Last updated 13 September 2026.
These terms govern your use of Groundwork Environment (the “Service”), operated by MichifAI Partners (“we”, “us”). By using the Service you agree to them. If you are using it for an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind that organisation.
Groundwork Environment compares a location you provide against public environmental records — contaminated sites, environmental areas (wetlands, flood zones, protected and conserved lands, and precise statutory wildlife-habitat boundaries), species-at-risk potential habitat, and national hydrography — and returns a plain-language indication of whether an environmental assessment or permit is likely to be a condition of a development, and under which law. The free screening tool answers this on screen. A paid subscription adds a dated, cited, exportable report, saved-area monitoring, and API access.
Before relying on any result you must confirm it with the relevant provincial/territorial ministry of environment, Fisheries and Oceans Canada where fish habitat may be affected, and — where a project may be affected — engage a qualified environmental consultant and/or a lawyer. A result of “not indicated” means only that no trigger was found in the records we currently hold for that area; it is not a clearance, and it does not mean a site is free of environmental constraints. Coverage is uneven by domain and jurisdiction (see the coverage page) — most acutely for wetlands, which the source dataset does not cover at all in three jurisdictions. Regulatory requirements, statutes and their interpretation change; the Service may not reflect the most recent position.
The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. The underlying data comes from third-party government sources and is reproduced as published; it may be incomplete, out of date, generalised, or contain errors, and coverage varies by domain and jurisdiction and is still being expanded. Species-at-risk potential habitat in particular is deliberately generalized by every publishing agency and is never a precise species location. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, complete, or fit for any particular purpose, and we do not warrant any result. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profit, revenue, data, opportunity, or goodwill, arising out of or in connection with your use of (or inability to use) the Service or any reliance on a result — even if we have been advised of the possibility.
Our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service in any twelve-month period will not exceed the greater of (a) the fees you paid us for the Service in that period, or (b) CAD $100. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
We may suspend or terminate access that breaches these terms or that threatens the Service or our relationship with a data provider.
Identity and billing for the paid tier are handled by Groundwork, our sibling product and the identity hub for the MichifAI product family; your account, sign-in, and subscription are governed by Groundwork’s terms in addition to these. Subscriptions and cancellation work as described on the pricing page. The free screening tool needs no account.
Each dataset is used under its own open government licence — for example the Open Government Licence – Canada (the federal layers: contaminated sites, protected areas, species-at-risk critical habitat, and national hydrography). Every result credits the source dataset and links back to the originating government record. We are an independent company and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking for any government environmental body. Precise species-at-risk locations are never used — only the deliberately generalized potential-habitat layers each publishing agency releases.
To ask what we hold about you, or to request deletion, email hello@michifai.ca.
We may update these terms from time to time. When we make a material change we will update the date above and, for subscribers, give reasonable notice. Continuing to use the Service after a change means you accept the updated terms.
These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Manitoba and the federal laws of Canada that apply there, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The courts of Manitoba have exclusive jurisdiction, and you consent to that venue.
MichifAI Partners — hello@michifai.ca · environment.groundwork.michifai.ca