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BLOGS
When we talk about a business leader with breakthrough solutions and who inspires others with his unwavering commitment to his field, one name that comes to mind is Keith Jansa, Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Governance Council (DGC).
Keith Jansa is a creative, active, and enthusiastic professional with over 15 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. He is a specialist in the creation and strategic application of standards. He works with senior leaders from across Canada and as CEO, works to jointly address and action digital governance opportunities and challenges to safeguard Canadians participating in the digital economy, and strengthen Canada’s position in an increasingly digital world. His unparalleled acumen in devising strategies for responsible data and digital governance has earned DGC the distinction as preeminent technology leadership council globally.
Keith’s Professional and Personal Life: At a Glance
Keith is a charismatic and dynamic leader with razor-sharp focus on meeting strategic objectives. He is a provincially appointed member of the Ontario Health Data Council and Chair of its strategic working group on Data Governance and Data Stewardship. Keith also serves as a member of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s Strategic Advisory Council and Ontario’s Trustworthy AI Framework Working Group. He frequently is called to testify as an expert before parliamentary and senate committees, contributing to government reports and legislative proposals to enhance trust and confidence in the digital economy. Keith graduated with honors from the University of Ottawa with a degree in health sciences. Keith is happily married to Kayla, his college sweetheart, and is the loving father of three small children.
Revolutionary Changes by the Digital Governance Council
Accreditation
Keith led the development of national standards to enhance Canada’s digital economy by providing executive leadership in the design and successful accreditation of the organization’s standards-setting process.
Significance: Lawmaking and regulation lag in the development of new technologies. Standards define acceptable practices, and technical specifications, and occasionally modernize cumbersome regulations. Without standards, there would be no way to measure success, no way to ensure product safety, no way to integrate worldwide markets with a single technology, and most definitely no way to allow for healthy competition.
Specifics: Through their agile, open-by-default, consensus-based approach, DGC has accelerated the standards-setting process in Canada to match the speed of innovation and advancement in ICT, developing new standards in months, not years, and making them readily available at no cost to organizations and individuals. Comprised of hundreds of thought leaders and experts cutting across various economic sectors from coast to coast, the hard work of their technical committees led to the publication and development of critical standards for data governance, AI ethics, digital identity, cybersecurity, and more.
Exporting Canadian expertise
As a trailblazing champion, Keith paved the way for the DGC Digital Governance Standards Institute (DGSI) to attain esteemed recognition from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), enabling the submission of its standards and specifications for review and acknowledgement as global standards. Leading digital nations, including Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ukraine, helped them attain this important goal.
Significance: DGC-DGSI is now empowered to set the agenda and lean in on having international standards serve Canada’s interests, Canadian innovation, best practices, and knowledge as a result of this international recognition. This is a game-changer for Canada in terms of accelerating the adoption of innovations and know-how produced in this country around the world. Only a small number of organizations have achieved this high status worldwide, including DGC-DGSI.
Specifics: This process guarantees that we hold the pen and are fully engaged in the international approval process for how emerging digital technologies are governed globally. The process also results in the DGSI standards carrying both the ISO and IEC logos.
Protecting Children’s Rights
Bill S-210, An Act to Restrict Young Persons’ Online Access to Sexually Explicit Material, has swiftly passed its third reading in the Senate in April 2023, a year after Keith Jansa was humbled to testify before the Senate of Canada Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Senator Miville-Dechene proposed an amendment to the Bill based on his testimony during a clause-by-clause review in committee before the third reading in the Senate.
Significance: By establishing adequate protections for the use of age verification technologies with children, the Bill now protects children’s rights. In doing so, it also supports Canada’s commitment to upholding the rights of children under the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child and the OECD Recommendations on Children in the Digital Environment.
Specifics: Before the Governor-in-Council orders organizations that distribute sexually explicit content online to use an age verification method, the method must be dependable, respect user privacy and protect their personal information, collect and use that information only for age verification purposes, destroy any personal information collected for that purpose after the verification is finished, and adhere to best practices in the fields of age verification and privacy protection.
Addressing the Major Industry Hurdles
With increasing reliance on digital systems and data in nearly every aspect of modern life, the need for strong digital governance has never been greater. These problems cannot be solved by one organization alone. It will take coordinated efforts from all sectors of the economy to win the public’s faith in digital technologies. The work of DGC is essential for this reason. DGC maintains its reputation as a dependable forum for mobilizing people around shared digital agendas. This is reflected in membership growth. And the members’ contributions continue to be a key factor in why their work together is so effective at defending the interests of all Canadians.
Delivering Digital Governance in Canada’s Digital Economy
DGC works to provide Canadians with confidence in the responsible design, architecture, and management of digital technologies. It convenes senior leaders from diverse sectors to engage in strategic discussions and the exchange of best practices, collaborates on proving out new digital technologies, designs global technology governance standards through the DGSI, and certifies organizations in the responsible use of digital technologies.
The work of the DGC DGSI continues to advance standards that lessen risk for Canadians and Canadian organizations adopting and utilizing breakthrough digital technologies in today’s digital economy in collaboration with specialists, national and international partners, and the general public. DGSI is an independent division of DGC.
DGSI is Canada’s only accredited standards development organization solely focused on digital technology governance.
The Digital Governance Council’s Sustainable IT Pledge
Leading Canadian organizations have made a commitment to assist in reducing the negative environmental effects of growing internet and technology use, which already produces more greenhouse gases than the aviation sector and is on track to account for 8% of emissions by 2025. With the Sustainable IT Pledge, public and private sector organizations in Canada have for the first time agreed to reduce emissions associated with their IT operations. The signatories have pledged to:
- Take steps to address emissions from their IT operations by, for instance, optimizing their systems to reduce data processing volumes, using cloud-based services where possible, and extending the service life of devices by refurbishing existing assets instead of buying replacements.
- Set realistic emissions goals for their IT operations and publicly report your success.
- Establish strict sustainability criteria for vendors while assisting Canada’s cleantech sector.
- Facilitate the adoption of sustainable IT practices and take into account any areas where national sustainable IT standards could be useful.
Words of Wisdom
Never undervalue standards. Underestimating standards can reduce market access, stifle innovation, raise risks, create unnecessary harms, and undermine public confidence. By strategically developing and applying standards, we can shape the blueprint for our digital future, embedding our core values, safeguarding the well-being of citizens, and fostering the growth of our domestic innovators.
