Privacy Policy
Your privacy and the integrity of any information you provide are important to us. We have developed the following policy pursuant to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, 2000 c.5. (the "Privacy Act").
This policy is designed to inform you of how and why the Women's Canadian Club of Hamilton (WCCH) gathers personal and non-personal information about you on its websites.
This Policy applies to all employees/authorized volunteers, individuals using our products and services, and to certain persons with whom WCCH has contracted.
Our web sites are connected by "hyperlinks" to other web sites. We are not responsible in any way for the privacy practices on other web sites and suggest that you review the privacy policies on those linked web sites before using them.
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is any piece of information about an identifiable individual. Personal information does not include the name, title, business address, or business telephone number of an employee of an organization. ("Personal Information").Applicability of WCCH's Privacy Policy
WCCH's Privacy Policy informs you of our commitment to protecting Personal Information. It tells you the ways we ensure that Personal Information we collect on the websites is protected.
The terms "we," "us," and "our" mean WCCH's volunteer staff and our authorized contractors, consultants, and suppliers. "You" and "your" mean the individual who is a customer (by virtue of viewing our materials or using our online services), employee/volunteer, or arm's length contractor of WCCH. Our Privacy Policy applies to protect Personal Information in our possession and control.
1. We are accountable
At WCCH, we take our commitment to securing privacy very seriously. Each employee/volunteer and representative of WCCH is responsible for the Personal Information under his, her, or its control. They are informed about the importance of privacy and are updated about our Privacy Policy and related policies.
We have appointed a member of our volunteer board to act as our Privacy Officer. Our Privacy Officer is responsible for reviewing and approving all Personal Information handling practices at WCCH, and ensuring that our policies and practices are up-to-date. Our Privacy Officer may be contacted at Women's Canadian Club of Hamilton.
2. We will identify how personal information will be used
When and if we ever collect information about you, we will explain how we intend to use it. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes, and for no other purpose. We will always seek your consent.
3. We will confirm your consent
We will confirm your consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of Personal Information at the time of collection or in advance. Consent may be expressed in writing or implied, and in some cases, you may provide it verbally, electronically, or through your authorized representative.
Upon request, we will explain your options regarding refusing or withdrawing consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information, and we will record and respect your written choices. However, your decision to withhold particular details may limit the services we are able to offer to you.
4. We will limit the collection of Personal Information
Personal Information is collected by WCCH only for specific, limited purposes. When you visit our websites, information is not collected that could identify you personally unless you choose to provide it.
5. We will limit use, disclosure, and retention
The information we request from you is used only in accordance with purposes set out and in accordance with legislative requirements. We will seek your consent before using the information for any purposes beyond the scope of your original consent.
We will retain Personal Information only as long as is required for the purposes we describe and as is required under law. Once Personal Information is no longer required (or if you have opted-out or withdrawn consent), our practice is that it be destroyed, deleted, or made anonymous.
6. We will strive to have accurate records
All decisions we make involving Personal Information are based on accurate, complete, and up-to-date information. However, we rely upon you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes or corrections as they may relate to you.
We encourage you to contact us as soon as possible upon discovery that information is inaccurate, and we will make the appropriate reasonable corrections or amendments upon receipt of appropriate evidence.
7. We will protect Personal Information
We will protect Personal Information with appropriate safeguards and security measures.
Access to Personal Information is limited to those authorized by WCCH. WCCH's computer systems are password-secured or firewall protected and only authorized individuals may access these systems. To safeguard against unauthorized access to Personal Information via the Internet, you may be required to sign-on and go through a security protocol.
If you send us an e-mail message that includes Personal Information, we will use that information to respond to your inquiry. Please note that email is not necessarily secure against interception.
8. We will keep you informed
We want to keep you informed. Our Privacy Policy is transparent and it is made available to the public at
9. We will provide you with access
We will provide you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon written request, satisfactory identification, and proof of entitlement. We will respond to you within thirty days of receiving your proper written request.
In some very limited circumstances we may deny you access to Personal Information. If we deny your individual request for access to your Personal Information, we will advise you, subject to any legal requirements, in writing of the reason for the refusal.
10. We will be in compliance
WCCH encourages you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about Personal Information or this Privacy Policy. You can reach us by email with your questions, concerns, or requests at Women's Canadian Club of Hamilton.
What Information Is Collected?
WCCH may collect three kinds of information from our web site:
1. your voluntarily provided personal information;
2. anonymous information about your visit, and
3. "cookie" based information to help us track which pages on our web site(s) you're most interested in.
1. Your Personal Information
During normal website usage, you can visit our site without communicating any personal information. However, to make use of certain features which may be present from time to time on our site, such as on-line registration, contests, quizzes, promotions, or newsletters, users may be asked to register with the WCCH website. As part of this voluntary registration, WCCH may request contact information (such as name, mailing address, e-mail address, etc.) and other data required for operating these services. The only way we can collect personal information from you is if you voluntarily provide it. By voluntarily providing this personal information to us by sending a comment or suggestion, by submitting a registration, by entering a contest that is posted on our web site, etc., you will be consenting to the collection, use and distribution of your personal information by WCCH for the purposes set out in each case or other purposes of which we advise you in advance. You are under no obligation to provide us with personal information and can generally access and enjoy all or most parts of the WCCH web sites without providing us any personal information. Among other things, the following is a representative list of reasons we may ask for your personal information:
• To run contests, select entrants, and choose prize winners;
• To respond to your questions or the comments you e-mail to us;
• To provide you with newsletters or other information about our programming, special offers or services;
• To run discussion groups or bulletin boards;
• To keep aggregate information on web site use.
You should be aware that if you share personal information in public areas of our web site, such as discussion groups or bulletin boards, this information might be seen and used by other members of the public. We urge you to exercise good judgment when sharing personal information in these forums.
2. Anonymous Information About Your Visit:
When you visit our site, information about your visit (e.g. how you navigate the site) may be collected and stored. This information may include the length of your visit, the date and time of your visit, the pages you look at and the sites you visit before and after leaving our site. It does not include personally identifiable information such as your name, mailing or e-mail address, or telephone number. We use this non-identifiable and aggregate information to better design our web site. We also may share this information with our donors, sponsors, and suppliers. In addition to the non-identifying information described above, we may collect the following non-identifying information when you visit our web site:
• Your IP address
• Your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• Your Web Browser
3. "Cookie"-Based Information:
To tailor our site to the needs and interests of our visitors, we may keep track of the pages visited by our users by placing a small text file, called a "cookie", on your hard drive. A cookie is transferred to your browser by a Web server and can only be read by the server that gave it to you.
Cookies do not reveal personal information. The only information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself such as passwords, purchases, and preferences. Cookies cannot read data from your hard drive.
You may visit the site with your cookies turned off. However, you may not be able to access some of the areas of our site, which require cookies for customization and personalization.
What If I Do Not Agree With Your Privacy Policy?
By visiting our web site and voluntarily providing personal information to the WCCH web site, you agree to the terms of this online Privacy Policy.
We take reasonable precautions to keep the information that we collect through our web sites secure. However, we welcome your comments and/or suggestions on improving our web site and policies. If you do not agree to these terms, or wish to limit the use of any of your personal information that we may have, you may contact us at Women's Canadian Club of Hamilton.