Sources, verification and corrections

Verification statuses

Officially verified

Confirmed through an official governing-body source (Grand Lodge, Supreme Council, Grand Chapter or equivalent).

Source verified

Confirmed through the organization's own official website or an official public publication.

Community submitted

Submitted by a lodge or organization and awaiting independent verification.

Historical

Historical information. The body or programme may no longer be active in this form.

Unverified

Insufficient current official information is available. Confirm directly with the governing body.

Archived

Retained for research. Not presented as currently active.

Each listing also records a verified date, a source count and any known jurisdictional limitation.

Source priority

1. Official Grand Lodge websites
2. Official Prince Hall Grand Lodge websites
3. Official governing bodies for rites and orders
4. Official Canadian local-body websites
5. Official Masonic charities, foundations, museums and libraries
6. Government corporate or charity registries
7. University, museum or archival collections
8. Recognized Masonic research organizations
9. Reputable historical books and academic publications
10. News reporting, only for recent public developments

Not treated as authoritative

• Social media comments
• Unverified blogs
• AI-generated content
• Commercial Masonic merchandise sites
• Discussion forums
• Anonymous claims

Research and content workflow

1. Discover an organization.
2. Confirm that it has a Canadian presence.
3. Identify the governing body.
4. Collect official public sources.
5. Extract factual claims.
6. Attach a source to every significant claim.
7. Flag jurisdiction-dependent statements.
8. Review terminology against Canadian usage.
9. Assign a verification status.
10. Publish, or hold for further research.
11. Set a future review date.
12. Record all changes in an audit log.

Submissions from lodges and organizations are queued for moderation. Nothing user-submitted is published automatically.

Privacy and safety

Only legitimate public organizational information is published. The following are never published:

• Private membership records
• Candidate applications
• Personal home addresses
• Private telephone numbers and private email addresses
• Internal lodge communications
• Ritual content, signs, grips, passwords or modes of recognition
• Private disciplinary matters
• Information identifying minors
• Unverified allegations
• Claims about a person's Masonic membership without a reliable public source

Report an error or update a listing

Corrections from governing bodies and organizations take priority over every other source. When reporting, please include the listing name, the statement that is wrong, the correct wording and an official public source.

• Listing name and page
• What is incorrect, and why
• Proposed corrected wording
• Official source URL or publication
• Your role and official organization email

Takedown requests concerning personal information are actioned before verification is completed.

Editorial position

• Canada has no single national Craft Grand Lodge.
• Most Craft jurisdictions are organized provincially and are sovereign.
• Prince Hall Affiliated Freemasonry is a complete Craft tradition.
• G.R.C. means Grand Registry of Canada.
• Canadian Templar bodies are Preceptories, not Commanderies.
• The Canadian Masonic Rosicrucian society is S.R.I.C.
• American Masonic structures are not assumed to apply in Canada.

Image, logo and emblem accuracy

Every logo, seal, emblem, jewel, banner, crest, symbol and photograph must accurately represent the Canadian body it is shown with. No emblem is generated, improvised, approximated or invented to fill visual space, and no combination of Masonic symbols is ever presented as a real organization's official mark.

An official emblem is displayed only after it has been obtained from an authoritative source — the organization's own Canadian website, its governing authority, an official publication or proceedings, an official account linked from that website, a verified Canadian Masonic museum or archive, or a file supplied by an authorized representative — and approved by a human reviewer. Pinterest, merchandise stores, marketplaces, clip-art sites, unverified blogs and social accounts, raw image-search results and AI image generators are never used as sources.

Where no verified emblem exists, the organization is shown with its verified name in a typographic identity and the notice “Official emblem not yet verified.”. Written information stays published; an unverified image never blocks accurate text. Any neutral branch icon carries the label “Category symbol — not the organization's official emblem.”.

Image classifications

• Official emblem — a verified image used by the governing organization itself.
• Historical emblem — verified through an archive, museum, proceedings or historical publication.
• Category symbol — a neutral navigation icon for a branch of Freemasonry, never a specific body.
• Editorial illustration — an original educational image explaining a concept or pathway.
• Photograph — a verified photograph of a building, event, artifact or organization.

Canadian jurisdictional accuracy

• American York Rite, Scottish Rite, Shrine, Prince Hall and Rosicrucian marks are never substituted for Canadian ones.
• G.R.C. is a registry designation, not a rite with its own invented emblem.
• Prince Hall jurisdictions are never represented by a generic themed symbol, portrait or altered square and compasses.
• S.R.I.C. is never represented by an invented rose-cross-and-maple-leaf device, nor by an S.R.I.A., S.R.I.C.F. or Golden Dawn mark.
• Canadian Templar bodies are Preceptories and are never shown with an assumed American Commandery emblem.
• A 33° device is used only where it genuinely represents the Supreme Council or honorary degree.

AI restrictions

AI imagery is permitted only for clearly labelled non-organizational editorial artwork, recorded internally as “AI-generated editorial illustration — not an official organizational image.”. It is never used for logos, seals, crests, degree jewels, aprons, banners, certificates, membership cards, ritual diagrams, artifacts presented as genuine, portraits presented as real people, or photographs presented as real Canadian Masonic buildings or events. The navigation artwork on this site is recorded under exactly that label.

Photographs, rights and corrections

A generic Masonic building photograph is never captioned as a specific Canadian lodge; illustrative images carry the notice “Illustrative photograph — not the listed organization's building.”. Copyright, trademark, licence and permission are recorded for every asset, and where permission is uncertain the written name and official link are used instead of the image. Authorized representatives can submit an official file; nothing submitted is published before human review.

No image is better than a false image.