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Open Letter Urges Canadian Government to Reject Private Sector Carve-Out in Council of Europe AI Convention Negotiations

Introduction

February 27, 2024


Civil society organizations, AI and human rights experts call on the Government of Canada to unequivocally commit to safeguarding human rights from AI risks and harms no matter the source. As the first binding international treaty on Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law enters the final stages of negotiations, signatories urge Canada to ensure that the treaty does not include any private sector carve-out that will water down rights and limit the accountability of technology companies.

A full list of Government of Canada Recipients can be found below or by clicking here.

Canada & Council of Europe Negotiations

The Council of Europe is an international organization mandated to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Its Treaties are open for ratification by like-minded countries around the world. Canada has contributed to several Council of Europe treaties, including currently the Framework Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.


Unfortunately, as the Convention enters final phase negotiations, reliable news sources and the publicly available draft Convention indicate that the Canadian delegation to the Council of Europe is urging the Committee on AI to curtail the scope of the Convention by removing provisions that would establish safeguards for private-sector AI systems.


We strongly oppose this position.


Impact on the negotiations of Bill C-27


A hollowed-out Convention will provide little meaningful protection to individuals who are increasingly subject to powerful AI systems prone to bias, human manipulation, and the destabilization of democratic institutions.


The current position of Canada puts a question mark on its commitment to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law domestically. It sends a very worrying signal with regard to the ongoing negotiations of Bill C-27 - An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts.


Canada should lead efforts to safeguard fundamental rights, democratic values, and the rule of law in line with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Principles for Responsible, Trustworthy and Privacy-protective generative AI Technologies. The OPC has particularly emphasized the dangers for vulnerable groups, including children and groups that have historically experienced discrimination. The Principles reflects the latest international consensus. They are based on both the G7 Hiroshima Principles and the Global Privacy Assembly Resolution on Generative AI.


Canada’s Leadership on Trustworthy AI Policy

Through leadership on the Global Partnership on AI, Canada has contributed to fostering international cooperation for trustworthy AI based on a shared commitment to the OECD Recommendation on AI: human centred-values and fairness, human rights, inclusion, diversity, transparency and explainability, and accountability. With the 2023 GPAI Ministerial Declaration, Canada reaffirmed its commitment to implement these principles. Canada has also endorsed the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and the G7 Hiroshima Process International Guiding Principles and Code of Conduct for Organizations Developing Advanced AI Systems. All primarily apply to the private sector.


The Canadian delegation’s current position in the Council of Europe negotiations fails to account for the growing influence of non-democratic nations and risks damaging the transatlantic relationship. It could jeopardize the recently renewed European Commission’s adequacy decision regarding the equivalence of Canada’s protection of personal information with the European Union’s personal data protection regime. This would put at risk the transfer of personal data from the EU to Canada, on which many Canadian companies rely.


We urge the Government of Canada to assume a leadership role on trustworthy AI policy and instruct the Canadian delegation to the Council of Europe to stand against a private sector carve out.

Conclusion

On the 25th anniversary of Canada’s observer status at the Council of Europe, the Prime Minister’s special envoy to Europe declared,


“you can count on Canada in everything you do for democracy, the rule of law and human rights, since your goals are our goals.”


We call on the Government of Canada to honor the commitments it made on behalf of Canadian citizens and stand against any private sector carve-out in the Council of Europe’s Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.


Thank you for your consideration.

Open Letter Recipients

Open Letter Urges Canadian Government to Reject Private Sector Carve-Out in Council of Europe AI Convention Negotiations


To:

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne - M.P., Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc - M.P., Minister of Public Safety

The Honourable Arif Virani - M.P., Minister of Justice

The Honourable Anita Anand - M.P., President of Treasury Board

The Honourable Melanie Joly - M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs


CC:

Dr Ailish Campbell - Canada’s Ambassador to the EU

Mr David Fairchild - First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Canada to the Office of the United Nations


Philippe Dufresne - Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Diane McLeod - Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta

Michael McEvoy - Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia

Jill Perron - Ombudsman of Manitoba

Marie-France Pelletier - Ombudsman of New Brunswick

Michael Harvey - Information and Privacy Commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador

Andrew Fox - Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories

Tricia Ralph - Information and Privacy Commissioner of Nova Scotia

Graham Steele - Information and Privacy Commissioner of Nunavut

Patricia Kosseim - Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

Denise N. Doiron - Information and Privacy Commissioner of Prince Edward Island

Éric Caire - Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Technology of Quebec

Me Rady Khuong - Présidente de la Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec

Ronald J. Kruzeniski - K.C., Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner

Jason Pedlar - Yukon Ombudsman


Joël Lightbound - Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology

Rick Perkins - Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology

Jean-Denis Garon - Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology


Ms Michelle Mann - General Counsel Justice Canada

Ms Allison O’Beirne - Director, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mr Kendrick Lo - Counsel Justice Canada

Mr Aaryn Zhou - Deputy Director, Global Affairs Canada

Mr Benoit Deshaies - Director, Treasury Board Secretariat

Featured Signatories

Organizational Signatories

  1. GoodBot Society
  2. Centre for AI and Digital Policy
  3. International Observatory on the societal impacts of AI and digital technologies (OBVIA)
  4. Amnistie internationale Canada francophone
  5. International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
  6. BC Civil Liberties Association
  7. Open North
  8. Open Media
  9. AI Governance and Safety Canada
  10. Canadian Institute for Information and Privacy Studies
  11. Centre for Social Impact Technology
  12. Horizon Ottawa
  13. Table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noirs
  14. FairPlay Alliance
  15. Screen Time Action Network
  16. Young Peoples Alliance
  17. Citizens Privacy Coalition of Santa Clara
  18. Science for the People Canada
  19. New/Mode
  20. PrivaSecTec
  21. dHub Group
  22. Doyoko Research Inc.
  23. Lyn Brooks & Associates
  24. SCIKOOP
  25. Panther Power Corporation
  26. LemonLogix Health Information Service

Subject Matter Expert & Other Individual Signatories

  1. Yoshua Bengio, University of Montreal / Mila (Full Professor)
  2. Benjamin Prud’Homme, Mila - Institut québécois d'intelligence artificielle (Vice-President, Policy, Society and Global Affairs)
  3. Renee Black, GoodBot Society (Chief Executive Officer)
  4. Karine Caunes, Centre for AI and Digital Policy (Global Program Director)
  5. Selim Alan, Centre for AI and Digital Policy (Director of Communications)
  6. Mélissa M'Raidi-Kechichian, Centre for AI and Digital Policy
  7. Andrea Sanchez Aguilar, Centre for AI and Digital Policy
  8. Nidhi Sinha, Centre for AI and Digital Policy, (Research Fellow)
  9. Ismael Kherroubi, Centre for AI and Digital Policy (Research Group Member)
  10. Lyse Langlois, International Observatory on the societal impacts of AI and digital technologies (OBVIA) (Professor, Director OBVIA)
  11. Timothy McSorley, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (National Coordinator)
  12. Samuel Cohn, OpenNorth (Director of Programs)
  13. Thomas Linder, OpenNorth (Coordinator)
  14. Tim Lipp, Centre for Social Impact Technology(Executive Director)
  15. Wyatt Tessari L'Allié, AI Governance and Safety Canada (Executive Director)
  16. Darrell Evans, Canadian Institute for Information and Privacy Studies
  17. Jasmine Cha, Internet Society
  18. Steve Anderson, New/Mode (Co-Founder and Cheif Executive Officer)
  19. Shamir Ladhani, Panther Power Corporation (President & CEO)
  20. Darlene Gering, Humanity Social Impact Services Inc. (Chief Stewardship Officer)
  21. Catherine Regis, Université de Montréal (Professor of Law)
  22. Argyri Panezi, University of New Brunswick Law (Canada Research Chair in Digital Information Law and Policy)
  23. Karine Gentelet, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Obvia (Associate Professor)
  24. Andrew Clement, University of Toronto (Professor Emeritus)
  25. Onur Bakiner, University of Seattle (Associate Professor)
  26. Blair Attard-Frost, University of Toronto (AI Policy Researcher & Lecturer)
  27. Christian Gagné, Mila; IID, Université Laval (Professor and researcher in AI)
  28. Jane Bailey, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
  29. Andréane Sabourin Laflamme, Cégep André-Laurendeau (Professor, Departm Philosophy Department)
  30. Jesse Dineen, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Professor)
  31. Okechukwu J.E. (Assistant Professor)
  32. Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland (Professor Computer Science)
  33. Pierre Bellec, Université de Montréal (Associate Professor)
  34. Tammy Mackenzie, Aula Fellowship for AI Science & Policy (Interim Director/ Fellow)
  35. Leslie Salgado, The Aula Fellowship for AI Science and Policy (Media Lead,/ Aula Fellow)
  36. Jess Malz, The Aula Fellowship for AI Science and Policy (Facilitation Lead/ Aula Fellow)
  37. Ori Freiman, Digital Society Lab, McMaster University (Post-Doctoral Fellow)
  38. Alexandra Volokhova, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (PhD Candidate)
  39. Cristian Dragos Manta, Mila, Université de Montréal (PhD Student in AI)
  40. Alex Hernandez-Garcia, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (Post-Doctoral Scientist)
  41. Ezekiel Williams, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (PhD Candidate)
  42. Eric Elmoznino, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (PhD Candidate)
  43. Matthew Scicluna, University of Montreal, Institut de Cardiology de Montreal, MILA - Quebec AI Institute (PhD Candidate)
  44. Daniel Levenstein, Mila (Postdoctoral Researcher)
  45. Victor Schmidt, Université de Montréal (PhD Candidate)
  46. Michael Rizvi, Mila/University of Montreal (PhD Candidate)
  47. Marwa El Halabi, Samsung SAIT AI Lab Montreal (Research Scientist)
  48. Florian Golemo, Mila (Research Scientist)
  49. Donna Vakalis, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (Post-Doctoral Scientist)
  50. Afaf Taik, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (Post-Doctoral Researcher
  51. Ben Hudson, Mila
  52. François Paugam, Université de Montréal (PhD Candidate in AI)
  53. Colin Bredenberg, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (Postdoctoral Researcher)
  54. Kyle Roth, Université de Montréal (PhD Candidate)
  55. Mansi Rankawat, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (PhD Candidate)
  56. Max Puelma Touzel, Mila - Quebec AI Institute (Research Associate)
  57. Georgette A. Fernandez-Laris, University of Sheffield (PhD Candidate)
  58. Helga Brøgger (MD/AI researcher)
  59. Ashkan Alinaghian, University of Turin (AI Policy Researcher)
  60. Jack Kengott, Swinlane (Cyber Security Consultant)
  61. Lyn Brooks, CCNDR, AI Ethics Advisory Panel, Digital Governance Council
  62. Amanda Bowdridge, LemonLogix Health Information Services (Health Info/Privacy)
  63. Jenna Manhau, Jen Z issues (Founder & Independent Policy Analyst)
  64. Amira Dhalla (Privacy and Security Expert)
  65. Kris Constable, PrivaSectec (Senior Advisor)
  66. Dirk Brand (Legal Consultant)
  67. Stacey Berry (Public Policy Professional)
  68. Alexander Zalewski (Owner, Design build firm)
  69. Sasha Williamson, Doyoko Research Inc. (UX Research Consultant)
  70. Gillian Vroomen (CEO, Leadership & Communications)
  71. Maciej Piszcz (Data Protection Professional)
  72. Ian Currie (Software Developer)
  73. Christine Naidu (Customer Success Manager)
  74. Tânia Figueiredo (Gaming Marketing Expert)
  75. Yonah Welker, European Commission, Yonah.org
  76. Myron Hedderson (Cybersecurity Analyst)
  77. Nkechi Agugoesi (Internationally Trained Lawyer)
  78. Chris Wilbert (AI Trainer)
  79. Hector Palacios
  80. Evelyn Violini
  81. Angie Gurney
  82. Nadia Rousseau
  83. Shiela Pratt
  84. Dan Maitland
  85. Nicole Lemke
  86. Marc Azar
  87. Daniel Lindenberger
  88. Chahinez Bensari
  89. Alex Efremov
  90. Natasha Clarke
  91. John Gray

References


International AI rights treaty hangs by a thread. Gian Volpicelli. March 10 2024 - Link


Tug of war continues on international AI treaty as text gets softened further

Luca Bertuzzi, Euractiv, Feb. 15, 2024 - Link


EU prepares to push back on private sector carve-out from international AI treaty, Luca Bertuzzi, Euractiv, Jan. 12, 2024 - Link


EU’s AI ambitions at risk as US pushes to water down international treaty

Luca Bertuzzi, Euractiv, Jun 8, 2023 - Link


Council of Europe Treaty on AI, Council of Europe Committee on Artificial Intelligence, Council of Europe, Dec 18, 2023 - Link


European Commission Report. Report From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council on the first review of the functioning of the adequacy decisions adopted pursuant to Article 25(6) of Directive 95/46/EC, European Commission, Jan 15 2024 - Link


Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence, OECD, May 21, 2019 - Link


GPAI Ministerial Declaration 2023. Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. 5th Session of the Ministerial Council, GPAI, Dec 13, 2023 - Link


The Council of Europe and Canada: Together for Democracy, Government of Canada, Apr 17, 2021 - Link


G7 Hiroshima AI Process: G7 Digital & Tech Ministers' Statement, G7, Dec 1, 2023 - Link


Principles for responsible, trustworthy and privacy-protective generative AI technologies, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Dec 7, 2023 - Link

Other Open Letters on AI Treaty

About Campaign


  1. Open Letter - PDF | Site
  2. Press Release - Link
  3. Government Recipients - Link
  4. Signatories (ongoing) - Link