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Council of Canadians

The Council of Canadians advocates for social justice, environmental protection, and democratic rights. They mobilize communities to challenge corporate power and promote equitable policies that prioritize people and the planet over profit.

Join our &ldquo;Fund Healthcare, Not Warfare&rdquo; Ottawa Bus Tour to call for public money to support healthcare, not conflict. Together, we&rsquo;ll travel around Ottawa and learn more about how the fight for public healthcare and against militarism are intertwined. Space is limited, so get your ticket&nbsp;now! This 90-minute bus tour, organized by the Council of Canadians and the Shut Down CANSEC campaign, will include brief stops at Ottawa-area institutions that are profiting from the unprecedented billions being spent on weapons systems, like the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), Lockheed Martin, and the CANSEC &ldquo;defence, security and emerging technology&rdquo; arms show at the EY Centre. We&#39;ll also hear from health care workers, federal civil servants and others who are facing the brunt of budget cuts to made to pay for this agenda of corporate welfare-through-warfare, at locations like Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Ottawa Hospital. Speakers on this bus tour will include Amy Roberts, a Registered Nurse and the president of the Ontario Nurses Association Local 83, which represents nurses at the Ottawa Hospital, Nik Barry-Shaw, trade and privatization campaigner for the Council of Canadians and Brent Patterson of Peace Brigades International and the Shut Down CANSEC campaign. The tour is endorsed by the Ottawa Health Coalition, the Canadian Friends Service Committee and the Ottawa chapter of the Council of Canadians. Register below to reserve your seat, get schedule details, and receive updates before departure.&nbsp;

"Fund Healthcare, Not Warfare" Ottawa Bus Tour

Since the Civil Society Summit is taking place during the F1 Grand Prix, which moved from June to May this year, accommodations are difficult to find. To help out of town guests, we have two options available: Reserve a dorm room at Concordia University,&nbsp;a few metro stops from the Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry. The rooms available are dorm rooms with shared washrooms. Each room includes: single bed with linens; desk; wardrobe; refrigerator; sink; and wireless internet connectivity (&ldquo;Standard Single&rdquo;). A Single sleeps a maximum of one (1) person. The price reflects the high demand for acommodations during that weekend. Sign up for a billet, and be the guest of a Montreal-based volunteer. We will do our best to find rooms for everyone who needs one in the homes of friendly Montrealers. After summit speakers have been accommodated, we&#39;ll do our best to find space for everyone who requests it, in the order that we receive the requests.

Dorm Rooms and Billets for the Civil Society Summit on AI

Since the Civil Society Summit is taking place during the F1 Grand Prix, which moved from June to May this year, accommodations are difficult to find. To help out of town guests, we have two options available: Reserve a dorm room at Concordia University,&nbsp;a few metro stops from the Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry. The rooms available are dorm rooms with shared washrooms. Each room includes: single bed with linens; desk; wardrobe; refrigerator; sink; and wireless internet connectivity (&ldquo;Standard Single&rdquo;). A Single sleeps a maximum of one (1) person. The price reflects the high demand for acommodations during that weekend.

Rooms & Billets - AI Civil Society (Extra Rooms)

While Friday delivers a holistic overview on AI, Saturday is where we start building something. The second day of the AI Summit is designed around a simple premise: the civil society response to AI can&#39;t stay siloed. Environmental advocates, labour organizers, journalists, legal experts, Indigenous rights defenders, researchers &mdash; we&#39;re all working in different corners of the same problem, and the AI industry is counting on us not finding each other. We intend to defy the tech-dominated narrative of &quot;inevitability&quot; by building a civil society that reclaims power back into the hands of everyday people.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ll map the terrain together: who&#39;s fighting what, where our efforts overlap, where the gaps are, and what a shared direction could look like. We&#39;ll move through energizing facilitated sessions, while leaving enough space to discover how we actually think and move together. The aim is to emerge with something real: a shared narrative built in the room, a clearer picture of the landscape and our opponents, and the beginnings of a civil society hub that can actually build power on AI &mdash; not just comment on it from the margins. Come be part of what holds. Come ready to contribute, listen, and sense into how we can meet one another in this precarious moment of human history.&nbsp;

Civil Society Summit on AI - Strategy Session

Alors que le vendredi pr&eacute;sente une perspective holistique sur l&#39;IA, le samedi est le moment o&ugrave; nous commen&ccedil;ons &agrave; construire quelque chose. Le deuxi&egrave;me jour du Sommet sur l&#39;IA est con&ccedil;u autour d&#39;une simple pr&eacute;misse : la r&eacute;ponse de la soci&eacute;t&eacute; civile &agrave; l&#39;IA ne peut pas rester isol&eacute;e. Les d&eacute;fenseurs de l&#39;environnement, les organisateurs du travail, les journalistes, les experts juridiques, les d&eacute;fenseurs des droits des autochtones, les chercheurs &mdash; nous travaillons tous dans diff&eacute;rents secteurs du m&ecirc;me probl&egrave;me, et l&#39;industrie de l&#39;IA compte sur nous pour ne pas nous trouver. Nous avons l&#39;intention de d&eacute;fier le r&eacute;cit domin&eacute; par la technologie de &laquo; l&#39;in&eacute;vitabilit&eacute; &raquo; en construisant une soci&eacute;t&eacute; civile qui reprend le pouvoir entre les mains des gens ordinaires. Nous cartographierons le terrain ensemble : qui lutte pour quoi, o&ugrave; nos efforts se chevauchent, o&ugrave; se situent les lacunes, et &agrave; quoi pourrait ressembler une direction partag&eacute;e. Nous passerons par des sessions anim&eacute;es et motivantes, tout en laissant suffisamment d&#39;espace pour d&eacute;couvrir comment nous pensons et agissons ensemble. L&#39;objectif est de sortir avec quelque chose de concret : un r&eacute;cit partag&eacute; construit dans la salle, une image plus claire du paysage et de nos opposants, et les d&eacute;buts d&#39;un hub de la soci&eacute;t&eacute; civile qui peut r&eacute;ellement construire du pouvoir sur l&#39;IA &mdash; pas seulement commenter depuis la marge. Venez faire partie de ce qui se tient. Venez pr&ecirc;ts &agrave; contribuer, &agrave; &eacute;couter, et &agrave; ressentir comment nous pouvons nous rencontrer en ce moment pr&eacute;caire de l&#39;histoire humaine.&nbsp;

Sommet de la société civile sur l'IA - Journée d'organisation

Civil Society Summit on the AI IndustryMapping impacts and creating a common response AI in 2026 Trillions of dollars have been invested in the &ldquo;Artificial intelligence&rdquo; industry globally and hundreds of billions are allocated to build out &ldquo;AI&rdquo; capacities in Canada from public as well as private funds. This massive concentration of wealth and power is fuelled by the promise that machine learning will become indispensable in much of our economic activity, potentially replacing millions of human workers.&nbsp; Even if the technology falls short of its promises, &ldquo;AI&rdquo; already represents a historic concentration of power as big tech scrambles to remake our workplaces, civic infrastructure, social lives, culture and even physical landscapes in the image of AI. Initiatives for regulating the technology are scarcely playing catch up while governments turn to a consultant class that advocates for minimal intervention or historic subsidies.&nbsp; Why a Civil Society Summit? The Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry is an opportunity to slow down and take a close, critical look at what is being decided and implemented on our behalf, without any meaningful public consultation. We&rsquo;ll hear from organizations confronting the &ldquo;upstream&rdquo; of AI: data centres&rsquo; water and energy use, climate impacts, mineral extraction, electronic waste, and violations of Indigenous rights. And we&rsquo;ll discuss the downstream effects: impacts on mental health, online sexual violence, workplace surveillance, deskilling workers, devaluing labour, collapse of social trust, intensification of fossil fuel production, automation of artistic and cultural practice, undermining Indigenous data sovereignty, racial profiling and algorithm-facilitated discrimination. Who will be there? We are convening Indigenous leaders, labour organizers, environmental advocates, journalists, cultural workers, researchers, lawyers, and community organizers from across Canada to map the full picture of AI&rsquo;s impacts and strategize collectively. By connecting upstream and downstream impacts of rapid adoption of machine learning technology through the communities and actors fighting back, we are hoping to build a powerful cross‑sector coalition capable of confronting the social, ecological, and democratic challenges posed by corporate Canada, AI investors and the agenda they are advancing through every level of government. What will we do? We&rsquo;ll share knowledge, highlight resistance, learn from global struggles, and begin shaping a unified approach to the AI agenda &mdash; one grounded in environmental and migrant justice, workers&rsquo; rights, Indigenous sovereignty, public accountability, and livable futures.&nbsp;

Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry

Sommet de la soci&eacute;t&eacute; civile sur l&#39;industrie de l&#39;IACartographie des impacts et cr&eacute;ation d&#39;une r&eacute;ponse commune IA en 2026 Des milliers de milliards de dollars ont &eacute;t&eacute; investis dans le secteur de l&#39;&laquo; intelligence artificielle &raquo; &agrave; l&#39;&eacute;chelle mondiale, et des centaines de milliards sont allou&eacute;s au d&eacute;veloppement des capacit&eacute;s &laquo; IA &raquo; au Canada, provenant de fonds publics et priv&eacute;s. Cette concentration massive de richesse et de pouvoir est aliment&eacute;e par la promesse que l&#39;apprentissage automatique deviendra indispensable dans une grande partie de notre activit&eacute; &eacute;conomique, rempla&ccedil;ant potentiellement des millions de travailleurs humains. M&ecirc;me si la technologie ne tient pas ses promesses, l&#39;IA repr&eacute;sente d&eacute;j&agrave; une concentration historique de pouvoir, les grandes entreprises technologiques s&#39;effor&ccedil;ant de remodeler nos lieux de travail, nos infrastructures civiques, notre vie sociale, notre culture et m&ecirc;me nos paysages physiques &agrave; l&#39;image de l&#39;IA. Les initiatives visant &agrave; r&eacute;glementer cette technologie peinent &agrave; rattraper leur retard, tandis que les gouvernements se tournent vers une classe de consultant&middot;e&middot;s qui pr&ocirc;ne une intervention minimale ou des subventions historiques. Pourquoi un sommet de la soci&eacute;t&eacute; civile ? Le Sommet de la soci&eacute;t&eacute; civile sur l&#39;industrie de l&rsquo;IA est l&#39;occasion de prendre du recul et d&#39;examiner de pr&egrave;s, d&#39;un &oelig;il critique, ce qui est d&eacute;cid&eacute; et mis en &oelig;uvre en notre nom, sans aucune consultation publique significative. Nous entendrons des organisations confront&eacute;es aux aspects en amont de l&#39;IA : consommation d&#39;eau et d&#39;&eacute;nergie des centres de donn&eacute;es, impacts climatiques, extraction mini&egrave;re, d&eacute;chets &eacute;lectroniques et violations des droits des peuples autochtones. Nous discuterons &eacute;galement des effets en aval : impacts sur la sant&eacute; mentale, harc&egrave;lement et violence sexuelle num&eacute;rique, surveillance sur le lieu de travail, d&eacute;qualification des travailleurs&middot;euses, d&eacute;valorisation du travail, effondrement de la confiance sociale, intensification de la production de combustibles fossiles, automatisation des pratiques artistiques et culturelles, atteinte &agrave; la souverainet&eacute; des donn&eacute;es autochtones, profilage racial et discrimination facilit&eacute;e par les algorithmes. Qui sera pr&eacute;sent ? Nous r&eacute;unissons des leaders autochtones, des syndicalistes, des d&eacute;fenseur&middot;e&middot;s de l&#39;environnement, des journalistes, des artistes, des chercheur&middot;e&middot;s, des avocat&middot;e&middot;s et des organisateurs&middot;trices communautaires de partout au Canada afin de dresser un tableau complet des r&eacute;percussions de l&#39;IA et d&#39;&eacute;laborer des strat&eacute;gies collectives. En reliant les impacts en amont et en aval de l&#39;adoption rapide des technologies d&#39;apprentissage automatique &agrave; travers les communaut&eacute;s et les acteurs&middot;trices qui s&#39;y opposent, nous esp&eacute;rons construire une puissante coalition intersectorielle capable de relever les d&eacute;fis sociaux, &eacute;cologiques et d&eacute;mocratiques pos&eacute;s par les entreprises canadiennes, les investisseurs&middot;ses dans l&#39;IA et le programme qu&#39;ils font avancer &agrave; tous les niveaux du gouvernement. Que ferons-nous ? Nous partagerons nos connaissances, mettrons en lumi&egrave;re les r&eacute;sistances, tirerons les le&ccedil;ons des luttes mondiales et commencerons &agrave; &eacute;laborer une approche unifi&eacute;e de l&#39;agenda de l&#39;IA, fond&eacute;e sur la justice environnementale et migratoire, les droits des travailleur&middot;e&middot;s, la souverainet&eacute; autochtone, la responsabilit&eacute; publique et un avenir viable.&nbsp;

Sommet de la société civile sur l'industrie de l’IA

"Many versus the Money" Summit

A conference and day-long teach-in, featuring Naomi Klein and Keeanga Yahmatta Taylor, along with Indigenous land defenders, movement organizers, labour activists, and other special guests.&nbsp; Why a &quot;Counter-Summit&quot;? Behind Canadians&#39; backs, our federal and provincial governments are planning to auction off what&#39;s left of our public infrastructure and natural resources to foreign investors, U.S. asset managers and other financial representatives of the global 1%.&nbsp; CEOs and executives from 100 of the world&#39;s largest foreign investors - including BlackRock, Blackstone, J.P. Morgan, sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and UAE - are gathering in Toronto on September 14-15, 2026 at the invitation of the federal government.&nbsp; On the menu? Airports. Toll highways. Water and power plants. Housing. Indigenous lands. Oil and mineral deposits. Tax breaks. Military contracts. Prime Minister Mark Carney&#39;s &quot;investment summit&quot; is in fact a privatization summit.&nbsp; In response, a broad coalition of organizations is hosting a &quot;Many versus the Money&quot; counter-summit.&nbsp; Conference: 5pm-7pm Saturday, September 12&nbsp; Convened by the Council of Canadians, 8th Fire Rising and World Beyond War, the &ldquo;Many versus the Money&rdquo; counter-summit will open with a keynote conference featuring journalist Naomi Klein (author of End Times Fascism), scholar and activist Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor (author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation), and special musical guest Carsie Blanton.&nbsp; Teach-in: 9:30am-6pm Sunday, September 13 This will be followed by a day-long teach-in, bringing together organizers, researchers and front-line activists from various movements (labour, Indigenous, tenants, climate, anti-war, migrant rights, Palestine solidarity, and others). Panels will look at the financial players behind the privatization drive; the role these corporate elites play in the worsening crises working-class people face; critical analysis of Carney&rsquo;s broader corporate agenda of war, extractivism and austerity; how the many can organize to defeat the money; and what an alternative &ldquo;peoples&rsquo; investment&rdquo; agenda would look like.&nbsp; A full program will be available soon at manyvsmoneysummit.ca.&nbsp; Protest: Monday, September 14 The summit will build momentum for protests against the privatization summit on Monday, September 14, as well as upcoming mobilizations like the March for Migrant Justice (September 20) and the Grassy Narrows River Run (September 23). More details to come.

Council of Canadians

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"Many versus the Money" Summit

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