Risk & Compliance

Sovereign, Pro-Worker AI. Engineered for Compliance, by Design.

AI without guardrails is corporate liability — a data-leak, a hallucinated action, an audit you can’t pass. We build the other way: defensively. Your data stays sovereign, your employees stay the final decision-makers, and every system is engineered to align with Canada’s federal AI frameworks. Posture first, automation second.

Aligned with Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on AI Built for Canadian data residency Engineered for Bounded Autonomy & AIDA readiness
The Sovereign Security Stack

Four layers of defense. Built in, not bolted on.

Most AI deployments fail the compliance question because security was an afterthought. Ours is the architecture. Each layer below is a structural constraint that holds whether the model behaves or not — so a probabilistic system runs inside a deterministic perimeter.

Layer 01

Sovereign Compute (Data Residency)

Translation: your data and IP never leave the country.

We architect for 100% Canadian data residency by design. Systems are deployable on Canadian cloud regions (e.g. AWS Canada Central) and Canadian foundation models such as Cohere, so proprietary data and IP stay onshore — engineered to align with PIPEDA, Quebec Law 25, and AIDA readiness.

Layer 02

Bounded Autonomy (Read-Only by Default)

Translation: the AI can read and draft — it cannot act alone.

Per the federal Guide on the Use of Agentic AI, systems are restricted to Level 1–2 autonomy with read-only access by default. The AI analyzes, extracts, and drafts; it is architecturally blocked from altering databases or sending external messages without a human key. Bounded and deterministic by deliberate design.

Layer 03

Human-in-the-Loop (The Approval Gate)

Translation: your team is the final decision-maker, always.

Every workflow sends the AI’s draft to a person for sign-off before anything happens — a Slack approval, a dashboard. The AI proposes; your team decides. This is the pro-worker default: the system augments the people who own the decision, it does not replace their judgment.

Layer 04

Recoverability (The Kill Switch)

Translation: you can sever AI access instantly and revert to manual.

Immutable, human-readable audit logs the AI cannot alter, plus a literal kill switch to sever AI access instantly and revert to manual control — defending against automation drift and prompt injection, per the Voluntary Code of Conduct. If a system ever drifts, you turn it off and the work continues by hand.


How we map to the frameworks

Mapped to the frameworks regulators recognize.

We don’t market “AI ethics.” We build to the specific federal instruments your Legal and IT teams will be asked about. Each block below maps the build to a named framework, in conditional framing — engineered to align, built for readiness, never “certified.”

01 Voluntary Code of Conduct on Generative AI

Engineered to align with all six elements.

The federal Voluntary Code of Conduct names six elements. We build the operational mechanisms that demonstrate each one, rather than asserting compliance after the fact.

Accountability
A named internal owner and a documented governance record per system — not a black box no one is responsible for.
Safety
Read-only-by-default scoping and the kill switch (Stack Layer 04) keep blast radius bounded.
Fairness & Equity
Use-case screening flags decisions that touch people directly, routing them to human review rather than automated judgment.
Transparency
AI-assisted outputs carry transparency markers AI-assisted so users always know when a system, not a person, produced a draft.
Human Oversight
The deterministic approval gate (Stack Layer 03) is the monitoring mechanism — every probabilistic output passes a person.
Validity & Robustness
Red-teaming and prompt-injection testing before launch, plus immutable audit logs the system cannot rewrite.

02 Bounded Autonomy & Agentic-AI Safety

Level 1–2 assistive. No rogue black-box agents.

The federal Guide on the Use of Agentic AI defines four autonomy levels. We deliberately build only at Levels 1 (Assistive) and 2 (Semi-autonomous). We do not ship Level 3/4 systems that take consequential action without a human in the path — bounded, deterministic systems a single internal operator can run safely, by design.

Autonomy ceiling
Level 1–2 only. Assistive and semi-autonomous. No high-autonomy or adaptive “black-box” agents acting on the business unsupervised.
Prompt-injection defense
External text is treated as data, not instructions. Retrieved documents, emails, and web content cannot reach the system as commands — the model reads them, it does not obey them.
Automation-drift monitoring
An ongoing service: we watch for the slow divergence between what a system was scoped to do and what it has started doing, and tighten the bounds before drift becomes incident.
Recoverability
Every agentic step is reversible or gated. The kill switch and immutable logs (Stack Layer 04) mean any action can be traced and any access revoked.

03 Sovereign Canadian Infrastructure

Aligned with Pillar 4. Data that never crosses the border.

Canada’s “AI for All” strategy makes Building the Canadian sovereign AI foundation its Pillar 4, backed by a dedicated Sovereign AI Compute strategy. We architect to that principle: where the engagement allows, systems are deployable so that proprietary data and IP stay onshore for their full lifecycle — in transit, at rest, and at inference.

Data residency
Architected for deployment on Canadian cloud regions (e.g. AWS Canada Central) and Canadian foundation models such as Cohere, so data does not cross the border.
PIPEDA
Builds are engineered to align with PIPEDA handling expectations — consent, purpose limitation, and a DPA before any data moves.
Quebec Law 25
For organizations operating in Quebec, systems are scoped to support Law 25 obligations around automated decision-making and data localization.
AIDA readiness
Built so that, should AIDA become binding, the governance record, impact screening, and human-oversight mechanisms are already in place — readiness, not certification.

Add-on offer

The AIDA Compliance Audit.

A modular governance add-on for organizations already running AI — or about to. We assess your exposure against the federal frameworks and design the controls that close the gaps.

AIA screening
A structured Algorithmic Impact Assessment to classify each system’s impact level (I–IV) and surface the decisions that need oversight.
Red-teaming
Adversarial testing for prompt injection, data exfiltration, and unsafe outputs — the Validity & Robustness element, evidenced.
Audit-log & kill-switch design
Immutable logging and a tested revocation path, so an incident is recoverable and traceable, not a forensic mystery.
Data-residency review
A map of where your data actually flows today, and a remediation plan to bring it onshore where it needs to be.
Indicative price band
CA$8,000 – CA$18,000
Scoped per engagement — modular, so you take only the components you need.
Scope an audit

Modular — take only the components you need. We reply within one business day. No sales spam, no obligation.

Start small

Book a 15-minute Algorithmic Impact Assessment (AIA) screening.

A high-level triage using the government’s own AIA framework. We walk one of your AI use cases through the screening questions and tell you, plainly, which impact level it lands in and where your real exposure sits — before you spend a dollar on remediation. No deck, no obligation.

Book the 15-minute screening Uses the federal AIA (Directive on Automated Decision-Making, impact Levels I–IV).
Accessibility

This site is the proof.

Governance is something we demonstrate, not something we claim. Our builds target WCAG 2.1 AA conformance and AODA-aligned delivery by default — semantic HTML, ARIA labelling, keyboard navigability, and strong contrast in both light and dark themes.

We say “target,” not “certified.” Conformance is verified per build, and the digital foundations we ship are architected so accessibility holds as the system grows. If you find a barrier on this site, tell us — treating our own properties as the working example is the point.

A note on claims
The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) was part of Bill C-27, which died on the Order Paper when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. There is currently no federal AI statute in force and no AIDA certification; Canada relies on PIPEDA and Quebec’s Law 25, with new federal AI regulation signalled under the 2026 “AI for All” strategy. We build for readiness, not certification — engineered to align with Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct and the Guide on the Use of Agentic AI so that, whatever federal rules land next, the governance record is already in place. Compliance posture is engineered, conditional, and scoped per engagement: framework alignment, data residency, accessibility conformance, and impact levels are confirmed against your specific deployment, not asserted as blanket facts. Federal program terms change; we confirm current requirements before they shape a build.
On the growth & funding side instead?

If your question is less “is this safe” and more “how do I fund this and bypass the productivity J-curve,” the other track is built for you.

Growth & Funding track

Background reading: a plain-English guide to Canada's Voluntary Code of Conduct and the federal Guide on Agentic AI

Get in touch

Deploy AI you can defend in front of Legal.

Tell us the use case and the data it touches. We’ll map the compliance posture and the funding path before we meet — and if a bounded system isn’t the right call, we’ll say so.

Map Your AI Funding & Compliance Strategy See the work

We reply within one business day. No sales spam, and a 14-day out clause on every engagement.