Canada has had many conversations about digital sovereignty recently. We want Canadian data centres, AI, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and to reduce our reliance on other countries for our technology.

These are all good topics that we need to discuss more.

There is one area that I think needs to be discussed more than most.

Who is going to build and support these technologies?

We can spend billions of dollars building new technology in Canada, have Canadian data centres, create legislation to keep Canadian data in Canada, and have government institutions move to open-source technology.

None of that will allow us to be technologically independent if we do not have the skills to support that technology.

This could be one of Canada's biggest issues when it comes to digital sovereignty.

We Need to Know More Than Just the Technology

When we think about digital sovereignty, we tend to think about the technology we use.

Where is our data stored? Who owns our data centres? What companies are we buying our software from? Do we have any control over our technology?

These are all valid questions to ask.

Having access to the technology does not mean we can control it.

Take, for example, a government institution that decides to move some of its technology to Linux and open-source solutions.

That may seem like a good thing for the organization to do. They have more control over their technology and can change what they want.

But who will install those technologies? Who will support them? Who will fix them when something goes wrong?

If that organization is relying on outside organizations to support that technology, how independent are they?

Open source allows us to view and change software under its licence.

But what good is that if we don't know how to do those things?

We cannot buy our way to being technologically independent.

Skills Are Needed to Support Our Technology

Linux and open-source technology are used in many areas of technology today.

Cloud, web servers, network devices, science, security, development, and more.

When we think about the skills we need in Canada to support our technology, we think about AI, developers, and security.

We don't think about the open-source technologies that these fields use.

Someone who works in security will benefit from knowing about Linux and networking. Someone who works in cloud will need to know about operating systems, containers, and automation. Developers are using more open-source technologies than ever.

Someone who supports our technology needs to know more than just how to follow the instructions provided by the vendor.

They need to know how the technology works.

I am not saying that everyone who works with technology should know how to write the Linux kernel or know all the open-source projects out there.

But we need to start thinking about the skills that will allow us to be independent when it comes to technology.

We also need to know the difference between someone who knows how to use open-source technology and someone who can help develop it.

Knowing how to install Linux is one thing. Knowing how to troubleshoot it, look at the code, and help develop it is another.

All of these skills will be needed in Canada to be independent when it comes to technology.

Schools Can Help Teach These Skills

We have many great schools across Canada that teach students about technology.

We also have teachers, researchers, and developers who know about Linux and open source.

We just need to start helping students learn more about open-source technologies.

Students can learn about open source by contributing to projects and learning about what it takes to maintain software that others are using.

This can start as young as high school.

Learning how to install Linux on an old computer can open up a world of knowledge.

Learning how to set up a server or network can help students in colleges or polytechnics.

Contributing to an open-source project can help university students learn more about a topic they are studying.

We should not just limit this to computer science students either.

Many fields can benefit from learning about open-source technologies.

The more we can help students learn about these technologies and give them the opportunity to work with them, the better prepared they will be when they enter the workforce.

Open Source Can Help Students Learn

Another benefit of open source is that you don't have to learn everything on your own.

You can learn from others who have been doing it for years. Students can look at code, ask questions, and help find bugs in software.

There are many ways that students can learn about open source and help contribute to projects.

You don't have to know how to code to contribute to open source.

You can help test software, translate documentation, help make software more accessible, and help find security vulnerabilities.

These are all skills that students can learn and use when they enter the workforce.

If we want to be able to support and develop our own technology in Canada, we need to teach our students about these skills.

Give Our Youth Opportunities

Another thing we need to do is give our youth the opportunity to use these skills.

We cannot teach our students about these skills if we do not have jobs available for them to use those skills.

Businesses, schools, and government can all help provide these opportunities to our youth.

We also need to encourage Canadian businesses to help develop the open-source technologies that they use.

By helping develop these technologies, we can help ensure that they continue to improve and help our youth learn about them.

Digital sovereignty does not mean we need to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world when it comes to open source.

We need to help build the skills in Canada that will allow us to be a part of the open-source community.

Help Build Our Future

Here at the Linux Association of Canada, we feel that we need to help build our next generation of Linux and open-source talent.

That is why we have created the Student Innovation Challenge 2027, to be held during Open Source Week 2027.

We want to encourage students and new graduates to learn about Linux and open-source technologies.

We have opened up the challenge to students in high school, college/polytechnic, university, and new graduates.

We want to encourage as many students as possible to learn about these technologies.

We are not looking for the most innovative project. We just want students to learn and have fun while working with open-source technologies.

We want our youth to know that they can do more than just use technology.

They can learn about it and help improve it.

The Student Innovation Challenge is just one of many things that we can do to help build our next generation of open-source talent.

Schools, businesses, and government can all help us teach our youth about these skills and help them become the next generation of Linux and open-source talent.

Help Canada Be Sovereign

By learning about these skills, we can help Canada become more sovereign when it comes to our technology.

We can look at the companies we are buying our technology from and help support Canadian businesses that provide these technologies.

Just having a data centre in Canada or installing Linux will not make us sovereign when it comes to our technology.

We need to know how to support and improve that technology if we want to be sovereign.

By teaching our students about these skills, we can help Canada become more sovereign when it comes to technology.

We need to help our youth learn about these skills and give them the opportunity to use them in the workforce.