"A DND spokesperson said the government never advertised the contract because it “inadvertently omitted” to post it publicly. Since other potential bidders were not aware of the contract, it was effectively awarded to Palantir directly" 🫠

Defence department to buy Palantir software for $7.4 million each year

Government says it ‘inadvertently omitted’ to announce contract with controversial American tech company

theijf.org

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 3w ago

‘Palantir’s year of lobbying had already tilted the tendering process in its favour. NHS officials spoke of their wish to create a “single source of truth” – one of the company’s own slogans.’ @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and @lucasamin.bsky.social in the next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

oh I can't wait to listen to this

Jeff Doctor@jeff.doctor · 4w ago

👀 www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/mac...

I guess southern ontario is now Europe?

Jeff Doctor@jeff.doctor · last mo.

this is legit lol "The pipeline could eventually allow for Alberta oil to be exported to Europe, said Smith." It begins in Alberta (landlocked) moves through Manitoba (who says no) and ends in Sarnia which is right beside the US in SW Ontario, nowhere near the Atlantic 🤡 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Data centers require vast amounts of energy and water and in a time when climate change is burning the planet how can you market that as something other than planet destroying?

Brett McKay@brettmckay.bsky.social · last mo.

www.desmog.com/2026/06/11/m...

shockedpikachu.gif www.desmog.com/2026/06/11/m...

Mark Carney Advisor Says AI Data Centres ‘Provide Markets’ For Gas

Boosting energy production is one of the top ‘public policy benefits to Canada’ of data centres, internal Privy Council document explains.

desmog.com

Jeff Doctor@jeff.doctor · 7mo ago

yet another example of "AI" data centres just being an excuse to serve Oil & Gas shareholders and capitalist asset managers while the entire Canadian political elite and corporate media conglomerates convince us that the future is in fact, slop

A new toolkit is out on data centre fights in Canada! It is very good! aicivilsociety.ca/ResistingAID... Read on for key info, tactics, and case studies, written by academics and activists in the trenches. #AI #Canada

“We can disagree and still be friends.” Yeah. About whether a hot dog is a sandwich. Not whether some people deserve rights.

if anything this just shows that the real purpose of Bill C-9 is about further entrenching who is and isn't worthy of being protected by the state www.aptnnews.ca/national-new...

Senate vote against residential school denialism bill sparks outrage

Assemblies representing First Nations across Canada are expressing “profound disappointment" over the vote against a proposed amendment.

aptnnews.ca

There is over a trillion dollars invested in AI, which is another way of saying that there is a colossal amount of money resources bent on making AI seem like an inevitable, benign technology whose incursion into every aspect of our life we should just accept because we “have to.”

Can we talk about how it is an absolute betrayal that Carney is shilling for genAI after everything that more than likely exacerbated the events that lead to losing our loved ones in a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge just 4 months ago?

cool cool cool

Stay Human@nabelew.bsky.social · 2mo ago

oh cool we’re already at “fully AI-generated videos about how AI steals Indigenous languages” now with bonus slop images of generically “Indigenous” women, and a “nobody’s talking about it” while referring to but not actually naming the specific Māori people who are VERY MUCH talking about it

"Cohere may not be working with Palantir, but... [i]t has inked contracts with defence firms such as Thales Canada and German submarine maker ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems—both of which are non-Canadian firms whose equipment is used by the Canadian Armed Forces."

Madison McLauchlan @madisonmcla.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Canada's AI champion Cohere says it's not working with controversial data firm Palantir, despite reports of a partnership. betakit.com/cohere-says-...

“Palantir is first of all a dehumanizing company. It is a terrifying company because of the amount of political and financial support it has.” Gift link:

Why are security experts worried about Canada’s secret Palantir contracts?

Hint: it has to do with data sovereignty.

readthepeak.com

Brandusescu...highlighted a deal from 2024 between Palantir and IT service provider Carahsoft. “That's a very boring contract that no one cares about, but that for me is very worrying because that's how it infiltrates in a subtle way.”

“I reject the idea that we have to be slaves to surveillance capitalism in order to participate in the modern economy” Wab Kinew in his announcement that Manitoba would not be continuing with the Île-des-Chênes data centre.

Carney has announced a new AI strategy to ramp up adoption of the tech-bro-touted technology in a way that he says “serves all Canadians.” But BIG questions are lingering about how this aggressive ramp up will play out in a world where data centres guzzle water and destroy the environment:

I would also like to say that most of the government's emphasis on First Nations and AI (as well as the leading AI institutes) is on education. I think it is paternalistic to imply that distrust of these systems stems from insufficient understanding of them.

NEW from @natashabulowski.bsky.social and myself www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/04/n...

Canada’s AI strategy includes no new protections for water or climate

A single box in the 49-page document is dedicated to the environmental impacts of AI. It acknowledges that AI data centres require a lot of energy and increase water usage, but does not propose any ne...

nationalobserver.com

Lots to digest here but one piece that sticks out is the proposed regulatory framework is mostly voluntary and opaque. Hinges on voluntary certification and selective safety partnerships & evaluations behind closed doors without clear public oversight mechanisms www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news...

Prime Minister Carney launches AI for All: Canada’s new national artificial intelligence strategy

Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, launched AI for All, Canada’s new national AI strategy. Over the next five years, this strategy will introduce new legislation, investments, and programs that e...

pm.gc.ca

This will impact the rights of probably every Indigenous person here, and yet despite all the talk about "reconciliation" and UNDRIP... crickets. They don't even bother with the token gestures anymore, just "adopt it or be left behind". Oh hey where have we heard that before...

we talked more about "digital sovereignty" here, the recordings are up if you want to hear more nuanced takes on "AI" than what you'll get on the news soundbites tonight aicivilsociety.ca/sched.html

Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry

May 22, 2026 — Montréal

aicivilsociety.ca

Lots to review, but one overarching philosophical reaction: Believing a technology is “inevitable” and that we should approach it with “humility”, while also crafting a $2.3B government plan to spur development, adoption and use of that technology, is a peculiar combination of views.

Daniel Munro@dkmunro.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The government’s AI strategy, originally targeted for release at the end of last year, will be formally unveiled Thursday morning. Here’s a preview. Gift link. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/7ff7d5d...

and on any major public platform if you dare to point out how fundamentally fucked this entire "AI revolution" is (lol) you'll be deemed a heretic, burned at the stake by the fires of the righteous who maintain the faith that "AI" will "save us all".

I am once again asking on whose land is all this "AI" infrastructure gonna be dependant on? ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en...

I found this enormously informative — a close reading of the encryption and metadata provisions, and implications of the Cloud Act agreement on the way. Thanks @cyn-k.bsky.social, @kate-robertson.bsky.social, and @digitalprivacy.ca!

Cynthia Khoo@cyn-k.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New joint publication by @citizenlab.ca + @cancivlib.bsky.social! In which @kate-ro.bsky.social & I join forces w/ Tamir @digitalprivacy.ca to explain the federal govt's many... "(Un)forced Errors: Analysis of Proposed Surveillance Law Expansion under Bill C-22, An Act respecting lawful access" 🧵1/x

In the strategy, First Nations are mentioned twice, once as a group vaguely consulted, then again as a group being served by health AI research. To be clear, all submissions made in the development of this strategy (not consultation) were analyzed by AI. www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news...

Prime Minister Carney launches AI for All: Canada’s new national artificial intelligence strategy

Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, launched AI for All, Canada’s new national AI strategy. Over the next five years, this strategy will introduce new legislation, investments, and programs that e...

pm.gc.ca

A selection of ads at the Ottawa International Airport featuring AI, mines, and weapons manufacturing.

I feel like David Lynch would have loved the Backrooms.

Agent Cooper Enters Twin Peaks' Red Room

Alt: Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks is walking through the Black Lodge, a space with white and black floors and curtain walls that lead to more rooms that look similar.

static.klipy.com

“As political scientist David B. MacDonald would later put it. Indeed, Indigenous peoples are the ones who have born the expense of the political compromise of “multiculturalism within a bilingual framework,” the ones who have been consistently excluded by it.”

ActiveHistory.ca@activehist.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Daniel R. Meister looks at the foundations of Canada’s framework of official languages and cultures in light of the recent controversy regarding the Governor General being insufficiently “officially bilingual."

Thinking about C-22 in combination with a new article from The Toronto Star about the Department of National Defence quietly entering a $3.7-million contract with Palantir last year. The federal government also gave $240 million to Cohere, which is also quietly working with Palantir.

Resign, Carney. ⚜️@lalegault.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Let’s learn more about Palantir who helped write Bill C-22 for Carney’s government. Via the Financial Times. #cdnpoli