MONTREAL — Traditional Canadian telecoms are joking as the federal government pushes for “digital sovereignty” of AI.
Among the thousands of business executives and technology specialists attending the All In Conference in Montreal on Tuesday was Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic.
Vivich said he was sitting behind a parenthetical bell desk with booths representing high-tech companies, governments and research institutions in Montreal, spreading the word that his company is entirely in AI space.
With the changing “geopolitical environment,” Vivich said sovereignty is becoming “very critical.”
That includes digital sovereignty. This includes Evan Solomon, the principle minister of artificial intelligence, defined in his opening keynote speech at the conference as “someone else can't decide to turn it off.”
Digital sovereignty does not have an official definition, but it often incorporates the idea of building digital infrastructure and storing data within the country.
Bibic said it views multiple components of digital sovereignty, including the “calculation” of AI that allows artificial intelligence systems to perform tasks along with data storage, networking, trust and safety.
When Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new major project office to oversee the rapid pursuit of national construction projects, he included building a “sovereign cloud” on his to-do list.
A sovereign cloud is a computing environment that companies use to run services that they can configure to comply with the laws or core values of a particular country.
The “Canadian technological ecosystem” must be at the heart of Ottawa's digital sovereignty strategy, Vivich said.
It contains all the elements of that ecosystem, he said, “Big corporations like Bell, by definition, sovereignty, history sovereignty, always a kind of Canadian economic fabric.”
Bell announced its AI Fabric Project in May. This will open six artificial intelligence data centres in BC as part of its plan to create Canada's largest AI computing project.
In July, Bell announced a partnership with artificial intelligence company Cohere, providing end-to-end sovereign AI solutions to government and corporate customers across Canada. Cohere makes AI services available through Bell AI Fabric, and Bell incorporates Cohere's agent AI platform (autonomous AI systems that make proactive decisions) into the AI Fabric.
Vivich said when Bell first announced the AI Fabric Project, Solomon encouraged the company to join the Canadian technology ecosystem and contact him with CEO Aidan Gomez.
“And that sparked a dialogue between the two of us and our executive team. It ultimately led to a partnership pretty quickly,” Vivich said.
Bell wasn't the only telecom company that started with traditional wired telephone infrastructure with booths for AI conferences.
On the second day of the meeting, Telus announced what was called in a press release at Canada's first fully sovereign AI factory.
According to Jaime Tatis, Senior Vice President and Chief AI Officer at Telus, it is a facility that provides AI computing to others who want to use it. He said it was an extension of what his company has been doing for decades.
“When you think about wireless networks, it was the old cable, now it was textile…it's a continuation of how we build technological infrastructure for our nation,” he said.
Tatis said sovereignty will always be a “important element” of his company's work in AI. But the changing geopolitical environment places it on “a much faster than expected radar.”
Vivich said he was “very encouraged” by Kearney's approach to digital policies, including telecom, broadcasting and artificial intelligence.
“I'm looking at the government that wants to grab that moment, meaning that we have the right vision and move fast,” he said. “And so far, it's been really good.”
The AI conference was closed with a speech by a minister who is traditionally responsible for telecommunications files.
“We know that the old alliances we took for granted have not necessarily stopped working,” Industry Minister Melanie Jolly told the audience.
“A new alliance is now formed and we need to make sure that the economic strength of the nation is once again a priority.
“We need economic growth, so you're coming in. And AI is all about economic growth. There's still a lot of unpredictability and we need to make sure it becomes our reality.
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Anja Kaladegriya, Canadian media
Use Sammy Hudes files
The report, which was first published on September 25th, 2025, by Canadian report.
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