Ontario Ancestors’ Privacy Policy

Introduction & Overview 

We are committed to protecting your privacy and maintaining the security of any personal data received from you.  This policy outlines how we use and protect your information. 

If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your data you may contact us at [email protected]. 

The operations of Ontario Ancestors (The Ontario Genealogical Society) are governed by the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA).  We are also subject to the legislation of other jurisdictions such as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) of the European Union as well as the privacy and data protection legislation of the various states of the United States in which we have members as well as the applicable legislation of any other country where we may have members from time to time. Consequently, we endeavour to adhere to the highest standards of the legislation which may apply.  

When Does This Policy Apply? 

This policy applies to the personal data that Ontario Ancestors and our Branches and Special Interest Groups collect and hold about you when you become a member, create an account with us, access any of our websites, including https://ogs.on.ca; any of our Branch or Special Interest Group sites where the site url is in the format https;//ogs.on.ca;  https://xxxxxxx.ogs.on.ca; https://ontariofamilyhistory.org/; and https://ontarioancestors.ca/, or register for a conference/workshop or webinar, and/or make a purchase from our e-commerce, or engage in any form of transaction on one of our websites. 

What Is Personal Data? 

Personal data is any information that identifies you as an individual. 

What Types of Personal Data Do We Collect? 

Information we collect about you may include any one or more of the following types of data:   

  • when you join Ontario Ancestors we collect your name, address, phone number, email address and IP address; 
  • when you register on our website we collect your name, address, phone number, email address and IP address; 
  • when you register with or complete a transaction in any of our on-line ecommerce sites we collect name, address, phone number, email address and IP address; and   
  •  
  • we may occasionally contact you to ask for your input via a third-party contact or survey manager (e.g Mail Chimp, Survey Monkey).  If you respond, any personal data obtained through the survey is deleted after responses have been analyzed and anonymized. 

Where We Hold Your Information 

This information is held on our servers, through a third-party hosting provider (e.g. HostPapa.ca) and may be stored in Microsoft’s Canadian data centres.  

Ontario Ancestors does not use cookies on our website.  Cookies are small text files that often include an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to the user’s web browser from a website’s computers and is stored on the user’s computer’s hard drive.  

We do not collect any financial information from you. All financial information is handled through third party payment processors (e.g. PayPal, Square, etc.).   

The Purposes & Legal Basis for Obtaining Your Personal Data 

Your personal data may be used in the following ways:  

  • to perform necessary functions for the smooth running of Ontario Ancestors including maintaining the membership list;
  • to contact you for important information regarding Ontario Ancestors news, events and our annual general meeting and Conference; 
  • to communicate effectively with you by post, email and phone, including the distribution of relevant newsletters;
  • to compile statistics and conduct surveys and research for internal and statutory reporting purposes. For these purposes, your data will be anonymized; and
  • to deliver services to you. 

We consider the processing of your personal data for these purposes to be either necessary for the performance of our obligations with you, necessary for compliance with a legal obligation under the various statutes which govern our operations, or necessary for the performance of tasks we carry out in the public interest. We require you to provide us with any information we reasonably ask for in order to enable us to administer your membership status and account. If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal data, we will collect it at the appropriate time and you can refuse to provide consent or withdraw previously provided consent at any time. We will not use your personal data to carry out any wholly automated decision-making that affects you.  

Marketing and Updates 

We do not sell, trade, exchange or otherwise provide our membership lists or any of your personal data with third parties, except to the extent they may be under contract to us for specific purposes such as electronic voting, newsletter or email distribution, surveys, etc.  We may contact you with news and offers from us, from our partner societies or affiliates, or for the purpose of informing you of third party offers which we think may be of interest to you.  You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you would like to unsubscribe from emails or updates, you may do so by editing your email preferences or by unsubscribing entirely via the unsubscribe link included in all emails.  

Third Party Advertising 

Third parties may advertise on our web site. In doing so, those parties, their agents or other companies working for them may use technology that automatically collects your IP address when they send an advertisement to your web browser. They may also use other technology such as cookies or JavaScript to personalize the content of, and to measure the performance of their advertisements. We do not have control over these technologies or the data that these parties obtain. Accordingly, this privacy notice does not cover the information practices of these third parties. 

Other Legitimate Purposes 

We may also use online usage information to administer and improve our websites, to ensure that the content and function is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device and browser, to allow you to participate in interactive features when you choose to do so, and to keep our online services safe and secure.  

How Will Personal Data Be Processed? 

Your personal data is created, stored and transmitted securely in a variety of paper and electronic formats. Access to your personal data is limited to Ontario Ancestors volunteers and staff who have a legitimate interest in it for the purpose of carrying out their duties. 

Disclosure of Your Personal Data 

We do not disclose our membership lists or any of your personal data to anyone external to Ontario Ancestors except for the purposes noted above or to the extent we may be required to do so by lawful authority.  

How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Data? 

As a rule, we are entitled to maintain your personal data so long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. We may retain contact information for a period of two years after you cease to be a member, both for the purpose of contacting you, as well as for the purpose of determining eligibility for certain offers or pricing discounts.  The Income Tax Act (Canada) requires that we maintain detailed financial records in respect of membership and sales revenues for 7 calendar years following the year in which the transaction occurred.  After this time detailed financial information is destroyed to the extent permitted by law. 

We will not without specific consent email former members of the Society beyond the two-year limit permitted by the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).  

Your Rights 

You have the right to see, correct or delete any information that we hold about you.  If you wish to see your personal data that is held by us, you may request it at no charge via this link  https://ogs.on.ca/gdpr-request-personal-data/ 

You also have the right to withdraw consent to be contacted via email and can opt out of receiving information on any or all of the following:  

  • Ontario Ancestors Legal Notices
  • Account information
  • Branch/SIG Newsletter & Updates
  • Ontario Ancestors eWeekly Update Newsletter
  • Conference Registration/Information
  • Genealogy Special Offers/Discounts
  • Ontario Ancestors Blog 

 How We Protect Your Personal Data 

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal data. We employ reasonable technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect the confidentiality of your personal data.  Staff and volunteers sign a confidentiality agreement and are prohibited from sharing any personal data with anyone who does not have a need to know.   

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data during transmission to our site.  

In the event of a data breach, we commit to using our best efforts to notify affected individuals within 72 hours of learning of the breach. 

How You Can Contact Us 

Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns. 

For Further Information 

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada 

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) 

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) 

The General Data Protection Act 

  Updated August 2018

(c) 2018-2019 Ontario Ancestors