iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

9/ The question isn't whether Canada can do this. It's whether our public institutions will choose to, or keep waiting politely for access. #cdnpoli #AIpolicy #CanadianAI #DigitalSovereignty #CanadaSky

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

8/ Rio, attribution mess and all, just showed that a public institution can build frontier-competitive AI capability without Big Tech, if the raw material exists as open weights. The raw material exists. Canada has the research base. What's missing is the will to build.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

7/ Canada is dependent on two layers of foreign control: US hyperscalers own the infrastructure even when it sits on Canadian soil, and US companies own the models running on top of it. Sovereign data centres don't solve the second layer.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

6/ But there's no line item for actually building Canadian models on that infrastructure. The money is going to access and hardware. Who trains the model that runs on it is still an open question and right now the default answer is American companies.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

5/ Now look at Canada. We have Mila, Vector Institute, Amii, world-class AI research built over decades. We have the talent. The federal AI for All strategy just committed $1B to compute access and $925M to sovereign data centres.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

4/ The open-weight models Rio used are a game changer. The enormous cost of training frontier AI got paid once by labs like Alibaba, and released publicly. Any institution in the world can now build on top of that without paying Silicon Valley a cent. Rio just proved it works.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

3/ Here's what happened: Rio merged two existing open-weight models and ended up with something competitive with the biggest closed labs. They didn't disclose that upfront which is a real problem. But it doesn't change what it proves: you don't need Big Tech to build Big Tech-level AI.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

2/ This isn't just a tech story. It's a story about who gets to own the most powerful technology in the world... and whether that has to be a handful of American corporations.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

1/ A city government just built an #AI model that outperformed the biggest labs in the world. Not the US. Not China. Rio de Janeiro's IT department. ...and Canada has no excuse not to do the same. 🧵

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

If a few corporations own the models, compute, and infrastructure, AI just concentrates power and profit at everyone else's expense. But if workers, communities, co-ops, and public bodies gain real leverage over those systems, AI becomes another front in the fight over who controls infrastructure.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Canada needs to start making their own #AI models and we are fully capable of doing so. We have the research- Mila, Vector, Amii. But we're dependent on 2 layers of foreign control: US hyperscalers own the infrastructure in Canada, and US companies own the models too. #CanadaSky

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

And I don't think Pfizer is unique in that sense, they're all moving away from researching CNS/mental health drugs.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Vyndaqel/Eliquis prove the portfolio's healthy no question there. CNS trials succeed ~9% of the time, same tier as oncology, minus oncology's clean survival endpoints. 2018 exit tracks an industry-wide pullback from CNS drugs, gap psychedelics is now filling with venture money.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

The result: Only 12 CNS therapeutics were approved in the 2012–2016 period, down from 19 in the previous five years, compared to 50 cancer drugs approved in the same window. We didn't get a psychedelic renaissance. We got a pharma retreat with better PR. #cdnpoli

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Sanofi, Merck, Eisai, Roche, Lilly, BMS — all largely stopped working in psychiatry, in part because depression and schizophrenia were so dominated by generic drugs in the US.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Amgen — terminated drug programs in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease before leaving neuroscience almost entirely in late 2019 , citing the industry's "fairly rudimentary" understanding of neurological diseases.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Pfizer — stopped nervous system drug discovery in early 2018 , eventually spinning its CNS assets into a biotech called Cerevel Therapeutics. Novartis — closed its neuroscience facility in Basel in December 2011.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

AstraZeneca — announced closure of major parts of their neuroscience research divisions globally in 2010, then closed their CNS/pain centres in 2012. Recently, they removed experimental drugs for Alzheimer's, migraine and pain from pipeline to focus on "core therapeutic areas."

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Examples: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) — closed their psychiatric laboratories entirely, including exiting depression and pain research. GSK's R&D chief believed the gaps in understanding CNS diseases were simply too large for any one company to make a serious impact.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

We basically gave up on people and recommended mushrooms instead. If that helps great, but remember this embrace of psychedelics happening during an era where all the major pharma companies stopped researching mental health drugs, which should be alarming for people.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

That's in large because all the major pharma companies have shut down their mental health research. Which really sucks. There might be some help from psychedelics but it's filling a gap where major breakthroughs in mental health drugs should be (but aren't) because we stopped trying.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

🧵 Psychedelics for mental health came about partly because the major drug companies ALL stopped researching mental health/cns drugs. Notice how there really hasn't been any major breakthroughs since SSRIs in the late 80s/early 90s? #cdnpoli #drugsky

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I believe in harm reduction. I also believe that any organization given exclusive authority to evaluate its own work produces compromised research. That's not a political argument it's a basic research ethics standard. #DrugSky My piece in Times Colonist: www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

timescolonist.com

Comment: When it comes to addiction research, who is conducting it matters

British Columbia’s overdose response was dominated for years by a single research infrastructure. That needs to change.

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Canada's safer supply rollout was built on the option (oral hydromorphone) the SALOME trial "cancelled for futility." What does that mean? It was stopped early because interim data showed it was highly unlikely to prove it works. Why did we scale up the option that we already knew was a failure?

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APTN News @aptnnews.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Indigenous leadership will be in Ottawa later this week to speak on the federal government’s decision to put an end to the funding for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. MMIWG family member Sue Caribou joins us to speak more on the matter.

youtu.be

The federal government has decided to end funding for MMIWG2S+ | APTN News

YouTube video by APTN News

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Birds of the same feather flock together Congested on a majestic street corner That's a short time goal for most of 'em Cause most of 'em would rather expand their wings And hover over greater things youtu.be/CKEg9K0-3Q4?...

youtu.be

Cannibal Ox - Pigeon

YouTube video by FreestyleUrbanMusic

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

First London Drugs closes and now Nester's @ Woodwards is on fire in the #dtes An end of an era defined by a version of harm reduction that tries to coexist comfortably with market forces. I don't know what comes next. Is the DTES for care or for capital? #bcpoli

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Totally agree. Every sector is touched, so a coordinated plan across health, housing, justice, and education could save countless lives and reduce long‑term costs.

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I have one… @gwenpaul14.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Hmm, this looks like it could be a “nation building” project. No sector in society is immune from this. Imagine the lives that could be saved.

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RECLAIM @reclaimcollective.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Check out this new piece on safer supply from Fifth Estate featuring our pal Jordan Westfall 💯

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Nonprofits are wild. One day you’re advocating for human rights, the next day the contingency budget is on a beach somewhere nice. #golddigger #drugsky

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Watch a new documentary by CBC's Fifth Estate "The war on safe supply" featuring me debuting on YouTube tonight at 7 pm PST/10 pm EST #drugsky #CanadaSky #bcpoli

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RECLAIM @reclaimcollective.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Peep our guest article for #SupportDontPunish with @drugdatadecoded.ca If you missed our first ever webinar (in preparation for SDP), the recording will be up soon. Huge thanks to our speakers, it was 🔥 drugdatadecoded.ca/reclaim-coll...

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RECLAIM @reclaimcollective.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

For a powerful snippet of where we seem to be headed in North American drug policy, listen to Tamas Kardos from Hungary (1:13:50 - 1:20:15)

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RECLAIM @reclaimcollective.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

🔥 Our Support Don’t Punish 2025 webinar kept building energy as it went. Voices from around the world came together to share truth, strategy, and solidarity. This global conversation was a collective resistance that left us feeling connection and love for PWUD worldwide. #DrugSky #HarmReduction

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RECLAIM @reclaimcollective.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Check out this research on Safer Opioid Supply #SOS program closures that our cofounder Andrzej is a co-author on 👇👇👇 harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

This is Vancouver. The Scam Capital of the World. youtu.be/o2yXCKU4Kmk?...

youtu.be

The scam capital of the world

YouTube video by Land and Lore

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🇨🇦Gen X Goth🇺🇸 @jengagnon.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

@ahouseunited.bsky.social I’ve come up with an idea for this Saturday’s protest that I’m reeaaallllyyyyy proud of and thought I’d share in case others wants to do it! “What would a fascist do?” on foam board with foil lettering, poster board, and Velcro. An interactive game with 9 verbs & 21 nouns.

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Democracy Rising (Vancouver) @democracyrisingnow.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

CALL A FASCIST A FASCIST. Vancouver is watching—and we won’t stay quiet. June 14, 12 PM | Vancouver Art Gallery In solidarity with those resisting fascism across the border. See it. Name it. Stop it. #VancouverAgainstFascism #June14 #50501movement #resist

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Jordan @jordanwestfall.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Fun fact: The 7 daily percentage gains in the S & P 500 larger than today all happened during the 1929 great depression (+16.61%) and 2008 financial crisis/great recession (+11.58%). #uspoli #usnews

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