Privacy Statement

OWF commitment to maintaining your privacy and security
The Ontario Wildlife Foundation (OWF) is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information. This Privacy Statement explains our web information management practices. The OWF adheres to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada).

We do not collect your personal information when you visit our websites unless you choose to use and receive online services and products that require it. We collect only that information which is needed to complete the service or transaction. For transactions involving credit cards, we use up-to-date security protocols to ensure integrity and confidentiality.

Alternatives to the Internet
If you choose not to use the Internet to provide personal information to the OWF, you may contact us by telephone or mail, or visit us in person at our office located in Peterborough, Ontario during business hours. Not all options may be available in every situation.

Cookies
Some OWF websites use cookies. Cookies make it more convenient for users to move around our websites, and are needed when there is a login requirement. Cookies can also be used to make the process more convenient by ‘remembering’ your password. These types of cookies need to be stored on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies used by the OWF are encrypted to make the information in cookies unreadable to anyone except OWF authorized personnel.

Web analytics
In order to serve you better, the OWF uses the Google web analytics service. Analytic reports help us to improve our services and improve our websites. These tools use cookies to collect and generate information about your visits to our sites (including your IP address) that is transmitted to our servers in an anonymous form. Neither the analytics service provider nor the OWF is able to identify individuals through these tools. You can choose to opt out of Google analytics activity by utilizing a free Google Analytics opt out add-on which blocks Google analytics cookies through your browser setting.

External links
Some OWF websites provide links to sites created and maintained by other organizations. When you link to an outside (external) website, the OWF privacy policy no longer applies. You use these sites at your own risk.

Personal information online
Certain actions involve providing the OWF with personal information such as your name, address, phone number, email address and credit card number. These actions may include but are not limited to:

  • submitting an email, comment, question or request;
  • conducting e-commerce transactions (i.e. purchasing items from the online shop);
  • subscribing to online information (i.e. newsletters);
  • requesting a service or product; or
  • providing feedback (i.e. comments) or completing online surveys.

When you use our websites, any personal information that you provide will be used to respond to your message and/or provide you with the requested service or product. Only the personal information that is necessary is collected. At the time the information is collected, you will be informed of the specific purpose for which it is being collected.

Children
The OWF recognizes the importance of protecting privacy where children are involved. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from or about children under the age of 13 years, nor do we publish information online regarding children. If we have unknowingly been provided with and published information about a child, we ask that the child’s parent or guardian call 705-876-7256 or email owf@ontwf.org so that we may delete the identifying information from our files.

How do we use cookies?
A cookie is a small text file sent from a web server and placed on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies are generally used to enhance your browsing experience. You can choose to set your browser to detect and reject cookies, to accept cookies from all sites, or to prompt you whenever a site wants to send you a cookie. Check your browser’s “Help” files to learn how to do this. If you choose to refuse cookies, you may not be able to access some of the interactive features on our websites.

Cookies do not give us access to anything on your hard drive and cannot do anything to your computer. Cookies used by the OWF are encrypted for security purposes to make the information in the cookie unreadable to anyone except OWF authorized personnel. The OWF may use two types of cookies: session cookies (temporary) and persistent cookies (longer-term continuing use).
Session cookies may be used to support online feedback such as comments and forums, forms, and ‘e-commerce/shopping cart’ transactions. Session cookies are used only during your online session and expire when you close your browser. You can move around our websites without allowing cookies, but it may slow down the process.

Persistent cookies may be stored on your computer’s hard drive for some length of time. They are usually used if you want us to remember information about your passwords for automatic login purposes or your web preferences, such as large font.

Security
The OWF’s security practices are continually evolving to ensure that the integrity and confidentiality of our information and systems are maintained. We use up-to-date security safeguards to protect our network and websites from misuse, alteration, copying, disclosure, destruction, monitoring or unauthorized sharing of information, and damage. The OWF’s safeguards include the use of security software and encryption protocols and involve physical, technical and procedural controls to protect information behind the OWF firewall.

What steps can I take to protect my online activities?
Users are encouraged to learn about protecting their own computers to ensure that their online activities remain private.

How can I access and correct my personal information?
Some OWF online services provide the ability for Internet users to correct their own information online. You are also entitled to view and request corrections to incomplete or inaccurate personal information that the OWF has collected about you.

Who can I contact for further information?
Questions or comments regarding OWF practices or OWF administration of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) may be directed to the Coordinator by emailing owf@ontwf.org calling 705-876-7256, or writing to:

Coordinator
Ontario Wildlife Foundation
PO Box 1598
Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7S4

For additional information about the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada), you may wish to contact:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Place de Ville, Tower B, 3rd Floor
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H3
Toll-free: 1 (800) 282-1376
www.priv.gc.ca