Thank you very much for your question. It's an important one.
I come to this debate from a conflict and security lens. That really leads me to analyze how conflict and wider security dynamics lead to that displacement and force people to move and become internally displaced. I look at the way wars are being fought now. Solutions are data-driven, and many are based on digital platforms and new weapons systems, systems that are overcoming large-weapon systems of global leaders with military capability.
I say that because we live in an intangibles world in an intangibles economy, which is data driven. It's the most valuable asset for any organization. With the deployment of resources into military and defence budgets at the moment, there is a huge injection of dual-usage technology support. “Dual-usage” means, of course, use for civilian purposes and use for defence purposes.
Canada can play an additional role in that investment by bringing in rules, protocols and norms, which are very underdeveloped in other parts of the world, for those dual-usage technologies, especially in the form of humanitarian technologies and peace tech—the responsible and safe use. Thus, the data of internally displaced people would not be manipulated or used for exploitative purposes. That's one of many examples.
Canada, as a principal leader in this space, can stand for the rights and the dignity of these groups. In trying to build internal capacity to improve resilience and governance, as well as continuing funding and supporting frontline humanitarian emergencies, it can bring a sense of rules-based norms and principles to how that technology is being used. We've seen how data has been used against people in such countries as Lebanon and Afghanistan: biometric data, border-crossing data. It's because governance lags behind the use of the technology. Canada has a real role to play in that space.