Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 14, 2026

1. About this Policy

The Erisian Institute, a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“Erisian Institute”, “we”, “us” or “our”), collects, uses and discloses personal information in connection with this website, enquiries and institutional communications. This Policy covers visitors, funders, partners, collaborators, volunteers and, where offered, publication subscribers, event participants and job applicants. Personal information means information about an identifiable individual.

The Erisian platform is operated by Erisian Group Inc. and is outside the scope of this Policy. Our Executive Director is responsible for privacy matters and can be contacted at legal@erisian.org.

2. Information we collect and why

Enquiries. Our Engage page offers short forms for ideas and challenges, individual collaboration and volunteer expressions of interest, and email links for partnership, funding, governance and press enquiries. The forms ask for your name and email and a description of what you would like to bring, contribute or offer. The individual collaboration form also asks for your area of knowledge or practice and, optionally, a website or profile. The volunteer form also asks for your area of contribution, location, languages and availability. Each form prepares an email to partnerships@erisian.org in your own email application, and each email link opens a message to the relevant Erisian Institute address; we receive the enquiry when you send that email. We use your message, any attachments and related correspondence to assess and respond to your request and conduct related follow-up. Please do not include sensitive personal information or confidential documents in an initial enquiry.

Business relationships. You or your organization may provide your name, organization, work email, role and country to arrange and administer partnership, collaboration, volunteering and engagement with the Institute. We may consult relevant public professional profiles or organizational websites to understand your role or enquiry, subject to applicable law.

Publications, events and recruitment. Where offered, we use contact details and preferences to deliver requested reports, email newsletters or printed publications and administer events. Postal delivery requires a recipient name and mailing address. When you apply for a role, we use the application materials you provide to assess and respond to your application.

Administration and security. We may use relevant information to maintain necessary business records, operate and protect our website and communications, investigate misuse, handle privacy requests and meet legal obligations.

3. Consent and marketing

We obtain consent where required or handle information as otherwise permitted or required by law. Providing information for an enquiry does not constitute consent to unrelated uses. We seek additional consent where required for a new purpose.

Email marketing subscriptions are optional and separate from making an enquiry. We send promotional messages only with the consent or other authority required by law. We may organize contacts into relevant categories, such as funders or partners; categorization is not itself permission to send marketing. Email and print subscription choices are separate.

4. AI-assisted correspondence

We may use LLM’s to process or summarize correspondence and help prepare replies. This can involve Anthropic, Google or OpenAI processing message content and attachments. Erisian Institute does not use website enquiries, related correspondence or attachments to train its own models or add them to its analytical datasets or public research.

5. Sharing of personal information

Personnel and service providers. Information may be accessed by authorized employees and contractors who need it for their responsibilities, and by providers supporting hosting, email, recordkeeping and communications. We use Google Workspace for email and Notion for business records. AI providers are described above. A provider distributing requested printed publications may receive the necessary delivery details. We remain accountable under applicable law for information processed on our behalf.

Erisian Group Inc. Relevant contact details and correspondence may be shared with Erisian Group Inc. to route enquiries about the Erisian platform, coordinate requested reports or events, and manage relevant partnership discussions, subject to the required consent or other legal authority. This Policy describes the Institute’s practices, not those of Erisian Group Inc. Sharing does not automatically authorize separate marketing by Erisian Group Inc.

Other disclosures. We may disclose information as required or permitted by law, including to respond to valid legal demands, protect legal rights or support a business transfer subject to appropriate confidentiality and purpose restrictions. We do not sell, rent or trade personal information or provide it for another organization’s independent marketing.

6. Processing outside Canada

Our service providers may store or process information outside Canada, including in the United States and, for people in Quebec, outside Quebec. Information processed abroad may be subject to the laws and lawful access powers of those jurisdictions. Erisian Institute remains responsible for its obligations under applicable privacy law.

7. Website technology

You can read our public pages without submitting an enquiry. The public-page code does not place cookies or include advertising, retargeting or visitor-session recording tools. We use Plausible Analytics, a cookieless analytics service, to measure aggregate traffic such as pages viewed and referring sites; it does not build profiles of individual visitors or track them across other websites. Hosting and delivery services may separately process IP addresses and technical request or security information to deliver and protect the website. If additional cookies or tracking features are introduced, we will explain them and obtain any consent required before use.

Your email application and independent services have their own privacy practices. Once we receive your message, our handling is subject to this Policy. This does not remove our responsibilities for providers processing information on our behalf.

8. Safeguards and retention

Our safeguards include restricted access, multifactor authentication and confidentiality obligations for contractors. No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.

Our retention standard is to keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the identified purpose, related follow-up and applicable legal recordkeeping or claims requirements. Information no longer needed for a permitted purpose is to be securely deleted or otherwise disposed of as permitted by law. Limited records may be retained to honour an unsubscribe request, demonstrate consent or meet legal requirements.

9. Your choices and rights

You may decline optional collection and withdraw consent where applicable. Unsubscribe from email marketing using the mechanism in the message, or contact legal@erisian.org to stop email or printed publications. Unsubscribing does not necessarily stop requested replies or necessary event or security communications. We will explain any effect of withdrawing consent on a requested activity.

You may request access to or correction of your personal information. Other rights, including deletion, restriction, portability or objection, may apply depending on the law. Requests are subject to legal exceptions and reasonable identity verification. We address requests within applicable legal timeframes. You may raise concerns with us or complain to the appropriate privacy authority.

10. Updates and contact

We may update this Policy as our practices change and will provide additional notice or obtain consent where required. Publishing a revised policy does not replace consent required by law.

For privacy questions, requests or complaints, contact our Executive Director, responsible for privacy matters, at legal@erisian.org.