Generation1.ca is pleased to be invited to the IAPP Canada Symposium 2026 as a media and community partner in Toronto, taking place May 4–7. Framed by IAPP as Canada’s premier digital responsibility conference, the symposium brings together leaders across privacy, AI governance and cybersecurity law at a moment when these issues are no longer adjacent to strategy, but central to it. We will be represented by our CEO, Arundati Dandapani at this esteemed gathering who will be sharing top stories, trends, podcast episodes and analyses from the days’ discussions.
For us, this is not a separate conversation from the rest of our work, but a continuation of it. Across Generation1.ca’s research, speaking, convening and workforce development efforts, we have been advancing a simple but urgent idea: the future will not be shaped by AI alone, but by the quality of the governance, literacy, inclusion and trust that surround it. Whether we are working on immigrant inclusion, synthetic data, research ethics, workforce readiness, or stronger bridges between talent and opportunity, the same questions keep resurfacing: Who gets counted? Who gets protected? Who gets prepared? And who gets left behind?
That is why the IAPP Canada Symposium feels so aligned with our broader platform. Its agenda reflects the convergence now defining the field, from digital sovereignty and cross-border data transfers to cybersecurity best practices and ethical AI oversight. This is exactly the kind of interdisciplinary terrain where the next era of leadership will be tested.
The IAPP AI Governance Profession Report 2025 makes clear that AI governance is no longer a niche function. Seventy-seven percent of organizations are already working on AI governance, rising to more than 85% among organizations already using AI. The report also found that 24% of respondents said finding qualified AI professionals was a significant challenge, while 98% of privacy and data governance professionals surveyed anticipated needing additional employees, with organizations expecting to task an average of 9.8 people with AI governance work over the next year. Even so, only 8% were actively recruiting at the time reflected in the report infographic.
These findings strongly reinforce something we have argued across our own platforms: AI governance is not simply a legal or technical specialization. It is a leadership issue, a workforce issue and an inclusion issue. Organizations do not just need tools. They need people who can connect policy to practice, risk to opportunity, and technical change to human consequences.
The IAPP data also shows that this work is increasingly cross-functional. Privacy and legal/compliance were each identified by 22% of respondents as the top functions with primary responsibility for AI governance, while responsibility is also expanding across security, IT and data governance teams. In other words, AI governance is not staying in one silo. It is becoming an operating reality across the organization.
That widening responsibility is also reflected in the economics of the field. In IAPP’s Salary and Jobs Report 2025–26, based on more than 1,600 respondents across over 60 countries, the global average total compensation across privacy, AI governance and cybersecurity roles was reported at $200,000. The report also found that professionals with added digital governance responsibilities earned 16% more, while AIGP-certified professionals earned 26% more than those without certifications. These findings mirror our own observations from the Global Industry Skills Study, where credentials, applied capability and cross-functional readiness continue to matter.
This is equally clear in our Immigrant Futures work. Our findings show that immigrant outcomes are shaped not only by qualifications or arrival characteristics, but by the broader conditions of inclusion around them. AI and tech readiness are associated with stronger stay intentions, while social exclusion and experiences of bias reduce long-term retention. Mentorship, networking and meaningful opportunity matter. The future of talent is not just about who arrives with skills. It is about whether systems are designed to recognize, support and retain those skills fairly.
That is why AI governance matters so much to us. It is not merely a compliance issue or a boardroom concern. It is deeply tied to who gets trusted, who gets access, who gets developed and who gets left out. The same governance gaps that create risk for organizations can also deepen inequity for globally skilled professionals, immigrants and others navigating systems that are still learning how to evaluate talent in an AI-shaped world.
For Generation1.ca, represented by our CEO at the IAPP Canada Symposium, attending this event is part of a much bigger commitment: ensuring that the future of AI governance is not only smart and strategic, but also socially grounded, opportunity-building and wide enough to include the people and communities too often treated as an afterthought.
