Google Canada announces $5 million to support the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute to boost AI skills for Canadian post-secondary students
EDMONTON, AB, May 21, 2025 /CNW/ - Google Canada announced a $5 million CAD Google.org grant to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), a leading artificial intelligence research institute, to equip Canadian post-secondary students with essential AI skills to prepare them for the future of work. This initiative aims to address the growing AI skills gap in Canada and bolster the country's AI-driven economy.
With the funding, Amii will establish a national consortium composed of 25 post-secondary institutions across Canada. This consortium will develop easy-to-use AI curriculum materials, allowing faculty to seamlessly integrate AI concepts into existing courses and reach 125,000 students across the country.
"Canada has an incredible opportunity to translate decades of AI research excellence into fundamental AI literacy skills for a generation of post-secondary students because of the generous support of Google.org," said Cam Linke, CEO of Amii. "Amii is proud to lead the effort to build a national AI Workforce Readiness Consortium to empower Canadian students with the fundamental literacy skills they need to succeed in an AI-driven economy. From colleges and polytechnics to U15 Canadian research universities and Indigenous PSE institutes, we're ready to support educators with access to curriculum resources across faculties, programs and domains."
Canada has been at the forefront of AI research, and is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the transformative potential of AI - with a strong research network, thriving startup ecosystem and established tech companies driving AI innovation. The opportunity is significant, as Public First's latest Economic Impact Report on Google Canada estimates that generative AI could boost Canada's economy by $230 billion and save the average worker over 175 hours a year.
However, despite its research leadership, Canada lags in AI adoption, which is a key component in achieving these transformative results. The first step in reversing that trend is increasing AI skills, knowledge and confidence. Fortunately, Canadians are up to the challenge, as the same Economic Impact Report found that 63 per cent of Canadian workers are interested in acquiring AI skills, with interest rising to 72 per cent among young Canadians.
"Entering the workforce with AI skills can help Canadian students navigate the rapidly changing job market," said Sabrina Geremia, VP & Country Managing Director, Google Canada. "Google is proud to support Amii's initiative that will not only benefit 125,000 students directly, but will also help the organizations that hire them put AI to work in improving their productivity, efficiency and growth. Supporting organizations like Amii is part of Google's commitment to shaping a future where AI benefits everyone across Canada.
About Google Canada
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google Canada has offices in Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal,Ottawa and remotely across the country with employees working on teams across Engineering, AI Research, Sales and Marketing.
About Amii
One of Canada's three centres of AI excellence as part of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Amii (the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) is an Alberta-based non-profit institute that supports world-leading research in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Amii translates fundamental research and breakthroughs in AI into business impact, with a focus on transferring knowledge, technology and talent to industry at scale and rapidly improving AI literacy for all. For more information, visit amii.ca.
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'It was a colossal endeavour — but one doomed to failure,' Messier, an amateur historian, playwright, novelist, YouTuber, science and history educator, and former aerospace engineer, tells a visiting reporter inside the reconstructed FRP. Gilles Messier outside the Fallout Reporting System in Miami, which will have a grand opening ceremony on July 5. (Supplied) Messier's fascination with Canada's forgotten Cold War defences isn't just scholarly — it's become personal. He embodies the era, from his thrifted vintage 1960s suit, (self-tied) bowtie and hummingbird lapel pin. 'The pin represents me flitting from project to project,' Messier says with a smile. 'All the bunker contents were acquired by me, but either donated to/paid for by the Miami Museum.' The Nuclear Detonation and Fallout Reporting System was plagued by logistical failures. Every reporting post was to include remote radiation-detection equipment that would allow occupants to monitor outside fallout safely from inside the shelter. However, due to equipment shortages, most reporting posts were instead issued handheld radiation meters, that would have forced occupants to exit the shelter every hour to take readings. This, in turn, would have exposed them to radiation and tracked radioactive fallout back into the shelters. The Nuclear Detonation and Fallout Reporting System was plagued by logistical failures. Every reporting post was to include remote radiation-detection equipment that would allow occupants to monitor outside fallout safely from inside the shelter. However, due to equipment shortages, most reporting posts were instead issued handheld radiation meters, that would have forced occupants to exit the shelter every hour to take readings. This, in turn, would have exposed them to radiation and tracked radioactive fallout back into the shelters. The shelters included makeshift decontamination chambers, separated from the interior by an asbestos curtain, where occupants would wash off radioactive dust before entering. But eventually either their limited water supply would have run out, or the volunteers would have succumbed to radiation poisoning. Initially, volunteers were not allowed to bring their families with them into the shelters. As a result, few signed up for Fallout Reporting Post duty. The government eventually relented on excluding accompanying family members, however, the cramped quarters and limited supplies would have made survival unlikely. This scenario inspired the plot of Gilles Messier's 2024 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival play, Nuclear Family, a dark comedy set in 1961. The play imagines a Canadian family who volunteers for the NDFRS program, only to face the grim realities of atomic survival when the bomb actually drops. The Diefenbunker The Diefenbunker was a massive underground bunker built during the Cold War to serve as Canada's emergency government headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. Located in Carp, Ont., about 30 kilometres west of Ottawa, it was constructed between 1959 and 1961 under the leadership of prime minister John Diefenbaker — hence its nickname. The four-storey, reinforced concrete structure was designed to withstand a nuclear blast and house key government and military personnel to ensure the continuity of government operations. It was never used for its intended purpose, though plans were made to retreat there during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. And while the Carp bunker was the most famous, it was not the only one: six other similar shelters were built across Canada, including at Canadian Forces Base Shilo. After being decommissioned in 1994, the site was transformed into the Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum, offering visitors a look into our Cold War history, complete with exhibitions, tours and even an escape-room experience. — sources: Gilles Messier He's bringing the past to life in every way possible — whether through Fringe festival shows based on history, an Etsy store selling art deco posters, his YouTube channel focused on mid-century technology or a house decorated in vintage 1920s style. Lacking the resources to complete the system, the government quietly shelved the NDFRS in 1963, leaving its structures to rot away in basements and forests across the country, largely forgotten relics of an obscure chapter of Canadian history. Messier first learned of this megaproject after stumbling upon an abandoned Fallout Reporting Post at Victoria Beach. Intrigued, he went online to learn more — only to find there was little to be found. 'Aside from a single article by Andrew Burtch, a historian from the Canadian War Museum, almost nothing had been written about the NDFRS,' Messier says. And when he turned to the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, he discovered nearly every document on the NDFRS was still classified from when the project was cancelled. Information previously only available to those with security access was finally open for public perusal. 'I was the first person to set eyes on those documents in 60 years,' he says. 'I suddenly realized I had a golden opportunity; how many people have a whole, unexplored chapter of history all to themselves?' This realization led Messier on an epic quest to track down all that remained of the NDFRS — a program that dotted 200 FRPs across Manitoba along with three nuclear detention posts, a quest that has led him to the remotest corners of the province. The Railway Station Museum in Miami was once home to an NDFRS Fallout Reporting Post, but that shelter was demolished sometime in the 1970s. Teaming up with museum curator Joan Driedger, Messier hatched a bold plan: acquire an intact shelter, restore it and open it to the public. Driedger recalls hearing about a fallout shelter having been buried on the museum's property, but a ground-penetrating radar scan confirmed its demolition. Instead, Messier suggested, why not replace the lost shelter with a surviving one from elsewhere in the province, and turn it into a tourist attraction? After scouring Manitoba, he secured a bunker from Moose Lake Provincial Park, that had been buried on the site of a demolished fire watch tower. With provincial grant funding, the bunker was excavated, relocated and re-'buried' in an above-ground mound, and a new visitor entrance was added for greater accessibility. The interior was also completely refurbished and dressed with authentic period artifacts either sourced or recreated by Messier himself. Gilles Messier at the radio transmitting desk inside the FRP. (Supplied) Much of the research into the equipment and related materials was aided by Gord Crossley, Heritage Officer at 17 Wing CFB Winnipeg and curator of the Fort Garry Horse Museum. Messier credits Crossley's 'encyclopedic knowledge' of Canada's military history as instrumental in identifying and restoring key artifacts. After three years of work, The Miami Bunker has been painstakingly restored to its original condition. Inside, the shelves are stocked with survival essentials, echoing the grim preparations that once accompanied fears of nuclear war. Ration packs, kerosene lanterns and vintage radiation-monitoring devices line the narrow walls. 'The bunker offers visitors an immersive look into Cold War survival strategies, where two individuals, trapped underground for weeks, would rely on limited resources and fragile hope,' Messier says. A grand opening will be held on July 5 — 'a celebration of survival and remembrance' — Messier says. It will include live music, a barbecue, classic car and military equipment displays, along with science demonstrations. For Messier, while the grand opening is the rewarding culmination of three years of hard work, there is still much to be done. 'My research is far from over,' he says. 'I've found most of Manitoba's shelters, but I want to expand my search across Canada and write the definitive book on the NDFRS. If anyone knows where all these other shelters are, I hope they'll reach out.' In a world where the fear of nuclear war looms once more, Messier reminds us that history's shadows can still be touched. Beneath quiet fields and forests, remnants of Cold War paranoia and resilience lie waiting — forgotten, but not lost.
