Bold Ideas

The purpose of this article is to inspire and challenge Canada’s public sector to lead a national transformation by building a Societal GIS—a federated, public sector-led system that connects data across jurisdictions to align decisions, strengthen trust, and enable the government to meet its greatest challenges.

What if Canada treated data like we treat clean water or public parks—something to be protected, shared, and governed for the benefit of all? A National Data Trust could be the answer. In an age where private companies and foreign powers are racing to control information, this bold idea explores how Canada can steward its most critical data—on land, health, climate, and infrastructure—with transparency, ethics, and collective ownership. Could this be the key to unlocking inno