Kestrel Ridge Assurance

Kestrel Ridge Assurance builds AI management systems for Canadian financial institutions and insurers that need to show regulators, auditors and enterprise customers how their models are governed. The firm was set up in 2021 by two former internal audit leads and now runs to roughly thirty people split between a Toronto office and remote staff in Ottawa and Calgary. A typical engagement begins with a four-week gap analysis mapping current practice against ISO/IEC 42001, the NIST AI RMF and, for clients selling into Europe, the EU AI Act's high-risk obligations. Gap analyses are quoted as fixed-fee projects in the $15,000 to $50,000 range depending on the number of AI systems in scope; implementation work that follows is scoped separately and usually runs four to eight months. Kestrel Ridge also offers readiness assessments against OSFI's model risk expectations, which it treats as a subset of the broader management system. Retainer pricing is discussed only after an initial project. The firm does not conduct certification audits, does not provide legal opinions, and will not build or validate models on a client's behalf. Work is delivered in English or French, with on-site sessions available across Ontario and Quebec.