Canadian Shield Institute maps a day without US tech. Vass Bednar on minimum viable sovereignty, federal policy, and what independence actually requires.
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A new infographic from the Canadian Shield Institute maps out a hypothetical day without American technology. The picture is stark.
“When we talk about sovereignty, we're talking about strategic capacity,” said Vass Bednar, the institute's managing director. “Can you govern yourself with the tools that you have?”
Bednar joined the BetaKit podcast this week to unpack what she calls “minimum viable sovereignty” for Canadian tech. The core finding from the institute's work: Canada lacks a complete sovereign tech stack. There are viable domestic alternatives in some areas, but the country cannot fully replace American infrastructure across the board.
The question, Bednar said, is not whether Canada can clone every US app or service. The harder question is what level of independence is actually necessary. “How sovereign is sovereign enough?” she asked.
Recent federal policy moves have taken an “elbows up” posture on technology sovereignty. Bednar said those initiatives need a clear framework for evaluation. Not every gap needs to be filled. Some dependencies are acceptable; others create strategic risk.
BetaKit's 2026 “Most Ambitious” issue, which profiles nearly 100 Canadian innovators, dedicates a full section to companies working on those gaps. The issue is presented by Uber Canada, DMZ, and National Bank of Canada. Bednar's op-ed in that section argues that sovereignty is not an all-or-nothing proposition.
“In an ever more interconnected digital world,” Bednar said, “what does sovereignty really mean for Canadians?”
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