A Progressive Vision for AI & Digital Sovereignty?

The global economy is overly dependent on U.S. tech giants for digital infrastructure, data, and artificial intelligence. U.S. laws and corporate dominance threaten external control over digital systems, putting sovereignty, privacy, and democracy at risk. Democracies must be free from foreign influence and of profit at the expense of livelihoods. Meanwhile, AI as a tool for the profit of Big Tech companies is used to threaten jobs, undermine public education, healthcare, and public services, and erodes public trust. How do we make digital sovereignty and public, democratically controlled AI for the public good into real nation-building initiatives? Leading to the 2026 Panamerican Congress in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Broadbent Institute and Rumbo Colectivo (Chile) host this in-person public event on ‘A Progressive Vision for AI & Digital Sovereignty,’ taking place Thursday, July 9th from 6pm – 8pm EDT at Toronto Metropolitan University (doors open 5pm). This discussion aims to help inform parliamentarians, policy thinkers, organizers, and civil society on what a progressive vision for AI and digital sovereignty ought to look like, in Canada and around the world. Speakers: Avi Lewis is a veteran journalist, educator and activist who brings 35 years of movement-building experience to his leadership of Canada’s NDP, combining grassroots organizing with national media reach to advance working-class politics across Canada. Aisén Etcheverry is a lawyer, politician, and a member of the Broad Front (Chile). Under the government of Chile’s President Gabriel Boric, she was Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation from 2023 to 2025, and acting-Minister General Secretary of the Government from 2024 to 2025. Nancy Okail is President and CEO of the Center for International Policy. Dr. Okail is a leading scholar, policy analyst, and advocate with more than 25 years of experience working on issues of human rights, democracy, and security in the Middle East and North Africa region. Sigrid Segura is a Broad Front (Costa Rica) Deputy for Alajuela in the Legislative Assembly. She is the party’s critic for digital sovereignty and artificial intelligence.