April 25, 2025
v 1.0
Data Sovereignty
Canada’s Next Frontier: A Sovereign Layer for Citizen Data
Canada has the opportunity—and the imperative—to lead the world in data sovereignty. As artificial intelligence reshapes global power dynamics, the nation must ensure that citizen data is protected, programmable, and anchored in democratic control. This policy vision outlines a 10-year roadmap for establishing a national Layer 2 data infrastructure, governed by a consortium of trusted Canadian institutions—from universities and hospitals to telecom giants. By embedding data ownership into the digital fabric of public services, Canada can future-proof its AI strategy, reduce cloud costs, and set a global standard for ethical data governance.
Title: Canada’s Data Sovereignty Mission: A 10-Year National Imperative
Executive Summary
As artificial superintelligence (ASI) approaches, Canada must act with conviction to protect its sovereignty in the digital realm. Our data—from patient records to student transcripts to national archives—is the foundation of our collective intelligence and autonomy. Without sovereign infrastructure, we cede this power to foreign cloud monopolies and non-democratic actors. We propose a 10-year national mission to build a sovereign Layer 2 data network for Canada, owned and operated by Canadian institutions like Telus, Bell, Alberta Health Services, and the University of Alberta.
This network will be powered by decentralized storage technologies like Filecoin and IPFS, enabling Canadian citizens to own, manage, and move their data with cryptographic certainty. It is less expensive than centralized cloud, programmable by design, and resistant to geopolitical coercion. As AI models hunger for data, Canada must define what is in or out of training sets. Sovereign key management becomes a matter of national security.
This is not a product launch. This is a new foundation for digital nationhood.
The Problem
Today, the vast majority of Canada’s institutional data is stored in centralized servers owned by multinational firms. These systems are:
Costly and rigid
Vulnerable to breaches and extrajudicial access
Opaque and difficult to audit
Incompatible with citizen-owned data models
With the rise of AI, these systems are not only insecure—they are extractive. Canadians produce immense volumes of public-good data, but have no control over where it goes, how it’s monetized, or whether it trains a model that serves or surveils them.
The Proposal: Canada Layer 2
We propose the creation of a sovereign Layer 2 data network—a programmable infrastructure layer for storing, securing, and governing Canadian data. The network will:
Use Filecoin and IPFS to store petabytes of archival and transactional data
Be operated by a federation of trusted Canadian institutions (e.g. Telus, UofA, AHS, Bell)
Give each citizen control over their personal and professional data via cryptographic keys
Enable data to flow across institutions, provinces, and borders with programmable disclosure
Provide regulatory hooks for compliance, transparency, and auditability
This network can begin as a publicly funded mandate—a policy framework that requires regulated institutions to offer sovereign storage options to Canadian users. Over time, it becomes a Layer 2 public utility: a persistent, open, and upgradeable foundation for AI training, legal records, public health research, and beyond.
Why Now
AI is here: Generative AI, LLMs, and ASI are accelerating. Without control over data, Canada becomes a digital colony.
The tech works: Filecoin has proven storage capacity. Programmable smart contracts and ZK infrastructure are production-ready.
The cost is lower: Decentralized storage is up to 80% cheaper than centralized cloud.
The stakes are rising: From privacy to healthcare to military-grade research, data determines power.
Next Steps
We are calling on:
Policymakers to explore a regulatory mandate for sovereign data infrastructure
Institutions to pilot decentralized storage nodes and citizen key frameworks
Researchers to model the economic, legal, and security benefits of a Canada Layer 2
Civic technologists to build the tooling that makes citizen-owned data usable
Contact
Cambrian Data is a consulting collective dedicated to sovereign, decentralized data infrastructure. We operate independently but in close coordination with Filecoin and IPFS ecosystem partners.