Canada’s sovereign AI strategy creates a rare opening:

infrastructure is being built before norms are fixed.

This allows for:

Governance baked into design, not added as apology Citizen involvement as structure, not consultation AI as a civic instrument, not merely an economic one

But if citizens are invited only after deployment,

participation becomes ritual rather than power.

When an AI system shapes outcomes for millions, who has the standing to say “this must change”—and to be heard?

If the answer is only experts,

then citizenship has already narrowed.

If the answer includes ordinary citizens,

then governance remains alive.