A group of Canadian academics, organizations and public figures are asking Prime Minister

Mark Carney to defend Canada’s digital sovereignty in the face of growing dependence on the United States, according to a letter released on Tuesday.

The letter addressed to Carney was signed by 26 organizations and 43 individuals and calls on the federal government to do a better job at regulating foreign-owned tech companies and the digital security of Canadian users.

“We can’t afford to keep it on the backburner any longer,” said Barry Appleton, managing partner at Appleton and Associates International Lawyers, who is among the individuals who signed the letter.

“We don’t have a comprehensive, coherent, collective trade and digital policy in Canada that protects Canadians,” he said.

Among the signatories are author Margaret Atwood, former governor general Adrienne Clarkson and former assistant privacy commissioner of Canada Heather Black. Organizations like the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, also signed the letter.

The letter outlines several recommendations, including passing laws on

artificial intelligence (AI) regulation after consultation, a transparent cost-benefit analysis of federal investments in AI, reintroducing and improving legislation such as the Online Harms Act and the Consumer Privacy Protection Act and ensuring Canadian sovereignty over digital infrastructure.

“There are many other, less visible, layers of Canada’s digital infrastructure that are dominated by U.S. companies and thus subject to U.S. legal and political pressures,” the letter said. “Mainly this is in cloud and related services, which have been ceded to three U.S. tech giants: specifically,

Microsoft Corp. , Alphabet Inc. ‘s Google, and Amazon.com Inc. , all of whom are major U.S. military contractors.” The letter also calls for the withdrawal of Bill C-2, the strong borders act introduced in Parliament in June.

“There are provisions in there that are really about enhancing law enforcement’s warrantless access to information about Canadians,” said Teresa Scassa, University of Ottawa’s Canada Research Chair in information law and policy, who also signed the letter.

“There is a whole bunch of stuff in there over which there has not been enough debate, study, consideration, thought and content that poses serious risks to Canadians,” she said.

The letter said the federal government should also defend the Online Streaming Act (OSA), legislation that was implemented in 2023 that puts online streaming platforms under the purview of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and subjects them to Canadian broadcasting laws.

The law was included in a recent report on foreign trade barriers by the U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, and several Republican lawmakers would like to see Canada rescind the legislation.

“The federal government should not concede the OSA to the demands of foreign tech and media giants, but instead continue to evolve and improve Canada’s cultural policies in the Internet age,” the letter said.

In June, the federal government decided to rescind the digital services tax (DST) after Trump threatened to end negotiations over a bilateral security and trade deal, following push-back from U.S. tech giants on the tax.

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In light of recent trade tensions with the U.S., Appleton said it has become more important for Canada to exert its own digital regulatory policy or risk having it dictated by the U.S.

Scassa also said regulation is required if Canada wants to lead in future technologies, including increasing trust and aligning with other trade partners.

“Regulation can increase the trust that enables the adoption and use of AI, so that’s one consideration,” Scassa said. “Regulation may have an impact on the ability of Canadian companies to easily access European markets, as the EU AI act comes online.”