwork of federal directives and provincial acts |
UNDRIP obligations | Indigenous data sovereignty is a constitutional and legal governance requirement, not optional |
Bilingual governance | AI systems primarily in English may systematically disadvantage French-speaking Canadians |
Doubled AI adoption (2024-25) | 6.1% to 12.2% in one year; governance frameworks have not kept pace |
For organisations in Canada trying to build the internal leadership capacity to implement AI governance effectively, Jonno White, host of The Leadership Conversations Podcast with 230-plus episodes, helps leadership teams have the difficult conversations and build the accountability structures that turn governance frameworks into practice. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.
How Was This List Compiled?
Every person on this list was selected on the basis of three criteria: substantive contribution to AI ethics or governance through research, policy, practice, or advocacy; active engagement with the field in 2025 or 2026; and genuine engagement with the Canadian AI ethics and governance context. The list deliberately includes voices from across Canada's research hubs, federal and provincial advisory bodies, civil society organisations, enterprise settings, and Indigenous communities. It brings together the people who genuinely deserve to be widely known in this space, rather than recycling the same small handful of names that appear on every global AI ethics list.
Pioneers of AI Safety and Deep Learning Ethics
The leaders in this category built the technical and scientific foundations of modern AI, and then turned their expertise toward making it safer and more ethical. Their contributions sit at the intersection of cutting-edge research and urgent governance work, and their voices carry enormous weight in both academic and policy settings.
Canada produced the foundational research that made modern deep learning possible, and several of its most eminent researchers have subsequently become among the most important voices in the world on AI safety and responsible development. The people in this category combine scientific authority with a genuine commitment to ensuring that the technology they helped create is developed and deployed in ways that serve humanity rather than harm it.
1. Yoshua Bengio
One of the most cited computer scientists in the world, Yoshua Bengio is a Full Professor at Universite de Montreal, Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero (the Canadian AI safety research organisation he founded in June 2025), and Founder and Scientific Advisor of Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. He is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, recipient of the 2018 A.M. Turing Award alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Knight of the Legion of Honor of France, and a member of the United Nations Scientific Advisory Board.
Bengio chairs the International AI Safety Report, the second edition of which was published in February 2026, bringing together over 100 international experts. His founding of LawZero in 2025 as a nonprofit AI safety research organisation, insulated from commercial and government pressures, represents one of the most significant institutional commitments to safe-by-design AI in the world.
2. Joelle Pineau
Chief AI Officer at Cohere and member of Canada's federal AI Strategy Task Force, Joelle Pineau is one of the most important senior industry voices in Canadian AI ethics and governance. An Associate Professor at McGill University on leave and a core member of Mila, she previously led the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team at Meta across Canada, the US, and Europe.
Pineau is a recipient of the Governor General's Innovation Award. Her research addresses planning, learning, and responsible deployment of large-scale AI systems, and her practical experience building governance into the product development lifecycle at global AI companies makes her perspective uniquely grounded in real-world implementation challenges.
3. Golnoosh Farnadi
An Assistant Professor at the School of Computer Science at McGill University, Adjunct Professor at Universite de Montreal, core academic member of Mila, and Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Golnoosh Farnadi leads the EQUAL Lab, dedicated to advancing algorithmic fairness and equity in AI systems. She serves on Canada's Safe and Secure AI Advisory Group and is a co-director of McGill's Collaborative for AI and Society (McCAIS).
Farnadi was named one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics in 2023. Her research on algorithmic fairness, privacy-preserving AI, and the ways that machine learning systems can embed and amplify discrimination is central to any serious conversation about ethical AI deployment in Canada and globally.
4. David Rolnick
An Assistant Professor at McGill's School of Computer Science, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, and core member of Mila, David Rolnick is the co-founder and Chair of Climate Change AI and Scientific Co-director of Sustainability in the Digital Age. He holds a PhD in applied mathematics from MIT and was named to MIT Technology Review's 2021 list of 35 Innovators Under 35.
Rolnick and his co-authors published a landmark paper on tackling climate change with machine learning that has been downloaded more than 100,000 times, establishing a rigorous evidence base for how AI can and should be governed with attention to its environmental dimensions. His work ensures that Canadian AI ethics conversations include the ecological stakes of AI deployment, not just social and legal ones.
5. Reihaneh Rabbany
A Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Mila and Assistant Professor at McGill's School of Computer Science, Reihaneh Rabbany is a member of the CAISI Research Program at CIFAR, Canada's AI safety research programme housed within the Canadian AI Safety Institute. Her research sits at the intersection of network science, data mining, and machine learning, with a particular focus on the health and safety of online spaces.
Rabbany's work on understanding and mitigating the risks that emerge from large-scale interconnected data systems is directly relevant to the governance of AI-driven information environments.
6. Gail Murphy
Vice-President of Research and Innovation and Professor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, Gail Murphy is also Vice-Chair of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada and a member of Canada's federal AI Strategy Task Force on the Research and Talent theme. She brings an important West Coast voice to national AI governance conversations that often skew toward Quebec and Ontario.
Murphy's academic research addresses software engineering and the usability of programming tools, but her role in shaping Canada's research infrastructure and her participation in the national AI strategy process make her one of the most consequential institutional voices in Canadian AI governance.
7. Michael Bowling
Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alberta, Principal Investigator of the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Research Fellow at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, and Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Michael Bowling is one of the most eminent AI researchers in the Amii ecosystem. He is a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Research and Talent theme.
Bowling's research on reinforcement learning, game theory, and AI safety has produced foundational contributions to how AI agents learn and make decisions, with direct relevance to how governance frameworks address autonomous AI decision-making.
AI Law, Policy and Governance Scholars
Canada has produced a remarkable cohort of legal and policy scholars whose work is directly shaping how AI will be regulated, governed, and made accountable. The people in this category include Canada Research Chairs, parliamentary witnesses, judicial advisors, and editors of the country's most important legal scholarship on AI. Their work translates the abstract questions of AI ethics into legal frameworks, policy instruments, and institutional accountability structures.
The cluster of scholars at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law and Centre for Law, Technology and Society, alongside peers at McGill, UBC, and SFU, is producing the research and policy analysis that Canadian legislators, regulators, and judges are relying on as they navigate the most complex technology governance challenge of the current era.
8. Teresa Scassa
The Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, Teresa Scassa is a full professor, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence. She is the co-editor, with Florian Martin-Bariteau, of Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Canada, published by LexisNexis Canada, and the author and editor of seven books and over 90 peer-reviewed articles.
Scassa testified before parliamentary committees on AI regulation and the national AI strategy in 2025 and 2026. Her research on automated decision-making, data governance, privacy law, and the evolving legal infrastructure of AI regulation is among the most cited and most influential in the Canadian legal scholarship on AI.
9. Florian Martin-Bariteau
University Research Chair in Technology and Society and Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, Florian Martin-Bariteau is the Director of the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society and of the AI and Society Initiative. He is the co-editor, with Teresa Scassa, of Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Canada, the peer-reviewed collection bringing together the leading Canadian scholars on law and AI policy challenges.
Martin-Bariteau appeared at the Ministerial Roundtable on Canada's AI Strategy for the Federal Public Service in 2024, directly shaping federal thinking on procurement, privacy reform, and whistleblower protections in AI deployment. His research on technology law, ethics, cybersecurity, and accountability is deeply integrated into Canada's ongoing policy conversations.
10. Celine Castets-Renard
The Canada Research Chair in International and Comparative Law of AI at the University of Ottawa and a collaborating faculty member at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, Celine Castets-Renard is one of the few Canadian scholars with deep expertise in both Canadian and European AI regulatory frameworks.
Castets-Renard's bilingual capability and her expertise in comparative AI law make her indispensable for Canadian organisations navigating the intersection of Canadian regulatory frameworks and the EU AI Act, which affects Canadian companies operating internationally. Her research addresses fundamental questions about accountability, algorithmic transparency, and how democratic institutions should govern AI at the international level.
11. Jason Millar
Renewed in January 2026 as the Canada Research Chair in Ethical Engineering of AI and Robotics at the University of Ottawa, Jason Millar is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a faculty member at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. His research addresses the ethics of autonomous systems, the governance of agentic AI, and the engineering design frameworks that support responsible innovation.
Millar's research programme spans investigating emerging ethical issues in robotics and AI, developing practical ethical engineering design tools, and creating policy frameworks for responsible governance of autonomous systems. The renewal of his Canada Research Chair in 2026 signals the continuing significance of his work to Canada's AI safety and governance agenda.
12. Catherine Regis
A Full Professor at the Faculty of Law at Universite de Montreal, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Director of Social Innovation and International Policy at IVADO, and co-chair of the Global Partnership on AI's Responsible AI working group, Catherine Regis is one of Canada's most important voices on AI governance for the public sector. She is a member of the CAISI Research Program at CIFAR.
Regis brings bilingual capability and genuine depth in health law, regulatory design, and multi-stakeholder governance frameworks. Her commitment to governance approaches that centre human rights and public participation rather than regulatory technicality alone makes her one of the most practically grounded AI law scholars in Canada.
13. Gillian Hadfield
Chair of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Gillian Hadfield is one of the most important law-and-governance thinkers linked to Canadian AI policy. Her research addresses the foundational question of how legal systems and governance institutions must evolve to manage advanced AI, and her work is cited in both academic and policy settings across the world.
Hadfield brings rare depth to questions about the design of regulatory systems for technologies that evolve faster than legislation can accommodate. Her perspective on building adaptive governance frameworks that can track AI capabilities without being constantly rendered obsolete is essential reading for anyone working on Canadian AI policy.
14. Karen Eltis
A Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa and co-author of the Canadian Judicial Council's guidelines on AI for courts, Karen Eltis holds a unique position in Canadian AI governance. Her work directly shapes how Canada's judicial system approaches AI, addressing algorithmic decision-making in courts, the ethics of AI in legal proceedings, and the accountability structures that democratic institutions must build as AI becomes embedded in justice.
The Canadian Judicial Council guidelines that Eltis contributed to have practical effect across the country's court system, making her influence concrete and immediate in a way that purely academic work does not always achieve.
15. Taylor Owen
Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications and Founding Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University, Taylor Owen is a member of Canada's federal AI Strategy Task Force on the Building Safe AI Systems and Public Trust in AI theme.
Owen's research addresses AI governance through the lens of democratic risk, public trust, media integrity, and institutional accountability. His positioning at the intersection of AI, democracy, and journalism gives his governance analysis a practical civic dimension that is often missing from technical AI policy discussions.
16. Michael Geist
Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa and a faculty member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, Michael Geist is one of the most consistently cited voices on AI policy, copyright, privacy, and digital regulation in Canadian public discourse. He appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in March 2026 and the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications in April 2026, and he runs the Law Bytes podcast, bringing AI governance analysis to a broad public audience.
Geist has argued for well-considered legal frameworks that balance innovation with safeguards rather than reactive legislation that risks creating more harm than it prevents. His public-facing scholarship is essential for understanding the contested terrain of Canadian AI regulation.
17. Jean-Christophe Belisle-Pipon
An Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, Jean-Christophe Belisle-Pipon co-authored the 2024 paper Ethics Dumping in Artificial Intelligence, published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, which has become an important reference for understanding how AI ethics can be hollowed out or exported to vulnerable populations while maintaining the appearance of ethical compliance.
His work on the ethics of AI in health systems and the governance of AI in high-stakes human contexts brings a bioethics lens to Canadian AI governance conversations that are often dominated by computer scientists and lawyers. The concept of ethics dumping, applied to AI governance, provides a framework for understanding power imbalances in how ethical responsibility is assigned and avoided.
18. Maite Taboada
Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Simon Fraser University and Director of the Discourse Processing Lab, Maite Taboada is one of Canada's leading researchers on the intersection of natural language processing, computational linguistics, and the ethics of language technologies.
Taboada's research on sentiment analysis, discourse coherence, and the ways that language models can be biased in how they process and generate human language is directly relevant to AI governance conversations about fairness, representation, and the risks of deploying language AI systems that systematically misrepresent or marginalise particular communities or forms of expression.
National AI Strategy Leaders and Advisors
These are the people working at the intersection of Canada's federal and institutional AI leadership, advising governments, shaping strategy, and building the national infrastructure for trustworthy AI. Several serve on Canada's Advisory Council on AI or participated in the AI Strategy Task Force. Their contributions span from national AI ecosystem strategy to enterprise governance frameworks.
The governance of AI in Canada is not just an academic or legal question. It requires institutional leadership, strategic investment, and people who can translate research into policy and policy into implementation.
19. Elissa Strome
Executive Director of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy at CIFAR and a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, the OECD's Network of Experts on AI, and the Health Canada Expert Advisory Committee for AI in Health, Elissa Strome is one of the most strategically central people in Canadian AI governance.
Strome holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of British Columbia and brings a unique perspective combining scientific training, research strategy, and policy leadership to her role shaping Canada's national AI position. Her work on equity, diversity, and inclusion in science makes her one of the strongest voices for ensuring that Canada's AI ecosystem reflects the full diversity of the country it claims to serve.
20. Olivier Blais
Co-Chair of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Moov AI, and Chair of the Canadian Mirror Committee for Artificial Intelligence at ISO/IEC, Olivier Blais is a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Adoption across Industry and Governments theme. He has played an editorial role in the international ISO standard defining the quality of AI systems.
Blais brings bilingual capability, genuine enterprise deployment experience, and standards-setting authority to Canadian AI governance. His work at the ISO level means that his influence extends beyond Canada's borders, shaping international technical standards for AI quality that have direct implications for how AI systems are held accountable globally.
21. Diane Gutiw
Vice-President leading CGI's Global AI Research Centre and Co-Chair of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, Diane Gutiw is also a member of the federal AI Strategy Task Force on Research and Talent and an advisor to policymakers in Canada, the UK, and the EU on AI legislation. She holds a PhD in Information Technology Management and has over 35 years of experience in data, analytics, and AI solutions.
Gutiw's dual position bridging enterprise AI deployment at global scale and federal advisory work gives her governance perspective a practical, implementation-heavy credibility that is rare in the AI ethics conversation.
22. Valerie Pisano
President and CEO of Mila, Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Valerie Pisano is a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence and one of the most strategically significant ecosystem leaders in Canadian AI. Under her leadership, Mila has grown into one of the world's most important centres for responsible AI research and policy development.
Pisano began her career at McKinsey and Company before earning her master's degree in economics from HEC Montreal, then served as Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil before co-founding the Mobius Project on Bias. Her perspective on AI governance is shaped by a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion alongside strategic ecosystem thinking.
23. Benjamin Prud'homme
Executive Director of AI for Humanity at Mila, and an appointed expert with the OECD.AI Network, the United Nations Consultative Network of AI Experts, and UNESCO's AI Ethics Experts Without Borders, Benjamin Prud'homme is one of Canada's most internationally connected AI governance practitioners.
Prud'homme began his career as a litigator in human rights and family law before serving as Advisor to the Minister of Justice of Canada in 2018, and his background in human rights law runs through everything he contributes to AI governance. His focus on marginalised communities, algorithmic bias, and the epistemology of interdisciplinary AI governance makes his work at Mila a bridge between ethical principles and policy action.
24. Melika Carroll
Head of Global Government Affairs and Public Policy at Cohere and member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, Melika Carroll brings a private-sector policy perspective to Canadian AI governance that is essential for understanding how enterprise AI companies engage with regulatory frameworks.
Carroll has guest lectured at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University, and the Washington Campus on technology policy, and co-founded the Global Women's Innovation Network. Her position inside one of Canada's most prominent AI companies, combined with her deep government and policy background, makes her perspective on how responsible AI governance translates from regulation into corporate practice particularly valuable.
25. Glenda Crisp
President and CEO of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, Glenda Crisp is an independent board member at OCAD University and The Globe and Mail. She brings over 35 years of experience in data and technology leadership from financial services, including roles at Thomson Reuters and National Australia Bank.
Crisp was named among the top 100 Global Chief Data Officers by Corinium in 2022 and 2023. Her leadership of the Vector Institute places her at the centre of Canada's efforts to translate AI research into responsible commercial and public-sector applications.
26. Shelly Bruce
Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo and member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Security theme, Shelly Bruce brings a national security, intelligence, and digital sovereignty perspective to Canadian AI governance that is missing from most ethics conversations.
Bruce's participation in the AI Strategy Task Force on security specifically addresses the questions of AI safety infrastructure, cyber risk, and sovereign AI capability that are essential to Canada's AI governance but often treated as separate from ethical AI conversations. Her CIGI fellowship connects her national security expertise to the think tank's broader work on global AI governance frameworks.
Responsible and Ethical AI Practitioners
These are the people translating AI ethics from academic principles into the actual work of helping organisations, governments, and communities navigate responsible AI deployment. They are consultants, educators, researchers, and enterprise leaders whose daily work is making AI ethics operational rather than theoretical.
The gap between AI ethics principles and implementation is where most organisations struggle most. The leaders in this category have built careers on exactly that gap, developing tools, frameworks, training programmes, and practical governance approaches that allow organisations of all sizes to engage with responsible AI in ways that go beyond abstract commitments.
27. Katrina Ingram
Founder and CEO of Ethically Aligned AI in Edmonton and adjunct faculty at the University of Alberta and MacEwan University, Katrina Ingram developed Canada's first micro-credential in AI Ethics in partnership with Athabasca University. She was named to the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list, served as the City of Edmonton's Data Ethics Advisor, and is a current member of the Calgary Police Services Technology Ethics Committee.
Ingram has challenged the uncritical rush toward large-scale AI infrastructure, arguing that organisations need to slow down and ask fundamental questions about what they are building and why. Her practice focuses on helping organisations in all sectors make better ethical choices in the design, development, and deployment of AI systems.
28. Shingai Manjengwa
Senior Director of Education and Development at Mila and founder of Fireside Analytics, Shingai Manjengwa is a recognised leader in AI education and responsible AI adoption whose online courses have reached over 500,000 learners. She developed Canada's first Ministry of Education-inspected high school data science course and serves on the University of Toronto's Schwartz Reisman Institute AI and Trust Working Group.
Manjengwa was recognised with the 2023 Womxn in Data Science Guiding Light Award and is a Public Policy Forum Fellow. Her work bridges AI education and governance in ways that make responsible AI adoption accessible to organisations far beyond the research elite.
29. AJung Moon
An Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University and Director of the RAISE Lab (Responsible Autonomy and Intelligent Systems Ethics), AJung Moon is a Korean-Canadian roboticist who served as Senior Advisor for the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. She is a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence and founded the nonprofit Open Roboethics Institute.
Moon's research addresses responsible autonomy, robot ethics, and the design of AI systems that respect human values in contexts ranging from healthcare and manufacturing to autonomous vehicles and defence.
30. Sasha Luccioni
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at the Sustainable AI Group, which launched in May 2026, Sasha Luccioni holds a PhD in AI and has spent a decade building the evidence base for understanding the environmental impacts of AI systems. She was formerly the AI and Climate Lead at Hugging Face and is a founding member of Climate Change AI. In 2024 she was named to TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in AI and BBC 100 Women, and in 2023 to MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35.
The Sustainable AI Group, which Luccioni co-founded with former Salesforce head of AI sustainability Boris Gamazaychikov, helps businesses measure, compare, and act on the environmental costs of their AI deployments. Her work ensures that the Canadian AI ethics conversation includes the ecological and carbon-cost dimensions of AI governance that are too often treated as a separate sustainability issue rather than a core governance concern.
31. Nicole Janssen
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AltaML, one of Canada's most prominent applied AI companies, Nicole Janssen is a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Woman in AI of the Year, was recognised as one of North America's Top 25 Women of Influence, and was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal in February 2025.
Janssen's experience spans the public sector, agriculture, financial services, healthcare, and energy, giving her applied AI governance perspective unusual breadth. Her position as an entrepreneur building AI solutions in regulated and public-sector environments, combined with her federal advisory role, makes her one of the most practically grounded voices in Canadian AI ethics.
32. Sandy Kyriakatos
A member of the Digital Governance Council's AI Ethics Advisory Panel and former Chief Data Officer for the Government of Canada at Employment and Social Development Canada and at Canada Border Services Agency, Sandy Kyriakatos brings a federal public-service AI governance perspective built on decades of experience handling sensitive data at scale. She was the first CDO for the Government of Canada at ESDC.
Kyriakatos's career at the intersection of data leadership, AI governance, and government accountability gives her a concrete, implementation-level understanding of what responsible AI looks like inside large public institutions, where the ethical implications of algorithmic decision-making are most consequential for ordinary Canadians.
33. Renee Sieber
A Professor in the Bieler School of Environment at McGill University and a named member of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2025, Renee Sieber's research addresses the social implications of AI, the ethics of AI data collection, and the governance of AI systems in public and environmental contexts. She attended the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris in February 2025.
Sieber articulates a position that resists both uncritical enthusiasm and blanket scepticism in favour of context-specific ethical analysis, a perspective that is valuable precisely because the Canadian AI governance debate benefits from voices who hold the complexity of specific contexts.
34. Cam Linke
CEO of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) and a member of Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, Cam Linke holds an MSc in Computing Science from the University of Alberta, co-founded Startup Edmonton, and has built Amii into a national AI hub anchoring Alberta's position in the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy.
Linke's background as an entrepreneur, investor, and AI researcher gives him a distinctive perspective on AI governance that connects research excellence with practical ecosystem development. His advocacy for responsible AI adoption in Alberta's energy, agriculture, and public-sector contexts addresses AI governance dimensions underrepresented in conversations dominated by Quebec and Ontario voices.
35. Sam Ramadori
Co-President and Executive Director of LawZero and a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Security theme, Sam Ramadori brings a legal and security perspective to AI governance from inside one of Canada's most important AI safety organisations. LawZero, co-founded by Yoshua Bengio in June 2025, works at the frontier of AI governance on the most consequential and least-understood risks of advanced AI systems.
Ramadori's participation in the national AI Strategy Task Force on the security theme signals the growing recognition that AI security and AI ethics are not separate conversations but deeply intertwined governance challenges.
Indigenous AI, Equity and Inclusion
No serious conversation about AI ethics and governance in Canada can be conducted without Indigenous voices at the centre. Canada's obligations under UNDRIP, the ongoing work of reconciliation, and the specific ways that AI systems can perpetuate colonial harms through algorithmic bias, data extraction, and the erasure of Indigenous knowledge systems make this category essential rather than supplementary to the list.
The intersection of AI governance and Indigenous sovereignty is one of the defining features of the Canadian AI ethics landscape. Questions of data ownership, algorithmic accountability, and the right of Indigenous communities to determine how technology shapes their nations cannot be answered through Western governance frameworks alone.
36. Natiea Vinson
CEO of the First Nations Technology Council and a member of both Canada's Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence and the national AI Strategy Task Force on Education and Skills, Natiea Vinson is a Tk'emlups te Secwepemc leader who has spent more than a decade working across academia, social enterprise, and the public and private sectors to advance Indigenous digital equity. The First Nations Technology Council serves all 204 First Nations in British Columbia.
In April 2025, Vinson wrote publicly about the risk of digital colonialism in Canada's AI strategy, arguing that AI systems built on Western frameworks that do not reflect Indigenous community needs continue the erasure of Indigenous knowledge, values, and governance models. Her dual role in federal advisory structures and frontline Indigenous community leadership makes her one of the most important governance voices in Canada.
37. Ife Adebara
An Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta, jointly appointed in Modern Languages and Cultural Studies and Media and Technology Studies, and a Fellow at Amii, Ife Adebara holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on building inclusive and explainable language technologies for low-resource and underrepresented languages, with particular emphasis on African and Indigenous languages.
Adebara's contributions to large-scale multilingual systems including AfroLID, Serengeti, and Cheetah, supporting more than 500 African languages, give her governance perspective a global dimension anchored in the practical realities of AI's impact on marginalised linguistic communities.
38. Denise Williams
A Fellow at SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, working with the Dialogue on Technology Project on AI governance, Denise Williams is a member of the Cowichan Tribes and formerly the CEO of the First Nations Technology Council. Her current work with the Dialogue on Technology Project places her at the centre of efforts to ensure that AI governance reflects Indigenous voices and public values.
The Dialogue on Technology Project has engaged internationally, including at the Paris AI Action Summit, the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford, and events from Washington DC to Taiwan. Williams's foundational work building the First Nations Technology Council and her current governance advocacy through SFU's Centre for Dialogue give her a long-arc perspective on Indigenous digital sovereignty that is essential to understanding the AI ethics landscape in Canada.
39. Karine Gentelet
A Full Professor at the Departement des sciences sociales at the Universite du Quebec en Outaouais and Scientific Director of Civil Society Collaboration at OBVIA (the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technology), Karine Gentelet is the editor of Les intelligences artificielles au prisme de la justice sociale (Presses de l'Universite Laval, 2023).
Gentelet was the 2020-2021 holder of the Abeona-ENS-OBVIA Research Chair on AI and Social Justice. Her research on the recognition of Indigenous peoples' rights in the context of digital technology, AI ethics in an Indigenous research context, and the governance of AI systems from a social justice perspective is a foundational reference for anyone working on AI and reconciliation in Canada.
40. Melissa M'Raidi-Kechichian
An AI policy, frameworks, and regulation expert and member of the Digital Governance Council's AI Ethics Advisory Panel, Melissa M'Raidi-Kechichian is based in Montreal and works at the intersection of democracy, technology, and activism. She previously worked at Open North on civic tech, at the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada, and at the Center for AI and Digital Policy.
M'Raidi-Kechichian's research focuses on AI policy framework development and implementation, the ethics of algorithmic recommendations on social media, and data privacy in democratic contexts. Her commitment to ensuring that AI governance frameworks are developed through genuine democratic participation rather than technocratic consensus is grounded in her background in civic technology and social activism.
Industry, Innovation and Enterprise AI Governance
Responsible AI governance cannot live only in universities, think tanks, and government committees. It must be embedded in the organisations building, deploying, and commercialising AI systems. The leaders in this category are doing that work: translating governance principles into enterprise practice, building the economic case for responsible AI, and ensuring that Canada's AI industry is competitive precisely because it takes ethics seriously.
The enterprise dimension of AI governance is often underrepresented in ethics conversations dominated by academics and policy advocates. Yet the choices made by the people who build and deploy AI at scale determine most of the real-world ethical outcomes of AI systems.
41. Ajay Agrawal
Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, founder of the Creative Destruction Lab and Next Canada, and co-author with Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb of Prediction Machines and Power and Prediction, both published by Harvard Business Review Press, Ajay Agrawal is a Member of the Order of Canada appointed in 2022.
Agrawal is a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on Scaling Champions and Attracting Investment, and he has advised the governments of Canada, the US, and Japan on AI policy and economics. His work translating complex AI governance concepts into clear frameworks for business decision-makers makes him one of the most effective communicators in Canada on the economic and governance dimensions of responsible AI adoption.
42. Louis Tetu
Executive Chairman of Coveo, one of Canada's leading AI companies, and a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Commercialisation of AI theme, Louis Tetu brings the perspective of a Canadian technology entrepreneur who has built and scaled AI-driven products in global enterprise markets.
Tetu's participation in the national AI strategy process on the commercialisation theme reflects the recognition that Canada's AI governance framework must support, not just constrain, the growth of Canadian AI companies. His perspective on how to build commercially competitive AI businesses while maintaining ethical standards is an essential counterpoint to more precautionary voices in the Canadian AI governance conversation.
43. Sinead Bovell
Founder of WAYE (Weekly Advice for Young Entrepreneurs) and represented by Speakers Spotlight, Sinead Bovell is one of Canada's most publicly visible voices on AI ethics, responsible technology, and the future of work. Based in Toronto, she combines strong communication skills with substantive engagement on AI governance questions that affect younger generations and broader public audiences.
Bovell's work connects AI governance to the lived realities of people who will spend their entire working lives in AI-shaped environments, making her one of the most effective translators of AI ethics principles into accessible public discourse.
44. Mary Wells
Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo and a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Building Safe AI Systems and Public Trust in AI theme, Mary Wells brings an engineering education and research infrastructure perspective to Canadian AI governance. The University of Waterloo is one of Canada's most important engineering and technology institutions, with deep industry links through its co-op programme and startup ecosystem.
Wells's leadership of engineering education at Waterloo, combined with her participation in the national AI strategy process, positions her as a key voice in ensuring that the next generation of Canadian engineers and AI practitioners is trained with governance and ethics built into their technical formation.
45. Arvind Gupta
Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto and a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on Research and Talent, Arvind Gupta is a former CEO of MITACS and a former President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia. His deep experience in building research partnerships between academia and industry, and in developing AI talent pipelines across Canada, makes him a central figure in the governance of Canada's AI research ecosystem.
Gupta's perspective on research ethics, the commercialisation of AI knowledge, and the governance of AI talent development is shaped by decades of experience bridging university research, government policy, and private-sector application.
Emerging and Crossdisciplinary Voices
The final category brings together voices whose contributions to AI ethics and governance in Canada span disciplines, sectors, and perspectives that do not fit neatly into any single category. These are the thinkers bringing perspectives from medicine, education, security, digital policy, and public engagement that enrich and challenge the dominant frames through which Canadian AI governance is typically understood.
46. David Naylor
Professor of Medicine and President Emeritus of the University of Toronto, David Naylor is a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Education and Skills theme. As one of Canada's most eminent physician-scientists and former leaders of a G15 research university, Naylor brings a public health and medical ethics perspective to AI governance that is essential as AI systems are deployed at scale in healthcare settings across Canada.
Naylor's deep experience navigating the ethical governance of medical research, clinical trials, and public health policy translates directly into the governance challenges of AI in health, a sector where algorithmic decision-making has life-altering consequences.
47. Jim Harris
One of North America's most active keynote speakers on AI, generative AI, disruptive innovation, and strategic leadership, Jim Harris is recognised by TEC as one of Canada's top speakers and is represented by the Speakers Bureau of Canada. His work explicitly addresses the governance and strategic implications of AI adoption for Canadian organisations across sectors, framing governance as a competitive imperative rather than a constraint.
Harris has spent decades helping executive audiences understand how to lead through technological disruption, and his positioning on AI governance as an essential strategic capability rather than a compliance burden reflects a perspective that is both practically useful and grounded in responsible practice.
48. Doyin Adeyemi
A JD/MBA Candidate at the University of Toronto and a 1834 Fellow, Doyin Adeyemi is the youngest voice on this list and a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Building Safe AI Systems and Public Trust in AI theme. Her inclusion in the Task Force reflects a deliberate effort by the government to ensure that emerging voices and the perspectives of young Canadians shaped national AI strategy alongside established experts.
Adeyemi's academic focus on law and business, combined with her policy experience, positions her as a voice to watch in Canadian AI governance for the years ahead.
49. Mathias Lecuyer
An Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia and a member of the CAISI Research Program at CIFAR, Mathias Lecuyer is a technical AI safety researcher whose work addresses privacy-preserving machine learning, differential privacy, and the formal guarantees that can be built into AI systems to protect individuals from algorithmic harm.
Lecuyer's research provides the technical foundations for some of the governance claims that policymakers and ethicists make about what responsible AI can and cannot do. His work on certified robustness and privacy in machine learning bridges the gap between theoretical AI safety guarantees and the practical governance questions of how to audit, certify, and hold AI systems accountable.
50. Marc Etienne Ouimette
Chair of the Board of Digital Moment, Member of the OECD One AI Group of Experts, and Affiliate Researcher on Sovereign AI at the Cambridge University Bennett School of Public Policy, Marc Etienne Ouimette was a member of Canada's AI Strategy Task Force on the Infrastructure theme. His work on digital literacy, youth and AI governance, and the intersection of AI and sovereign digital infrastructure connects education and governance in ways that are essential for Canada's long-term AI leadership.
Digital Moment focuses on equipping young Canadians with the digital literacy needed to engage critically with AI systems, making Ouimette one of the few voices on this list who explicitly connects AI governance to the educational foundations that determine how the next generation of citizens and workers will participate in AI-shaped institutions.
Notable Voices We Almost Included
Several important Canadian voices on AI ethics and governance were seriously considered but did not make the final fifty. Yoshua Bengio's Turing Award co-recipient Geoffrey Hinton is Canadian-born and made foundational contributions to AI research in Canada, though his primary focus has since shifted toward global existential AI risk rather than specifically Canadian governance work. A small number of voices who appear prominently on global AI ethics lists were assessed as not meeting the Canadian context criterion that shaped this list.
Several civil society researchers from universities in Atlantic Canada and Manitoba who are doing important work in AI governance from underrepresented regional perspectives were close to making the final list, and the field in those regions deserves more attention than this list was able to give it. The late Abhishek Gupta, co-founder of the Montreal AI Ethics Institute, whose passing in 2024 was a profound loss to the Canadian and global AI ethics community, would have been a natural inclusion. The Montreal AI Ethics Institute continues his work in his memory, including through the AI Ethics Brief newsletter.
What Are the Most Common Mistakes in Canadian AI Governance?
Most organisations approaching AI governance in Canada make one or more of five predictable mistakes. Recognising them is the first step toward avoiding them.
The first common mistake is treating AI governance as a compliance exercise rather than a strategic capability. Organisations that approach AI governance primarily as risk minimisation tend to produce compliance documentation that satisfies auditors but does not actually change how AI systems are designed, deployed, or monitored. Genuine AI governance requires embedding ethical thinking into the culture of the organisation, not just its paperwork.
The second mistake is ignoring the governance gaps between Canada's federal and provincial frameworks. Canada's AI regulatory landscape in 2026 is a patchwork, with federal directives for public institutions, provincial legislation at different stages of development, and sector-specific rules in financial services, healthcare, and other regulated industries. Organisations operating across multiple provinces need governance frameworks that can navigate this complexity rather than assuming a single coherent national framework exists.
The third mistake is excluding Indigenous voices from AI governance processes. The rights of Indigenous peoples over their data, the governance of AI systems that affect Indigenous communities, and the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems into AI ethics conversations are not optional add-ons to Canadian AI governance. They are foundational obligations under UNDRIP and the Canadian constitutional framework. Organisations that govern AI without Indigenous participation are not just ethically incomplete, they are operating at legal and reputational risk.
The fourth mistake is conflating stated ethics principles with ethical practice. The gap between publicly stated AI ethics commitments and actual organisational behaviour has been documented extensively. Jean-Christophe Belisle-Pipon's work on ethics dumping makes clear that having an AI ethics policy is not the same as practising AI ethics. Governance frameworks need accountability mechanisms, not just aspirational principles.
The fifth mistake is failing to account for the environmental governance dimensions of AI. The energy consumption of AI systems, particularly large language models and generative AI, is a governance question as much as an environmental one. Sasha Luccioni's research on the carbon cost of AI models and the establishment of the Sustainable AI Group in May 2026 reflect the growing recognition that responsible AI governance must include environmental accountability. Organisations adopting AI at scale without governance frameworks for their energy and carbon footprint are not practising responsible AI, whatever else they may claim.
How Do You Follow These Voices and Act on Their Work?
The most immediate action you can take is to build a reading and following practice around the voices on this list. The thought leaders here are producing research, writing policy briefs, publishing blog posts, recording podcasts, and speaking at events that are accessible to anyone with a genuine interest in AI ethics. Following Michael Geist's Law Bytes podcast, reading Mila's policy publications, engaging with the work of the Montreal AI Ethics Institute, and tracking the outputs of CIGI's digital governance programme will give you a grounded understanding of Canadian AI ethics that no single corporate training programme can match.
The second action is to assess where your organisation sits in relation to Canada's actual AI governance requirements. The Treasury Board's Directive on Automated Decision-Making applies to federal institutions. Ontario's Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act applies to Ontario public-sector organisations. Alberta's Privacy Commissioner has signalled coming AI regulation. Your regulatory exposure to AI governance obligations is probably greater than you realise, and the scholars on this list, particularly Teresa Scassa, Florian Martin-Bariteau, and Michael Geist, are the best sources for understanding it.
The third action is to ensure that your AI governance processes include genuine Indigenous consultation, not just formal compliance. Natiea Vinson, Denise Williams, Karine Gentelet, and Ife Adebara are among the clearest voices on what meaningful Indigenous participation in AI governance looks like in practice. The principle of self-determination means that Indigenous communities have the right to be involved in the design, deployment, and governance of AI systems that affect them, not just consulted after decisions have been made.
The fourth action is to take the environmental dimension of your AI governance seriously. Sasha Luccioni and David Rolnick's work provides the research foundation. The Sustainable AI Group is actively helping organisations measure and reduce the environmental footprint of their AI deployments. If your AI governance framework does not include energy use, carbon emissions, and the environmental impact of AI infrastructure, it is incomplete by the standards being established in 2025 and 2026.
Building your leadership team's capacity to have the difficult conversations that AI governance requires is as important as any technical or legal governance step you take. AI governance frameworks fail not because the policies are wrong, but because leadership teams cannot navigate the accountability conversations, the transparency demands, and the cultural resistance that responsible AI deployment invariably creates.
Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and author of Step Up or Step Out, host of The Leadership Conversations Podcast with 230-plus episodes, helps leadership teams build exactly that capacity. Whether virtual or in person, reach out to jonno@consultclarity.org to start the conversation.
Key Insights Before You Go
Canada's AI adoption rate doubled in one year while governance frameworks stalled, creating an acute accountability gap where fewer than 35 percent of organisations deploying AI have formal governance structures despite the country's research leadership and the stalling of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act.
Indigenous data sovereignty is not an optional add-on to Canadian AI governance but a foundational constitutional and UNDRIP obligation that requires Indigenous communities to have decision-making authority over AI systems that affect them and control over their own data and knowledge systems.
The gap between stated AI ethics principles and actual practice is where most governance failures occur. Jean-Christophe Belisle-Pipon's concept of ethics dumping provides a diagnostic framework for identifying when organisations are offloading ethical responsibility while maintaining the appearance of compliance.
Environmental accountability is a core AI governance obligation, not a separate sustainability concern, because the energy consumption and carbon footprint of AI systems represent financial, regulatory, reputational, and strategic risks that organisations deploying AI cannot afford to ignore.
Canada's patchwork regulatory landscape across federal and provincial jurisdictions means organisations need governance frameworks built to the highest standard rather than minimum compliance, and the legal scholars on this list provide the analysis needed to navigate that complexity as provincial AI legislation develops through 2026 and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Canada distinctive in the global AI ethics and governance landscape?
Canada's distinctiveness in AI ethics comes from several intersecting factors. The country produced foundational deep learning research through Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and their collaborators, creating a scientific community with genuine authority on both AI capabilities and ethical concerns. Canada was the first nation to implement a national AI strategy in 2017. The three national AI institutes at Mila, Vector, and Amii created institutional infrastructure for AI governance that most countries lack. The specific Canadian context, including obligations under UNDRIP, the bilingual governance landscape, and distinct regional contexts from Quebec's civil law tradition to Alberta's resource economy, creates AI ethics challenges that are genuinely Canadian in character.
What happened to Canada's AI legislation, and where does it stand in 2026?
Bill C-27's Artificial Intelligence and Data Act stalled when Parliament prorogued in January 2025. The core concepts from that bill, including risk-based classification, human oversight requirements, and accountability frameworks for high-impact AI systems, continue to influence Canadian regulatory thinking even though the legislation itself did not pass. The government launched an AI Strategy Task Force and national consultation in October 2025, gathering input from over 11,300 Canadians. A renewed national AI strategy is expected in 2026. In the meantime, federal institutions are subject to the Treasury Board's Directive on Automated Decision-Making, which requires algorithmic impact assessments for public-sector AI systems.
How was this list compiled?
Every person included was selected on three criteria: documented contribution to AI ethics or governance through research, policy, practice, or advocacy; active engagement with the field in 2025 or 2026; and genuine engagement with the Canadian AI ethics and governance context. The list deliberately spans disciplines, regions, and sectors to reflect the full complexity of what AI governance in Canada requires.
What are the most important organisations for AI ethics in Canada?
Several organisations anchor the Canadian AI ethics ecosystem. Mila in Montreal, the Vector Institute in Toronto, and Amii in Edmonton are the three national AI institutes, each with significant ethics and governance programmes. CIFAR administers the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and the CAISI Research Programme on AI safety. The Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo is one of the world's most important AI governance think tanks. The University of Ottawa's Centre for Law, Technology and Society is home to some of the country's leading AI law scholars. OBVIA connects researchers across Quebec on AI ethics. The Montreal AI Ethics Institute, continuing the work of the late Abhishek Gupta, publishes the widely read AI Ethics Brief newsletter.
How do organisations navigate Canada's patchwork AI regulatory landscape in 2026?
Organisations operating across provincial boundaries need governance frameworks that meet the highest standard among the jurisdictions they operate in, rather than treating each province separately. Ontario's Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act applies to Ontario public-sector organisations, Alberta's Privacy Commissioner has signalled coming AI legislation, and the federal Treasury Board Directive applies to federal institutions. Working with legal scholars like Teresa Scassa, Celine Castets-Renard, and Michael Geist who understand comparative regulatory frameworks helps organisations build governance systems that are portable across jurisdictions and adaptable as provincial regulations evolve.
Which of these thought leaders work in French?
Several leaders on this list are fully bilingual and produce significant work in French. Yoshua Bengio, Catherine Regis, Valerie Pisano, Olivier Blais, Melika Carroll, Benjamin Prud'homme, Golnoosh Farnadi, Karine Gentelet, and Melissa M'Raidi-Kechichian all work in French-language or bilingual contexts. Celine Castets-Renard and Florian Martin-Bariteau publish extensively in both official languages. For organisations in Quebec or needing bilingual AI governance voices, this list includes strong options across disciplines and sectors.
Can I hire a facilitator to help my leadership team implement AI governance?
Yes. While the thought leaders on this list provide the research and policy foundations for AI governance, building the internal leadership capacity to implement those frameworks is a distinct challenge.
Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and author of Step Up or Step Out, works with leadership teams around the world to build the trust, communication, and accountability structures that make AI governance frameworks operational in practice. Book Jonno to facilitate your next leadership offsite or governance implementation workshop at jonno@consultclarity.org.
Final Thoughts
Canada built the world's first national AI strategy, produced the foundational research behind modern deep learning, and assembled one of the most concentrated clusters of AI research talent on the planet. The fifty thought leaders on this list are the people working to ensure that technical leadership translates into ethical leadership, that the country's commitments to reconciliation shape rather than merely gesture at its AI governance frameworks, and that the gap between AI adoption and genuine accountability is closed rather than papered over.
The most important insight this list offers is that AI ethics and governance in Canada is not a niche academic concern. It is a national project being carried out by researchers, lawyers, Indigenous leaders, enterprise practitioners, policy advisors, and educators who are doing consequential work every day. Following these voices, reading their publications, and taking their governance recommendations seriously is one of the most practical things any organisation can do as Canada's AI regulatory landscape is rebuilt in 2025 and 2026.
For your leadership team, the challenge is not just understanding what AI governance requires. It is building the internal culture and capability to implement it honestly. That means having difficult conversations about transparency, accountability, and what it actually means to be responsible for an AI system's outcomes.
Jonno White, author of Step Up or Step Out (available on Amazon at amazon.com.au), Certified Working Genius Facilitator, and trusted facilitator who works with leadership teams around the world, helps leadership teams navigate exactly those conversations. Whether virtual or face to face, reach out to jonno@consultclarity.org.
For more on ethical leadership and how to build teams equipped for the governance challenges of AI-driven change, see the post 50 Best Ethical Leadership Speakers (2026). For the global perspective on AI ethics speakers, see 50 Best Keynote Speakers Globally on AI Ethics and Governance (2026).
About the Author
Jonno White is a leadership consultant, keynote speaker and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, and the author of Step Up or Step Out. Through Consult Clarity he works with corporates, nonprofits and schools around the world. He hosts The Leadership Conversations Podcast (230-plus episodes) and facilitates Working Genius workshops, executive team offsites, and strategic planning days for leadership teams globally.
To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org or visit consultclarity.org/about. Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonno-white-wi-dg-te-983486136/
Sources
Statistics Canada / Bryan et al. 2025: AI adoption rate among Canadian businesses doubled from 6.1% to 12.2% between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Source: Statistics Canada Survey of Digital Technology and Internet Use (January 2026).
World Economic Forum: Fewer than 35 percent of organisations deploying AI globally have a formal governance framework in place.
Government of Canada, ISED, February 2026: Over 11,300 Canadians responded to the October 2025 national AI strategy consultation. Source: Engagements on Canada's Next AI Strategy: Summary of Inputs.