The Closure Letter

The closure letter arrived on January 7, 2026.

It read like a formal departmental position.

TBS and ISED consider this matter closed.

One signature.

Two federal departments — the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada — closing engagement in one line.

The signature was Jonathan Macdonald's. He was Director, Responsible Data and AI, at Treasury Board's Office of the Chief Information Officer.

In November he had written to me that the framework's "premise is intriguing"^³ and that he had "circulated it within my team."^³

Six weeks later, on a recorded call, he told a very different story.

I noticed one sentence I had not expected.

I would like to reassure you that there is no intent to infringe upon your intellectual property rights.^³

I had not raised intellectual property in my December 24 reply.