Hon. Katherine Hay: Government leader, in February, the government closed its call for proposals on sovereign AI data centres — a critical step to how and where its data is stored, governed and assessed.

What constitutes sovereign infrastructure is essential, not only in terms of location, but in terms of ownership, control and legal jurisdiction.

Can you share how many of the proposals received are Canadian-controlled, end to end? What criteria is the government applying to ensure that data stored in these facilities remain under Canadian control?

How are risks related to foreign ownership and reach being assessed? Thank you.

Hon. Pierre Moreau (Government Representative in the Senate): I cannot comment on individual submissions for businesses or confidential matters that may be found in contractual procurement agreements.

However, I can assure you that the government takes threats targeting Canadians’ data and the issue of foreign ownership very seriously. It was the entire goal of the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy.

I can also tell you that the criteria for data sovereignty relating to AI sovereign compute are Canadian located and Canadian governed systems that ensure that data residency, operation, control, decision-making authority and agency are present in Canada.

“Sovereign compute” means powerful Canadian-controlled data centres that provide AI capacity for researchers and businesses in Canada. “Sovereign cloud” means keeping sensitive information stored and managed under Canadian law and jurisdiction.

Senator Hay: Thank you for that. That’s very heartening. I appreciate it.

Knowing that U.S. giants like Amazon Web Services, or AWS, currently, today, store enormous amounts of critical Canadian data on our soil, what is the government doing now, before it is able to stand up end-to-end Canadian data centres, to protect our data from legal frameworks like the U.S. CLOUD Act today?

Senator Moreau: The government is re-evaluating our relationship with the U.S. on many fronts and takes the security of Canadians’ data very seriously, as exemplified by bills reinforcing Canadians’ online security, such as Bills C-8, C-12 and C-22, which we will have the pleasure of studying in the very near future.