People’s Consultation on AI attracts 65 submissions to feds

A People’s Consultation on AI has attracted 65 submissions, which, on Mar. 30, were submitted to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister of Industry Melanie Joly, and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon. 

Opened through the first quarter of 2026, the initiative included a facilitation guide for local communities to conduct their own micro-consultations in their places of work, study and leisure. 

Several submissions raised concerns about job loss and income displacement resulting from AI. The Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association recommended a mandatory requirement for “equity and human rights assessments in public sector AI systems”, as well as “transparency in AI systems used in immigration, policing and national security.”

The AI Ethical Futures Lab ran a micro-consultation that included suggestions to tax corporations that benefit from AI adoption. The group also spoke about the potential for AI to be a shared public good. 

Several submissions also pointed to the recent school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, wherein the company had deactivated the shooter’s ChatGPT account for “violent activities”, but the company then failed to inform law enforcement. 

Others, including a group called Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces Vancouver warned that “the public dialogue around AI is driven by its inevitability.”

The People’s Consultation on AI was launched in response to Minister Solomon’s 30-day rapid public consultation on AI at the end of 2025. To date, Canada does not have enforceable AI legislation, following the termination of the previous Artificial Intelligence and Data Act when Parliament was prorogued in early 2025.