SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Gen(Z)AI

Honourable senators, I rise today to recognize an extraordinary group of young Canadians: participants of Gen(Z)AI, Canada’s Youth Assembly on AI.

This morning, I had the honour of partnering with Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, one of Canada’s three national artificial intelligence, or AI, hubs and a cornerstone of the country’s AI ecosystem, along with the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy to sponsor their national hybrid plenary. This event brought together 100 young Canadians in Ottawa to debate key issues, synthesize insights from previous forums, endorse policy recommendations and present their findings to policy-makers.

These young people, aged 17 to 23, convened across four regional forums in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax to create policy recommendations about AI and online harms.

Through a rigorous citizens’ assembly process that intertwined expert learning, structured deliberation and national digital engagement, they produced concrete, consensus-built recommendations on four key issues at the heart of Canada’s digital future: AI chatbots, information integrity, data privacy and age assurance.

A few of their recommendations call for platforms to be held accountable for addictive and harmful design choices; for AI‑generated content to be clearly labelled and misinformation to be actively monitored; and for plain language consent mechanisms backed by real legal consequences when companies mishandle sensitive data. They call for a standardized, anonymized age verification system that protects children without pushing them toward unmoderated spaces.

I extend my sincere congratulations to every participant of the Gen(Z)AI program. Across seven months, four cities and 100 young Canadians, you have produced something substantial: clear, evidence-based policy recommendations. I encourage all honourable senators to read their report, which can be found on the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy website.

Colleagues, please help me in recognizing these bright young Canadians. Thank you. Meegwetch.