By Andre Duttmann
Canada has been talking about digital sovereignty for quite some time now. When we think about cloud, AI, Cybersecurity and Telecom we tend to have these discussions.
What we don't talk about as much are the Operating Systems that run on the computers we use in our government institutions.
There is a new study out of Canada that wants to change that.
Joshua M. Pearce from Western University believes Canada can do better. He put together a paper that discusses if Canada should develop our own National Linux Distribution. His study goes into detail on how we can take less reliance on third party operating systems that are not made in Canada.
Not only does his study claim that we could save hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years. But we could also increase our Digital Sovereignty by doing so.
Can we really call ourselves digitally sovereign when we rely so heavily on Operating Systems we don't control?
The Operating System
Digital Sovereignty is something many countries want to achieve. Whether that be storing your information on Canadian soil. Or owning your infrastructure. Or controlling what information can leave your borders.
While all of these things are good to know about. Your Operating System is going to dictate many of these factors.
As of right now Canada uses many third party operating systems on it's computers. Most of them are run by foreign companies.
Now this doesn't mean that your computer isn't safe or suitable for public usage. There are many pros to using commercial operating systems.
It just opens the door to some questions that need to be asked.
How much control do we have over our own infrastructure? How long can we afford to keep using these products? What happens if the company decides to stop selling us these products?
If your company relies on one product that you cant easily switch from you are at the mercy of your vendors. This is called Vendor Lock-In.
Vendor Lock-In is something that can effect any company. But if your Government relies on it you start to ask some bigger questions.
Developing A National Linux Distribution
Pearce's paper isn't saying we need to develop a new Operating System from scratch.
He actually suggests we base our distribution off of Debian. Which is an established open source Operating System.
Debian has a wide variety of packages to choose from. It has a large following and team of developers that work to keep it updated and secure.
By developing a National Linux Distribution we could start to tailor our Operating System to fit the needs of our public sector.
We could gain more control over how our systems are updated and maintained.
We wouldn't have to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world either.
Open Source allows us to build off of each others work. We could learn from other countries that have developed there own Linux Distributions and help them improve on there's.
Having Digital Sovereignty doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself.
You Just Need To Have The Ability To Do So.
What Could Canada Save?
As mentioned earlier we could save between C$350 Million to C$965 Million over the next 10 Years. (Discounted Present Value).
With an estimated start up cost of C$23 Million to C$43 Million over a span of 2 years.
While these numbers are impressive. They shouldn't be taken as fact.
They are a predicted value based on an equation and other countries that have done similar things. We aren't switching Operating Systems for the Government of Canada right now.
Switching Operating Systems can be much more than just stopping paying for licenses.
There are many costs that need to be considered when switching to a new Operating System.
You need to know what applications and hardware you can migrate to. What applications and hardware you'll have to keep using the old system for. You'll need to train your employees. Learn about the new system and how to manage it. Create new Security Policies. Maintain legacy applications and more.
Depending on the environment you're working in it could be very easy or very difficult to migrate.
There are many variables to consider when thinking about how much you could save. You need to look at the full life cycle of switching Operating Systems and see what it costs you.
That being said we could save some serious money by implementing open source into our daily lives.
We Aren't The Only Country Doing This
Many Countries have already started using Linux and open source software on their Computers.
France has been transitioning it's Gendarmerie to Linux over the last few years. With their GendBuntu project they've come a long way.
Germany has done this on many levels as well. From there well known Linux migration in Munich called LiMux. To establishing there Centre for Digital Sovereignty.
Countries such as India and South Korea have also developed Linux Distributions for their citizens.
So we know it can be done. But what we also know is that there are many hurdles to get past when switching Operating Systems.
Political will. Compatibility with applications. Educating your users and more. Some projects have had great success and others have struggled to implement Linux.
Whatever route Canada takes we need to understand that it will take time. And effort to properly implement Linux into our daily lives.
Could We Develop Our Own Organization?
Another interesting idea that came from Pearces Study was the idea of developing a Free and Open Systems Foundation here in Canada.
Similar to Germany's ZenDis we could develop our own organization that can help grow open source within Canada.
We could provide better guidance on what standards to follow. How to procure open source products and more.
We could even help each other out by working together on open source projects.
There would need to be proper leadership in place for an organization like this. We would want to make sure that we were moving in the right direction.
Not just switching from one vendor to another.
We want to give Canada more options.
Developing Our Workforce
Something else we need to think about is our Workforce.
If we are going to start implementing Linux into our lives we are going to need people who know how to do that.
Linux admins. DevOps. Security Analysts. Net Engineers. Cloud Engineers. Containers. Developers. The list goes on.
We have many of these skill sets in Canada already. But we would need to focus on growing these skills within our public sector.
There are many Universities and Colleges that can help us with this. Along with Companies that specialize in these fields. We could also leverage our Linux User Groups to help us.
This is something that the Linux Association of Canada can help with.
By educating the public about Linux and Open Source we can start to build these skills within Canada.
No matter what path we take to gain Digital Sovereignty we will need to grow our talent pool.
If we want to be able to control our own destiny we need to know how to fix what we break.
Canada is Already Using Open Source
The Government of Canada has released a Whitepaper on Open First. Which lists many of the pros of using Open Source software.
From reducing vendor lock-in. To increasing business in Canada. There are many benefits that we can take advantage of by using open source.
Of course there are negatives as well. You will still need to spend money on Open Source. Maintaining the software. Training your users and supporting your products.
But there are many things we can do to help grow our Open Source footprint.
Maybe we can start using Open Source on some of our applications that we use in our day to day lives. Then publish our findings to the public.
See how much we can save and what kind of impact it can have.
Do We Need Every Computer Running Linux?
Probably not.
If we want to achieve Digital Sovereignty we shouldn't think about replacing every Operating System we have.
We need to think about what Operating Systems we can implement Linux on. And what Operating Systems we may need to stay on.
There are many reasons why we may want to stay on certain Operating Systems. But if we can give the option to switch. We should allow that to happen.
By allowing Linux to be used on more of our systems we can start to learn about it. And see if it fits our needs.
We can then make more informed decisions when it comes to switching Operating Systems.
Linux Isn't Going To Replace Everything
But we should be able to choose what Operating System we want to use.
I think this is a great topic to discuss. And one that I hope we continue to learn about.
There are many ways we can improve our Digital Sovereignty here in Canada. Developing our own National Linux Distribution is just one of them.
By increasing our knowledge of Open Source we can continue to learn about new technologies. And help our country become more self reliant.
The Linux Association of Canada will continue to spread awareness about Linux and Open Source.
Helping to educate others about what they can do with these technologies.
If Canada decides to go down the path of developing our own National Linux Distribution we will be here to support that decision.
Sources and Further Reading
Joshua M. Pearce — Western University (2026)
Open Source Digital Sovereignty: The Case for a Canadian National Linux Distribution
https://ssrn.com/abstract=7585538
Joshua M. Pearce — The Conversation (October 15, 2026)
Canada could save millions by developing its own operating system instead of relying on Microsoft Windows
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-canada-millions-microsoft-windows.html
Government of Canada — Open First Whitepaper
Open Source Software Use
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