CIRA survey: Canadians prioritise data trust over digital convenience

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority has published its 2026 Canadian Internet Trends Report, revealing a population increasingly willing to trade digital convenience for perceived privacy and data sovereignty. The national survey of 2,000 internet users, conducted by The Strategic Counsel in March, found that nearly three-quarters of respondents had taken concrete steps to protect their personal data in the past year.

Specific protective actions recorded include 41 per cent declining an app permission request, 34 per cent deleting an app outright, and 22 per cent adopting a VPN. The figures suggest that privacy-conscious behaviour, once the preserve of security professionals, has migrated into mainstream consumer decision-making.

AI adoption races ahead of trust

Generative AI adoption has accelerated sharply: 46 per cent of Canadians used a generative AI tool in the past year, compared with 16 per cent in 2024, a near-tripling in twelve months. Yet the sentiment data tells a more cautious story. Fifty-six per cent of respondents said they are concerned about generative AI, against only 26 per cent who expressed excitement. More than half reported encountering AI-generated fake content in the past year, and while 49 per cent said they always or often verify AI-generated responses against a second source, only 19 per cent said they do so consistently.

Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA, drew a pointed conclusion for organisations operating in the Canadian market. "People are paying closer attention to what information they share, which permissions they grant and whether a digital service has earned their trust," he said. "Privacy protections, transparency and meaningful choice can no longer be treated as optional."

Data residency emerged as a specific concern: 67 per cent said it is important that their personal data be stored on servers located in Canada. That preference extends to e-commerce, where 73 per cent of respondents said they are comfortable purchasing from a Canadian retail website, compared with only 42 per cent for a US retailer. Sixty-five per cent said they actively prefer Canadian retailers when given the choice.

Market and regulatory context

The findings arrive at a moment when digital sovereignty is an active policy debate across G7 governments. Canada's federal privacy reform, Bill C-27 and its proposed Consumer Privacy Protection Act, has been working through Parliament for several years; the data-residency sentiment documented in CIRA's survey provides public-opinion backing for stricter localisation requirements should the legislation advance. The EU's GDPR and, more recently, the EU AI Act have already normalised data-location obligations for European enterprises, and Canadian regulators have studied both frameworks closely.

For enterprise technology vendors and cloud providers operating in Canada, the survey's data-residency numbers carry commercial weight. Hyperscalers and software-as-a-service vendors with Canadian cloud regions, including AWS Canada, Microsoft Azure Canada and Google Cloud's Montreal facility, have long marketed local infrastructure as a compliance and trust differentiator. A measurable consumer preference for domestic data storage strengthens that positioning and raises the competitive bar for vendors without Canadian point-of-presence.

Connectivity affordability and resilience

The report also flags structural stress in Canada's connectivity market. Thirty-one per cent of respondents said home internet and mobile costs remain unaffordable, and 42 per cent reported cutting other household spending to maintain connectivity. Twenty-one per cent experienced a major home internet outage in 2025, with nearly half falling back on mobile hotspots as a workaround.

The resilience finding is particularly relevant for enterprise continuity planning and last-mile infrastructure investment. Canada's telecoms regulator, the CRTC, has made broadband affordability and redundancy central to its current regulatory priorities, and the consumer data in CIRA's report may feature in upcoming submissions.

CIRA manages the .CA domain on behalf of the Canadian government and publishes the Internet Trends Report annually. The full survey results are available on the CIRA website.