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AI Assistant for Government Policy Research

Research & Development · Inform

What it collects that can identify you

About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Natural-language queries submitted by GC employees to the system at runtime.

Also collects operational data, which is anonymized data.

Run by
Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization
Your copy
You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

Research & DevelopmentInform

This tool allows Government of Canada employees at Indigenous Services Canada to query government policy documents and open data using generative AI. It is intended to support internal policy research and is not used to make decisions about individuals or members of the public. Users should be aware that generative AI can produce inaccurate responses, and outputs should be verified against authoritative sources.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Government of Canada policy documents and open data that serve as the knowledge base queried by the system.
About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Natural-language queries submitted by GC employees to the system at runtime.

Processing

Language Models
  • Large language model (generative AI) used to interpret natural-language queries and synthesize responses drawn from GoC policy and open data sources.
Search & Retrieval
  • Retrieval component finds relevant sections of GoC policy documents and open datasets to ground generative AI responses.

What it does

Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • Generative AI produces text responses to policy and data queries; GC employees review and decide how to use the output in their work.
Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • The system understands and retrieves relevant policy documents and open data in response to natural-language queries from employees.

Outputs

Generated content
Anonymized data
  • AI-generated text responses summarizing or synthesizing relevant GoC policy and open data in reply to employee queries.

Run by

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)
  • Indigenous Services Canada is the federal government department that deploys and operates this generative AI policy research tool for use by GC employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — Policy Research Assistant

Built by

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • Query logs and outputs are available to Indigenous Services Canada for monitoring and quality assurance purposes.
Not available to me
  • This system is used exclusively by internal GC employees; members of the public do not have access to queries, outputs, or any data produced by the system.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data
Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data
Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data
The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides
This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes
This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous
This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyGC employees using this tool are informed that it is powered by generative AI and that outputs may be inaccurate. The system is listed on the Government of Canada's public AI register, making its existence and purpose publicly known.
  • Right to Be Informed of AI UseUsers of this system are GC employees who are informed that they are interacting with a generative AI tool. The system's existence is publicly disclosed through the Government of Canada AI register.

Risks and safeguards

  • Psychological harmGenerative AI may produce inaccurate, hallucinated, or misleading policy information, potentially leading employees to act on incorrect guidance.Safeguard: The system is positioned as a research aid, not an authoritative source; employees are expected to verify outputs against official policy documents before acting on them.
  • Societal & cultural harmQuerying GoC policy related to Indigenous peoples using a general-purpose generative AI tool risks reproducing biases, omissions, or misrepresentations present in underlying training data, potentially affecting policy advice touching Indigenous communities.Safeguard: Limited to internal research use by trained GC employees; outputs are advisory only and do not directly affect individuals or communities.