AI for the public sector in Canada is moving from guidance to practice. The federal government has had a Directive on Automated Decision-Making since 2019 and publishes Algorithmic Impact Assessments for the systems it deploys, provinces such as Ontario have legislated on public-sector AI, and municipalities are piloting assistants for service requests and permits.
The opportunity is real: growing service volumes, retiring staff and records spread across decades of systems. So is the scrutiny. Public bodies need AI that is transparent, accountable, accessible in both official languages where required, and hosted in Canada, with a person responsible for every decision that affects a resident.