Canada needs to regulate AI

In a nutshell

The legislation is needed to protect users from its unchecked potential—particularly in immigration, where automated decisions can significantly impact people’s lives.

The CBA’s Immigration Law Section welcomes recent federal efforts on AI and the government’s stated commitment to the safe deployment of AI technologies. But more is needed, and quickly. “To ensure that the enormous benefits of automated systems are realized, it is essential to maintain alignment with democratic values while safeguarding human rights, fundamental freedoms, and individual privacy,” the CBA letter reads.

To date, the Section points out, “there is still no enforceable legislation in Canada, nor has the IRPA [Immigration and Refugee Protection Act] been amended to govern AI uses in the immigration context. Canada must catch up on “data governance, accessibility, and infrastructure for harnessing the potential of AI systems, and call for domestic and international cooperation on data governance to ensure consistency and interoperability.”

Guiding principles

AI can be a powerful tool to streamline case management, support research, and enhance decision-making. But in the immigration context, the Section warns, “AI technology can shield exclusion and promote intentional or unintentional bias in its application.”

But as the letter notes, in the immigration context “AI technology can shield exclusion and promote intentional or unintentional bias in its application.”

In developing a legislative framework for AI, the government should take inspiration from the international forum Digital Nations, formed in 2014 to help countries develop better digital governments. Those principles are:

1. Promoting openness about how, why, and when AI is used;
    
2. Prioritizing the needs of individuals and communities, including Indigenous peoples, and considering the institutional and public benefits of AI;
    
3. Assessing and mitigating the risks of AI to legal rights and democratic norms early in the lifecycle of AI systems and following their launch;
    
4. Ensuring training or other input data used by AI systems is lawfully collected, used, and disclosed, taking account of applicable privacy and intellectual property rights;
    
5. Evaluating the outputs of AI systems, including generative tools, to minimize biases and inaccuracies, and enabling users to distinguish between AI and human outputs;
    
6. Publishing legal or ethical impact assessments, source code, training data, independent audits or reviews, or other relevant documentation about AI systems, while protecting privacy, government and national security, and intellectual property;
    
7. Explaining automated decisions to people impacted by them and providing them with opportunities to contest decisions and seek remedies, which could involve human review, where applicable;
    
8. Encouraging the creation of controlled test environments to foster responsible research and innovation;
    
9. Establishing oversight mechanisms for AI systems to ensure accountability and foster effective monitoring and governance throughout the lifecycle;
    
10. Assessing and mitigating the environmental impacts of the training and use of AI systems, and where appropriate opting for zero-emissions systems;
     
11. Providing training to civil servants developing or using AI so that they understand legal, ethical, and operational issues, including privacy and security, and are equipped to adopt AI systems responsibly; and
     
12. Creating processes for inclusive and meaningful public engagement on AI policies or projects with to raise awareness, build trust, and address digital divides.

The CBA Section stands ready to support efforts to ensure Canada remains a global leader in the safe, effective, and rights-respecting use of artificial intelligence in immigration.

Read the submission.