Privacy Policy

This Privacy Statement applies to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by Algoma Family Services.

It is factual or subjective information about an identifiable individual. Personal information may include, but is not limited to, your name, mailing address, telephone numbers, gender, e-mail address and identification numbers. Personal information does not, however, include information that is used solely to communicate with you in the course of your employment, business or profession, such as your name, job name or title, business address, business telephone number or business e-mail address.

We will always collect your personal information by fair and lawful means. For example, you may provide your personal information when you complete a contest entry form, when you submit an application form for a promotional product, when you participate in a promotional offer, including an offer for which you are required to submit a receipt, or when you contact our Consumer Services department. You may also provide your personal information when you use one of our Sites, such as by creating an account, entering a contest, signing up to receive e-mail communications or participating in a survey. Similarly, we sometimes collect your personal information through third-party service providers.

We may also collect demographic information, such as your gender and postal code, as well as sales receipt information, such as the size of your shopping cart, the total amount of your purchases and the products purchased, when you provide us with this information. Demographic data may be used to personalize your experience on the Sites and the communications you receive from us, to determine general consumer preferences and purchasing patterns, and to evaluate, develop and implement promotions. Occasionally, aggregate information that does not identify a specific user may be compiled and shared with our affiliates and other third parties, as described in Section III below.

What about children? Generally, we do not collect personally identifiable information from children. Otherwise, we collect such information on a limited basis and with adult supervision or permission. For example, we may receive the names of children and the contact information of the adults caring for them in connection with a contest, so that we can inform the winners of the contest. In such cases, we strictly limit the use of this personal information to the purpose for which it was collected. We recommend that parents and guardians take steps to limit and monitor their children’s activities on the Internet, either directly or through software and other tools.

We collect anonymous information about all users of the Sites. This anonymous information may include the user’s browser type, the type of computer operating system, or the domain name of the website from which the user accessed the Sites. This information is collected for Algoma Family Services’ internal use, for example, to improve the security of a Web site, to detect general demographic trends, to assist Algoma Family Services’ staff in providing content tailored to a particular user’s interests, or to improve the user experience on the Sites.

We may use cookies or similar technology to help us personalize the Sites. A cookie is a data file that a Web site sends to a user’s computer while he or she is visiting the site. Such data files contain information that allows a Web site to remember certain items in order to simplify and improve the user’s experience. Cookies do not damage computer systems or files, and only the Web site that transferred a particular cookie to you can read, modify or delete that cookie.

What if I don’t want cookies? If you don’t want cookies to be sent to you from our Sites, most browsers allow you to easily delete existing cookies, automatically reject cookies, or refuse or accept the transfer of certain cookies to your computer. Please consult your browser’s instructions or help screen to learn more about these functions. Please note that refusing to accept cookies may significantly affect your use of our Sites.

Whenever we collect your personal information, we identify the purposes for which we will use it and obtain your consent to do so. We may collect your personal information for a variety of reasons, including to send you information and communications, respond to product inquiries and other requests, run contests and promotions (including sending prizes to winners directly or through third parties acting on our behalf), process transactions, optimize your experience on our Sites and process product damage claims, as well as for internal purposes such as analyzing and managing our business and improving our products, services and promotional efforts. We may also use or disclose your personal information if we have reason to believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, safety or property, including the detection and prevention of fraud. In addition, we may use your personal information for any other purpose permitted by law.

We obtain your consent before collecting, using or disclosing your personal information for any purpose. The form of consent we seek, whether express or implied, will largely depend on the sensitivity of the personal information and the reasonable expectations you may have in the circumstances. In rare cases, we may use a third party to obtain your consent to share your personal information with us.

You may give us your consent verbally or in writing. For example, when you submit a contest entry form to our contest coordinator, you agree that the coordinator may share the information contained in the form with us so that we can establish your identity as a contest winner. From time to time, we may collect, use or disclose your personal information with your consent and as permitted by law.

We store your personal information in our offices in Canada, as well as in our data centers in the United States. When your personal information is stored in the U.S., it is subject to U.S. laws and may be disclosed to U.S. governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies, all in accordance with applicable laws.

Our service providers may also, from time to time, hold your personal information for purposes for which you have given your consent. We may keep your personal information, correspondence or comments on file in your name.

We will use, disclose or retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and as permitted or required by law. We have established minimum and maximum retention periods and secure procedures for the retention and destruction of your personal information.

From time to time, we may receive content from consumers in connection with contests, promotions and other features of our Sites (“user-generated content” or “UGC”). Any UGC you submit may be posted publicly, including on our Sites, and is subject to any terms and conditions communicated to you at the time of submission. Please remember that any information you disclose in the context of UGC may become public and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose personal, financial or other information in this manner. Algoma Family Services cannot prevent such information from being used in a manner that may violate this Privacy Statement or the law, or that may harm your privacy and security. Likewise, Algoma Family Services is not responsible for the results of such use.

Please note that we may not immediately respond to requests to modify your personal information, even those submitted through our Sites. We will endeavour to respond to all requests for personal information as soon as reasonably possible, and no later than 30 days after receipt of each request. We will inform you in writing if we are unable to respond to any of your requests within this period. You have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada regarding this delay.

We may ask you to provide us with sufficient information to establish your identity before granting you access to information regarding the existence, use or disclosure of your personal information. Information that establishes your identity is used only for this purpose.

We have implemented physical, organizational, contractual and technological security measures to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized disclosure, copying, use, modification or access. The only persons authorized to access your personal information are those who have a “need to know” or whose duties require, based on reasonable judgment, that they have access to it.

The security of all personal information collected on our Sites is of the utmost importance to us. We have taken reasonable technical, contractual, administrative and physical measures to protect personal information collected from you through the Sites, in accordance with standard industry practices and the sensitivity of the personal information in question. For example, when you provide credit card information, we use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption to protect it. These safety measures are reviewed periodically. Nevertheless, there are steps that users of our Sites can take to help protect the security of their personal information. For example, a user should never disclose his or her user name and password. In addition, a user must log out of his or her account and close the browser window when finished using the Internet, every time, so that others using the same computer do not have access to his or her information.

If you require assistance, please contact the Algoma Family Services Privacy Officer at the following address: Algoma Family Services, 205 McNabb Street, Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario), P6B 1Y3. You can also call us at 1 705 945-5050, or use the “Contact us” page:

https://algomafamilyservices.ca/fr/contact-us/

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