Ceremony Before Innovation

We begin with Indigenous protocol because BC + AI is not trying to build a faster tech scene inside an unchanged world. We are trying to build a wiser one.

Our Vancouver gatherings take place at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vanier Park, on the shared, unceded, and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Gabriel George opens a BC + AI gathering with welcome and protocol at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre.
Gabriel George opens a BC + AI gathering with welcome and protocol at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. Photo: Michelle Diamond, May 2026.

When an Indigenous host welcomes the room, that is not a political interruption before the real AI program begins. It is part of the real program.

Artificial intelligence touches language, memory, ownership, art, labour, governance, and economic power. Those are not abstract topics here. They are lived questions for many of our members and collaborators.

What We Mean By Protocol

Territorial acknowledgement is the floor, not the ceiling. Protocol is a practice of relationship: being welcomed properly, listening before presenting, and remembering that no room is neutral just because the conversation is technical.

For BC + AI, ceremony before innovation means we do not separate technology from place, history, responsibility, and community. It asks every builder, researcher, artist, founder, sponsor, and public servant in the room to begin from humility.

Anthony Joseph of Squamish Nation stands on the BC + AI stage with a drum.
Anthony Joseph of Squamish Nation shares opening protocol at a BC + AI gathering. Photo: Michelle Diamond, March 2026.

What This Is Not

Not a legal briefIt is not a position statement on every land-title case or every policy debate.
Not a test of agreementMembers do not need to agree on every aspect of reconciliation politics to share the room.
Not decorationIndigenous welcome is not a ceremonial add-on that disappears when someone is uncomfortable.

People are allowed to wrestle with hard questions about land, rights, property, history, and reconciliation. Good-faith questions are welcome. What will not change is the presence of Indigenous welcome and protocol at the heart of BC + AI.

Why It Belongs In An AI Community

AI is often sold as if it floats above place: universal tools, universal models, universal markets. Communities know better. Data comes from people. Language carries memory. Economic systems include some futures and exclude others. Technical choices can either deepen extraction or help communities protect and extend what matters.

That is why Indigenous data sovereignty, language preservation, cultural memory, and Indigenous economic visibility belong inside the AI conversation. They are not side topics. They are part of the work of building technology that serves people instead of simply scaling power.

Chiyáḵsel̓ut Vanessa Gonzales and Makaidea Gonzales of Squamish Nation speak on the BC + AI stage.
Chiyáḵsel̓ut Vanessa Gonzales and Makaidea Gonzales of Squamish Nation speak on the BC + AI stage. Photo: Michelle Diamond, February 2026.

Our Commitments

  • We name the lands where we gather and update our language when local guidance changes.
  • We invite Indigenous welcome and protocol into flagship gatherings as part of the structure of the event.
  • We do not use Indigenous names, stories, songs, images, projects, or private context as content without permission.
  • We make room for Indigenous AI, data, language, governance, and economic conversations as part of the program.
  • As BC + AI expands regionally, local hosts learn the lands, Nations, and protocols of their own communities instead of copying a Vancouver script.

For Members With Questions

If you are trying to understand fast-moving conversations about land, rights, property, and reconciliation, stay curious. Ask real questions. Talk with people. Read beyond the headline.

If someone chooses not to attend because Indigenous protocol is part of the room, we respect that choice. We will not make Indigenous presence smaller to make the room feel less complicated.