Experts say Canadian solutions needed to maintain data sovereignty

CTV’s Austin Lee tours a Nepean data centre as questions of sovereignty and the future of artificial intelligence circulate.

For many Canadians it’s difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a world without computers and smartphones.

We continue to move further down the road of technological dependence and keeping up with the physical hardware required to sustain such demand is not cheap, nor is it easy.

The world’s largest companies are now looking to cash in on the promise of artificial intelligence, investing tens of billions of dollars each year to build massive data centres in the United States.

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To some, it may appear as though the best way to address demand in Canada for data storage is to tap into the American market; however, that prospect stirs up complex legal concerns when it comes to personal data and who can access it.

“This is becoming one of the biggest issues in our modern time. One of the biggest reasons for that is because our lives have turned so digital. All our data is now online. Before, it was maybe physically stored on a device now it’s stored on the cloud,” said technology and cybersecurity analyst Ritesh Kotak.

“The question is, where is the cloud? Who has access to it? And that’s essentially what digital sovereignty is. It is making sure your data stays within a specific geography instead of it being transported outside these physical borders.”

A recent legal case involving a Canadian hoping to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from “unlawfully” obtaining his personal information from Google raised eyebrows, and put the spotlight on the importance of Canadian data sovereignty.

“If you take out your cellphone and unlock it, would you be willing to give it to the person next to you and allow them to go through all of your pictures and all of your emails? Most people would say no, I’m not okay with someone getting access to my personal phone like that because that’s my personal information,” said Kotak.

“Then why are we okay with a foreign government potentially having access to that data?”

Other tech analysts agree with Kotak on the importance of data sovereignty, adding there are notable economic implications that come with relying on the infrastructure in foreign countries to meet demand.

“Data sovereignty could very well be the most important technological issue of our time. Especially here in Canada,” said Carmi Levy, a technology analyst based in London, Ont.

“If we cannot control our digital destiny going forward, that will leave us economically disadvantaged relative to countries that have figured it out.”

There are some Canadian companies working in the industry to keep Canadian data squarely in Canada.

ThinkOn Inc., based in Etobicoke, is a Canadian-owned and operated cloud service and data management company serving both the public sector and private businesses.

“We are the only Canadian company on the federal government procurement vehicle for cloud services. The rest are all American,” said ThinkOn founder and CEO Craig McLellan.

“There is really a shortage of strong, domestic providers. There should be more of us.”

ThinkOn operates 11 data centres across Canada. One of those facilities is in Ottawa.

McLellan says Canadian companies and governments should be prioritizing homegrown data centres.

“If you work with local domestic providers, you make them better,” he said.

“By making them better, you make them more competitive, and then if they’re more competitive, then they in turn can deliver services to a broader array of customers locally and they will keep the money in Canada.”

The federal government and Telus recently announced plans for a large-scale AI data centre project to ensure Canada can be more self-sufficient.

The government says the project, planned in British Columbia, would boost Canada’s sovereign computing and AI infrastructure by building three facilities in the province.

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As for Ottawa’s technology sector, McLellan says he believes in the vision of growing the city into a tech hub.

“There is no doubt in my mind that when you put a bunch of smart people together in the same region, even if they’re working for competitors, it’s a rising tide that floats all boats,” he said.

“It forms a culture where you’re going to attract more and more knowledge into the area and we want to be part of that.”