Standards Council of Canada's AI Program (AI and Data Governance Standardization)
The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) runs the federal program to advance the development and adoption of standards and conformity assessment for artificial intelligence — the standards-and-certification layer of Canada's AI governance toolkit, complementing legislation and voluntary codes.
The program's roots are in the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative, convened by SCC in 2019 with roughly 220 experts from government, industry, civil society, Indigenous organizations, academia, and standards development organizations. Its Canadian Data Governance Standardization Roadmap (2021) mapped gaps in data governance standardization and made recommendations that continue to guide the work.
Budget 2021 provided $8.6 million over five years (2021–22 to 2025–26) for SCC to advance AI standardization as part of Phase 2 of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, whose dedicated standards pillar supports the development and adoption of standards and conformity assessment related to AI.
In 2023, SCC extended the earlier collaborative into the AI and Data Governance (AIDG) Standardization Collaborative, chaired by Chief Statistician of Canada Anil Arora alongside AI policy experts Philip Dawson and Ashley Casovan. It develops standardization strategies aligned with Canadian priorities — including Indigenous leadership in the digital economy and consistency between domestic and international standards — and builds on the roadmap and the Schwartz Reisman Institute white paper Discerning signal from noise: The state of global AI standardization and what it means for Canada.
In May 2025, SCC and Statistics Canada launched the AIDG Standardization Hub, an online one-stop shop for standardization education that helps users — particularly micro, small, and medium enterprises — navigate AI and data governance standards, supporting interoperability and access to international markets.
Canada's National AI Strategy ("AI for All", June 2026) committed to renew the program's funding under its first pillar (protecting Canadians and safeguarding democracy): "Canada will renew funding for the Standards Council of Canada's AI Program to support our standardization ecosystem, shape global AI standards, and grow a robust AI quality assurance ecosystem. This work will enable standards-based AI testing, certification, interoperability, and global market access."