As global governments take concrete steps to reduce reliance on foreign-controlled cloud and software platforms — including France’s decision to phase out U.S. collaboration tools in the public sector and Canada’s push for sovereign cloud infrastructure — a Vancouver-based AI company is building what it calls the crucial layer in Canada’s AI sovereignty strategy, an end-to-end Canadian agentic development and deployment platform.
Railtown AI Technologies, backed by BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, is building what it describes as Canada’s first domestically owned agentic AI framework designed to operate entirely within Canadian jurisdiction.
The announcement comes amid growing national focus on digital sovereignty. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently emphasised the importance of Canadian-controlled digital infrastructure, stating that sovereign compute capacity and data centres are essential “to underpin Canada’s competitiveness, to protect our security, and to boost our independence and sovereignty.”
While much of the sovereign AI conversation focuses on data centres and GPU infrastructure, Railtown addresses what many experts consider a less visible but equally critical layer: the orchestration frameworks that govern how AI agents ingest data, reason, and act.
Through its collaboration with TELUS’ Sovereign AI Factory and Canadian hosting partners, Railtown enables enterprises, governments, and developers to build, deploy, and monitor AI agents without relying on foreign-controlled software platforms.
“If Canada is serious about sovereign AI, sovereignty must extend beyond compute,” said Cory Brandolini, CEO of Railtown AI. “The frameworks that orchestrate AI agents determine how data flows, how systems reason, and ultimately who controls that infrastructure. True sovereignty requires control across the entire AI stack.”
Mike Lazaridis, who co-founded and built Research In Motion into a global technology leader, said the investment aligns with his long-standing commitment to building foundational technology in Canada.
“It’s critical that we build companies, platforms, and ecosystems here that allow Canadians to innovate, grow, and compete globally,” said Lazaridis. “Railtown is building foundational AI technology in Canada, and I’m excited to support that vision.”
Together, the platform integrates with TELUS’ sovereign GPU infrastructure and Canadian hosting providers to deliver what the company describes as a fully Canadian-resident AI agent development environment.
As geopolitical dynamics evolve and countries seek greater technological independence, Railtown believes the AI framework layer will become an increasingly strategic national asset. In a world where legislation such as the United States’ CLOUD Act allows U.S. authorities to compel access to data held by American companies — even when stored abroad — questions of jurisdiction are becoming central to infrastructure design.
Railtown is building Canadian AI infrastructure with its partners to ensure that data, intellectual property, and innovation remain governed by Canadian law, while enabling enterprises and public institutions to deploy AI securely and at scale.
