What Canada’s Digital Sovereignty Debate Is Missing - TfD Weekly 30th October 2026
Jeff Doctor on why digital sovereignty is more than Canada vs the US. Plus a post-election panel at City Hall and our next volunteer meeting on Nov 11.
Welcome to TfD Weekly
TfD Weekly is the newsletter of Technologists for Democracy (TfD), a Toronto-based civic tech organisation working at the intersection of technology, privacy, and democratic accountability. Each week we recap what's happening at Civic Tech Toronto, share updates on our campaigns, and keep an eye on legislation that affects Canadians' digital rights.
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Civic Tech Toronto Recap
Topic: Post-Election Recap
Panelists: Anita Li, publisher and CEO of The Green Line; Matt Elliott, Toronto Star columnist and author of City Hall Watcher; and Lanrick Bennett Jr., Executive Director of Charlie's FreeWheels, Urbanist-in-Residence at U of T's School of Cities and Toronto's first Bicycle Mayor
The night after Toronto voted, Civic Tech Toronto gathered at City Hall for a special panel on the results. Anita, Matt and Lanrick unpacked what happened at the polls, the trends that emerged, and what we can expect from City Hall going forward.
With so many new faces heading to City Hall, we're optimistic about what local governance in Toronto will look like over the next few years.
Civic Tech Toronto meets every Tuesday. Subscribe for future events
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Digital Sovereignty Webinar with Jeff Doctor
We were delighted to host Jeff Doctor for a fantastic webinar on Digital Sovereignty. While the term is in the news right now because of Canada's current loggerheads with the United States, Jeff helped show how this isn't a simple us-vs-them binary.
Jeff is a Cayuga Nation citizen from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Impact Strategist at Animikii Indigenous Technology, and has spent over a decade supporting Indigenous sovereignty initiatives.
Technology, colonialism, extraction are all intertwined, and using truly sovereign tech is a goal that we need to meaningfully work towards. Making "better" systems requires input from a much more diverse set of voices than are currently seated at decision-making tables. And this is highlighted in the gap between what we as regular users want to optimise towards compared with the contents of Bill C-22 that is currently being discussed in government.
Read the notes from the session
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Monthly Volunteer Meeting
Our next volunteer planning meeting is on Wednesday, November 11. We meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month on Jitsi Meet. Whether you want to get involved, pitch your own campaign idea, or just keep up with what we're doing, all are welcome. You can add points to the agenda through the event page.
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Technologists for Democracy is a community of Canadians who work with technology towards better democracy for all. Learn more at techfordemocracy.ca