Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a neutral or purely technical domain; it is a socio-legal construct that reflects and reinforces the power structures within which it is developed. As critical scholarship has shown, AI systems inherit and amplify historical inequities, particularly racial biases embedded in data, design, and deployment processes.

In the Canadian context, the systemic marginalization of Black communities across sectors such as criminal justice, employment, and financial services is increasingly being reproduced through algorithmic technologies that lack transparency, accountability, and community oversight. Despite these realities, Black voices remain largely absent from the shaping of AI governance in Canada. This conference, Black Futures by Design: Advancing Racial Justice in Canada’s AI Regulation, aims to intervene in this exclusion by centering Black scholarship, activism, and community knowledge at the heart of AI policy deliberation.

Anchored in the traditions of intersectionality, critical race theory, and epistemic justice, the conference will provide a necessary forum for Black Canadians to articulate a vision for AI regulation that upholds equity, justice, and democratic participation. It reflects the core mission of the Law Commission of Canada’s Living Law, Pursuing Justice, Renewing Hope, and seeks to ensure that Black communities are not merely subjects of AI systems, but architects of a future where those systems serve all equitably.