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Helpful Places

Government of Canada – DTPR AI Register

AI Assistant for Government of Canada Employees

Inform

What it collects that can identify you

About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Prompts and queries entered by Government of Canada employees during chat sessions — including the text of questions asked, tasks requested, and conversation history within a session.
Run by
Shared Services Canada (SSC)
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

Inform

CANChat is a generative AI chatbot available to Government of Canada employees for general-purpose tasks such as drafting, summarizing, and answering questions. It runs on a secure, government-controlled infrastructure that keeps data within Canada and favours Canadian AI solutions. Users should be aware that outputs are generated by a large language model and may require human review before being used in official work.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Prompts and queries entered by Government of Canada employees during chat sessions — including the text of questions asked, tasks requested, and conversation history within a session.

Processing

Language Models
  • CANChat uses large language models (LLMs) for generative AI inference. The system is structured to enable secure and sovereign LLM inference as an enterprise service, with a preference for made-in-Canada solutions. The specific model(s) deployed are not named in the public register.

What it does

Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • CANChat generates new text in response to employee prompts — drafting content, answering questions, and summarizing information. Outputs are advisory; employees decide whether and how to use the generated content in their work.
Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • CANChat uses semantic understanding to interpret employee queries, match intent, and retrieve or synthesize relevant information from its underlying large language model context. This underpins its ability to hold coherent multi-turn conversations.

Outputs

Generated content
Anonymized data
  • Text responses generated by the LLM in reply to employee prompts — including drafted documents, summaries, answers to questions, and other AI-authored content. Outputs do not inherently identify individuals but may reflect or reference personal information present in the original prompt.

Run by

Shared Services Canada (SSC)
  • Shared Services Canada is the federal department responsible for deploying and operating CANChat as an enterprise generative AI service for Government of Canada employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — CANChat (2526-SSC-SPC-001)

Built by

Open WebUI
  • Open WebUI is the open-source vendor supplying the front-end interface technology used by CANChat to deliver the chatbot experience to Government of Canada employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — CANChat (2526-SSC-SPC-001)

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Not available to me
  • CANChat is deployed as an internal Government of Canada enterprise service. Members of the public do not have access to the system or to any data it produces. Access is limited to GC employees.
Available to the accountable organization
  • Shared Services Canada, as the deploying department and accountable organization, has access to operational data and system outputs generated through the CANChat service.

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 Be Informed of AI UseGovernment of Canada employees using CANChat are informed that they are interacting with a generative AI system. The chatbot interface makes clear that responses are AI-generated. Employees should consult their departmental policies for further information about AI disclosure obligations.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyCANChat is listed on the Government of Canada's public AI register, providing general information about the system's purpose, capabilities, and the responsible department. Employees and the public can consult the register at open.canada.ca for information about how the system operates.

Risks and safeguards

  • Psychological harmEmployees may over-rely on AI-generated outputs without critical review, leading to errors in official work or diminished professional judgment.Safeguard: CANChat is positioned as a general-purpose tool requiring human oversight; employees retain decision-making authority over how outputs are used in official contexts. Departmental AI use policies provide additional guardrails.
  • Reputational harmLLM outputs may contain hallucinations or factual errors that, if used uncritically in official communications, could damage the credibility of the Government of Canada.Safeguard: The system is a pilot structured to enable safe, secure use; employees are expected to review and validate all AI-generated content before official use. The secure, sovereign infrastructure limits exposure to external data leakage.