Canada's digital defences lag as Ottawa charts path toward sovereignty

Ottawa announced a commitment to digital sovereignty earlier in 2026, and on The Big Story podcast Tuesday, host Maria Kestane explored what that means with David Shipley, CEO and co-founder of cybersecurity firm Beauceron Security.

The podcast episode discusses strategies for strengthening cyber security to improve Canada's digital defence and how Canadians can participate in the fight for digital sovereignty—a term community members are asking about with real uncertainty. In social discussion, residents have raised questions about what digital sovereignty means in practice: more data centres, AI expansion in government sectors, or modernizing hospital and school board technology.

Shipley's conversation arrives as Canada faces documented cyber threats. B.C. government networks experienced cyberattacks from state hackers that may have compromised personal information of B.C. Public Service employees, with Shannon Salter, head of the B.C. Public Service, providing updates on the investigation. The RCMP Cybercrime Investigative Team conducted Operation Endgame, dismantling criminal infrastructure in November 2025.

On the infrastructure side, TELUS and the Canadian federal government announced plans in May 2026 to develop a large-scale AI infrastructure cluster in British Columbia aimed at strengthening Canada's sovereign computing capabilities and expanding domestic AI data centre capacity.

The Big Story podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The episode was carried by CityNews Edmonton and CityNews Montreal as well.