KEY LINKS & RESOURCES

• 📑 View the presentation slides

• ⛔Use the exit plan template

Additional tools and references:

• http://www.pmv.org

• https://www.purposeanalytics.ca/network

• https://nextcloud.com/

• https://www.collaboraonline.com/

• https://matomo.org/

• https://matrix.org/

• https://www.onyx.app/

• https://opencode.ai/

• https://ovhcloud.com/en-ca/

• https://mistral.ai/

• https://www.hushmail.com/

• https://stalw.art/

• https://affinitybridge.com/

• https://cantrusthosting.coop/

• Higher Ground Lab's Organizational AI Policy

Canadian Hosting, Sovereignty, and Safer Options for Your Data

Canadian nonprofits have outsourced their core infrastructure to a handful of global tech giants. While convenient, this creates a "sovereignty gap." When your data, member records, and AI models live on proprietary US platforms, your organization’s "destiny" is tied to their terms of service, price hikes, and foreign legal frameworks (like FISA and the CLOUD Act).

True resilience isn't just about following privacy laws—it’s about agency. If a provider changes their policy, shuts down a service, or faces a legal takedown, can your organization continue to function? This session explores how to move from being a "digital tenant" to a "digital owner."

What you’ll learn

• Sovereignty vs. Residency: Why simply "storing data in Canada" isn't enough if a foreign entity still holds the "master keys" to your systems.

• The Path to Autonomy: A step-by-step framework to map your dependencies and transition to Canadian-hosted or self-hosted alternatives for email, CRM, and file storage.

• AI Agency: How to ensure your AI workloads (including embeddings and inference) remain under your governance, preventing your intellectual property from becoming fodder for a provider's black-box model.

• Building Your "Exit Plan": What "good" looks like for contracts and backups, ensuring you can move your data and operations whenever you choose.

Who should attend

This session is for nonprofit leaders, operations directors, and IT strategists who want to build a values-aligned technical stack. If you are concerned about long-term platform lock-in and want a roadmap to reduce reliance on infrastructure you don't control, this is for you.