Canadian Heritage explores using AI to draft ministerial correspondence

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly being deployed across federal organizations, including the Department of Canadian Heritage, which conducted an experiment to see how well the technology could “draft ministerial correspondence.” According to the new Government AI Registry, the experiment — using tools from OpenAI — proved successful and the department’s Digital and Creative Marketplace Frameworks branch (DCMF) is now working on adapting its process for “any type of LLM equipped with a bot-agent-assistant.” The Treasury Board of Canada published the AI Registry last Friday, Nov. 28, with an initial list of more than 400 systems being used across 42 departments. According to the Treasury Board, it is meant to provide details on “where AI is currently being explored, developed, implemented, or deployed” at the federal level. After some public consultations next year, the government said it intends to create an improved version that will be regularly updated. Canadian Heritage’s ministerial correspondence initiative is one of many AI projects on the list. The department also conducted an experiment using AI tools developed by Canadian consulting firm Systemscope Inc. (before its acquisition by Levio Consulting Inc., another Canadian tech consulting firm) aimed at improving the discoverability of grants and contributions available for groups seeking funding. That experiment “proved successful, and has concluded,” the registry notes. Heritage is also looking at commercial products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Corp.’s Copilot, to analyze large amounts of “qualitative information gathered in interviews, surveys and literature reviews to identify recurring themes and patterns,” the registry states. Canadian Heritage did not respond to requests for more details by the time of publication, including whether it continues to use AI for ministerial correspondence. CRTC pilots Microsoft and CANChat tools At the CRTC, Microsoft Copilot is being explored as part of a pilot program to “assess its potential value to the organization.” The commission is also using the Azure OpenAI Service, a platform managed by Microsoft that provides access to OpenAI’s advanced AI models within a “secure Azure cloud environment.” Azure AI Translator, also part of Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is being used by the CRTC. The regulator did not specify the ways that these AI tools are being used. In addition, the CRTC is participating in the government’s CANChat pilot, along with Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada; Library and Archives Canada; and Shared Services Canada. According to the registry, CANChat is an AI chatbot “providing general-purpose multi-function AI tools.” It is an open source system built on the self-hosted AI interface platform Open WebUI. “CanChat also brokers access to back-end services, with the goal of getting the Government of Canada the best value-per-dollar on generative AI, while favouring the use of made-in-Canada solutions,” the registry notes. ISED deploys AI for regulatory work Numerous AI systems are being deployed at ISED, several of which it says are used to address long-standing efficiency challenges in intellectual property and compliance. The department uses systems developed by Canadian trademark research technology provider Onscope Group Inc., which use natural language processing and image recognition to compare new trademark applications against existing ones. ISED highlights in the registry that since its original implementation in 2001, this AI-enabled feature has contributed to reducing the backlog of trademark applications awaiting examination and decreasing processing times while improving quality and consistency. Additionally, ISED utilizes DesignVision, an AI system that uses deep learning algorithms to quickly search tens of millions of existing industrial design applications worldwide against newly filed designs. Since 2022, ISED says DesignVision has improved the efficiency and quality of examination, reducing the need for labour-intensive manual inspection. In a similar vein to Canadian Heritage’s efforts to use AI to analyze lots of qualitative information, ISED is developing its own system to analyze responses to public opinion research. The registry says this will “increase efficiency and reduce bias in qualitative analysis of large files, reducing the need for a second analyst. This addresses the challenge of resource-intensive manual analysis and supports timely, consistent insights for decision-making.” For high-level administrative tasks, ISED is using the “Executive Correspondence Workflow Automation Tool.” This application uses AI to “semi-automate” the generation of bilingual summaries of ministerial emails, “maintaining a consistent format and tone.” This reduces operational costs and addresses the inefficiency of manually summarizing and translating over 5,500 emails annually, the registry entry states. “It also supports categorisation and routing to the appropriate sector,” ISED notes. “Human review is retained to ensure quality and mitigate risks. The objective is to improve productivity, reduce manual workload, and enhance the accuracy and timeliness of executive correspondence processing.” ISED is also running a limited trial of Microsoft Copilot. This pilot license explores how generative AI can assist employees with tasks like “drafting documents, creating presentations, analyzing data, and managing email” to improve efficiency, says the registry. phalentm@thewirereport.ca

Canadian Heritage explores using AI to draft ministerial correspondence

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
|December 4, 2025

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