AI for All: A Santis Health Response to Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy

Canada’s new national AI strategy, AI for All, names health and life sciences as its first priority sector, committing $200 million to an AI Missions Program, $100 million to a new Health Sector Data Space with the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), and $100 million to expand the VITAL health data platform out of St. Michael’s Hospital. In this thought piece, Santis Health assesses what the federal strategy gets right for health care and where it falls short.

Drawing on the Santis-Nanos Canadian Health Perspective survey — in which 91% of Canadians agreed the health care system must change and two-thirds said they are open to AI in health care — the paper argues that the strategy is a strong start but must go further and faster. It identifies three critical gaps: a health system that still relies on paper and fax and lacks the interoperability and digital foundations to adopt AI; national health data platforms whose value is locked away from innovators without clear data access rules; and a promise of AI regulation that gives industry no real regulatory clarity on timing, scope, or who it applies to.

Santis offers three actionable recommendations: strengthen the technical foundation for AI in health care; leverage Canada’s health data assets by opening platforms to industry collaborators under clear “rules of the road”; and create regulatory clarity through draft legislation or a white paper.

The window for interest-holders — innovators, health care providers, data custodians, and policy stakeholders — to shape Canada’s approach to AI in health care, access emerging funding, and influence data governance is open now.