Leanne Labelle, Director General, Platform, Canadian Digital Service, Canada

​​​​​​1. How do you use your role to ensure that technology and policy are truly inclusive?

In my role as Director General, Platform at the Canadian Digital Service, I use both my mandate and our product suite to make inclusion a built-in instead of optional feature of how technology and policy are delivered across government.

We embed accessibility, bilingualism, security, and user-centred principles by default, so every department delivers more inclusive services simply by using our products.

When people can actually use a service, regardless of language, ability, or technical comfort, they trust that government is designed for them, not just for some people.

These products replace inaccessible PDFs, provide accessible design components, and ensure consistent, bilingual communications across channels. We also conduct continuous user research, including with vulnerable populations, to understand barriers across the end-to-end service journey. 

For example, before GC Forms was launched, departments often required complex PDF downloads that screen readers couldn’t interpret, effectively excluding vision-impaired users from accessing critical benefits. These insights inform product roadmaps across the Platform suite.

For me, inclusion is not a feature we add, it's the outcome of how we architect products and empower teams to deliver services.

Our goal is to ensure that every product we build moves the Government of Canada closer to high quality services that work for everyone, especially those who face the greatest barriers.

2. What’s a moment in your career when you saw firsthand how technology or a new policy changed a citizen’s life for the better?

I’ve been fortunate to work on many meaningful projects, but in my current role I see the impact of our work almost every day.

Sometimes it’s very tangible,like a citizen who can now receive text notifications about their pension in the language they’re most comfortable with, rather than missing critical updates buried in mail, or someone with a disability who can finally complete a form independently using a screen reader instead of requiring third-party help.

Other times it’s the invisible work: teams debating how to make something simpler, choosing the user’s needs over the “easy” path, or learning together in a blameless retro.

Those moments add up. They remind me that thoughtful technology—and the people behind it—can quietly but profoundly improve someone’s experience of their government.

3. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year, and how did you measure its success in building trust and serving the needs of the public?

This year, the most impactful work wasn’t a single feature - it was building the data story that shows the system-wide impact of our Platform products.

Since launching GC Notify in 2019, we focused on delivering and scaling our tools across government. What we hadn’t done as consistently was pausing to articulate the value they create.

Over the last year, we built the analytics, case studies, and measurement frameworks that demonstrate how our products save time, reduce costs, and improve service reliability across departments.

By combining usage data, delivery metrics, and client research, we can now show - with evidence - how GC Forms, GC Notify, and the GC Design System reduce processing delays, improve accessibility, and streamline high-volume services.

For example, we can now demonstrate that GC Forms reduced form abandonment rates among users with accessibility needs, and GC Notify ensures critical communications reach people in their preferred language and format.  

Making this data visible to the public, and not just to internal stakeholders, demonstrates that we’re accountable for delivering on our inclusion commitments.

This transparency builds trust with both public servants and the public: people can see that modern, reusable tools make government services faster, clearer, and more dependable.

4. What was one unexpected lesson you learned this year about designing for real people? This can be about a specific project or a broader lesson about your work.

This year reminded me that the most important part of designing for real people is supporting the people who do the work.

As a leader, I’m not the one writing code or conducting user research—but I see every day how much thought, care, and empathy our teams put into improving services.

The unexpected lesson was just how much impact a supportive environment can have on the quality of what we deliver. This includes building diverse teams who bring lived experience of barriers: they don’t just design for accessibility, they design from it.

When teams feel trusted, encouraged to challenge assumptions, and safe to learn from mistakes, they design with more compassion and curiosity.

The better we support the people building the services, the better those services become for the people who use them.

5. We hear a lot about AI. What's a practical example of how AI can be used to make government services more inclusive and trustworthy?

AI can make our existing Platform products more inclusive and trustworthy by improving the accessibility, clarity, and consistency of government services.

For example, AI can automatically test GC Design System components for accessibility issues, help departments write clearer and more inclusive form questions, and—through Model Context Protocol—power AI agents that safely guide teams through API connectivity or Design System setups.

These enhancements reduce technical barriers and ensure that every department, regardless of size, can deliver high-quality, user-centred services to the public.

We’re also mindful that AI trained on biased data can perpetuate exclusion, so we’re approaching this work with careful governance and testing with diverse user groups to ensure these tools genuinely serve everyone.

6. How are you preparing for the next wave of change in the public sector? What new skill, approach, or technology are you most excited to explore in the coming year?

I could talk about AI and the new skills and thinking that are required in this space but what excites me even more is the shift AI is forcing us to make.

AI is only as good as the data and structures we give it, and that’s pushing government to address the foundational work: common data formats, structured content, and a services-first architecture.

This foundational work is also essential for inclusive AI - structured, accessible data means AI tools can serve everyone, not just those whose data was historically well-captured by government systems.

These ideas aren’t new, but they’ve always felt just out of reach. Now the momentum is here.

What prepares us for the next wave isn’t just adopting new technology—it’s building the conditions for technology to work responsibly and meaningfully.

At this time, I feel we have the people, support, and tools to take that next leap and transform how government delivers services.

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators who want to build a career focused on serving all citizens?

Find the people who say, “I don’t know how to do this yet, but let’s figure it out.”

When you’re trying to introduce a new idea or challenge the status quo, you’ll hear no far more often than yes.

And whenever possible, make sure those allies include people with lived experience of the barriers you’re trying to remove - not just those who study them.

The people who are willing to try, experiment, and learn with you are invaluable. Stay connected to them.

Innovation in government is a team sport, and you’ll need those allies: for support, for honest advice, and for courage on the hard days. And they’ll need you, too.

Surround yourself with people who believe in continuous improvement and learning. We can always do better.

8. Who inspires you to build a more inclusive and trustworthy public sector?

I’m inspired every day by the people I work with.

I’m proud to be part of a group of professionals who are so passionate and dedicated to building products that genuinely improve how people in Canada experience government.

Their commitment to accessibility, equity, and thoughtful design pushes me to be better, and I learn from them constantly.

​​​​​​​9. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream project be?

I’m already working on my dream project. We know that most government services follow a similar pattern, and we now understand the core products needed to support every step of that journey.

Individually, our tools solve discrete problems - forms, notifications, design, identity. But when connected as true end-to-end components, their impact is transformational.

With unlimited resources, I’d accelerate that vision: a fully integrated suite that lets government teams deliver services faster, more cost-effectively, and with far less complexity.

It would allow departments to focus on what truly matters - serving Canadians - while the common infrastructure does the heavy lifting in the background.  

When government services work this seamlessly and inclusively, it builds trust in the government's ability to deliver for everyone.                                  

​​​​​​​10. Outside tech, what excites you the most?

Right now, I’m watching my twin daughters navigate their final year of high school and prepare for post secondary education.

Seeing them explore their options, figure out who they want to become, and step into their independence is both terrifying and thrilling. It’s a reminder of why this work matters… they’re about to interact with government services in new ways, from student loans to healthcare to eventually employment.

I want them, and every young person, to experience a government that works for them, that’s accessible and clear and doesn’t make them feel like they’re not smart enough to figure it out.

Being a parent gives me perspective into what really matters in our work: are we building services that work for real people at pivotal moments in their lives?