Privacy Policy

We value your privacy. Please read on below to see the privacy policies for Contests and the MyParksPass.ca website. Contact us for more information.

Contests Privacy Policy

Any personal information gathered by Nature Canada and its contest co-sponsors the Historica Dominion Institute and Parks Canada National Office (collectively referred to as “Nature Canada”) will only be used by Nature Canada, its Affiliates, or any organization authorized by Nature Canada, in a manner consistent with Nature Canada's Privacy Policy and for the purposes of enhancing your Nature Canada experience in providing you with Nature Canada products, services and information, or for submitting an entry into a promotional contest conducted by Nature Canada.

1. Objective & Scope of Policy

Nature Canada is committed to respecting your privacy and has prepared this Policy Statement to inform you of our policy and practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information. This Policy Statement governs Personal Information collected from and about individuals who are or may become Customers and those other individuals or partners with whom we work. It does not govern Personal Information that Nature Canada collects from and about our employees, the protection of which is governed by other Nature Canada policies. 

This Policy Statement also governs how Nature Canada treats Personal Information in connection with your use of a Nature Canada web site. Using contractual or other arrangements, Nature Canada shall ensure that agents, contractors or third party service providers, who may receive Personal Information in the course of providing services to Nature Canada as part of our delivery of products and services, protect that Personal Information in a manner consistent with the principles articulated in this Policy Statement.

In the event of questions about: (i) access to your Personal Information; (ii) Nature Canada’s collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information; or (iii) this Policy Statement; please contact:

Nature Canada

300 – 75 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7
Attn: R. Catana, Chief Operating Officer
info@naturecanada.ca

2. The Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Information

For the purposes of this Policy:

• "Customer" means an individual who may purchase or has purchased/leased products or services originally supplied by Nature Canada;
• "Affiliate" means an individual, other than a Customer, who is not an employee of Nature Canada. An Affiliate may be an individual or an employee of an organization with which Nature Canada has dealings in the normal course of business. Examples of Affiliates include independent contractors or service providers, legal counsel and consultants, and independent contest Judges.
• “Promotional Partners” are third party companies who are participating in Nature Canada’s promotional contests as prize providers.
• “Contest Entrant” is an individual (i.e. A student, parent or teacher) who has entered to win a Nature Canada promotional contest.
• "Personal Information" means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information.

Your provision of Personal Information to Nature Canada means that you agree and consent that we may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with these terms, you are requested not to provide any Personal Information to Nature Canada. Unfortunately, certain services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to Nature Canada. Consequently, if you choose not to provide us with any required Personal Information, Nature Canada may not be able to offer you those services.

Nature Canada uses the Personal Information provided verbally or in writing (including via electronic media such as email or the World Wide Web) by Customers and Affiliates in order to:

• Provide information about products and services to Nature Canada Customers;
• Manage our relationship with Nature Canada Customers;
• Manage Nature Canada’s relationship with Affiliates;
• Ensure the quality of Nature Canada’s products and services;
• Manage promotional contest entries, communications and prize issuance;
• Meet any legal or regulatory requirement; and
• Such other purposes consistent with the foregoing purposes.

Nature Canada’s use of Personal Information is limited to these purposes. Nature Canada does not sell, trade, barter or exchange for consideration any Personal Information it has obtained. Unless permitted by law, no personal information is collected about a Customer or Affiliate, without first obtaining the consent of the individual to the collection, use and dissemination of that information. Personal information will be collected, to the extent possible, directly from the individual concerned.

Personal Information from Minors: If Nature Canada collects any Personal Information from any person under the age of majority in his/her province or territory of residence, then Nature Canada requests the permission of a parent or legal guardian through the use on an online approval (i.e. On a contest entry form). Without the express permission of a parent or legal guardian, Nature Canada does not use such information. 

Nature Canada may disclose Personal Information of Customers, Contest Entrants or Affiliates to trusted third party organizations that perform services on behalf of Nature Canada. Personal Information will only be provided to organizations providing services to Nature Canada if they agree to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to Nature Canada and under the instruction of Nature Canada and, with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with the relevant principles articulated in this Policy.

In some situations, Nature Canada may also disclose Personal Information of Customers or Contest Entrants to trusted organizations that may be partners in promotional activities ("Promotional Partners"). This group of Promotional Partners is excluding Parks Canada, who will not receive access to Personal Information.  In such instances, this will only be done if our Promotional Partners agree to use such information solely for the specific, proposed promotional activity and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Information provided by a Promotional Partner to Nature Canada will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy. However, Nature Canada bears no responsibility for any other use of such Personal Information by that Promotional Partner.

Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where Nature Canada is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental tribunal;
• Where Nature Canada believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
• Where it is necessary to establish or collect monies owing to Nature Canada;
• Where it is necessary to permit Nature Canada to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that Nature Canada may sustain; or
• Where the information is public.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, Nature Canada will not disclose more information than is required.

3. Accuracy

Nature Canada endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided by its Customers, Contest Entrants and Affiliates and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which Nature Canada uses that data. Information contained in files that have been closed is not actively updated or maintained.

4. Retention of Information

Nature Canada retains Personal Information as long as Nature Canada believes it is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected. Currently, the principle places in which Nature Canada holds Personal Information is in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, in a secure database that is password protected and only accessed by those authorized with special access rights to our systems, and who are required to keep the information confidential.

5. Security of Information

Nature Canada endeavours to maintain adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information.

Nature Canada further protects Personal Information by restricting access to it to those employees and Affiliates that the management of Nature Canada has determined need to know that information in order that HDI may provide its products or services. Nature Canada has a policy under which employee misuse of Personal Information is treated as a serious offence for which disciplinary action may be taken.

In terms of communicating Personal Information to Nature Canada, you may wish to note that there is no method of transmitting or storing data that is completely secure. While the physical characteristics of each are different, mail, telephone calls, faxes and transmissions over the Internet are all susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception and misuse of the information being communicated or transmitted.

As do many organizations, Nature Canada attempts to strike a reasonable balance between security and convenience. In communicating with Customers and Affiliates, Nature Canada reserves the right to use a method of communication that is less secure than some of its less convenient alternatives. An example of this is email. At this time, when we use email, it is sent as unencrypted plain text. We do this because Nature Canada believes that many of our Customers, and Affiliates cannot readily process encrypted email. This is done for their convenience but has the security concern that, if misrouted or intercepted, it could be read more easily than encrypted email.

6. Visiting Nature Canada Web Sites & the Use of Cookies

With respect to its web sites, Nature Canada collects information from site visitors through the use of cookies. "Cookies" are files or pieces of information that may be stored in your computer's hard drive when you visit any of our web sites. Cookies are also used to remember that you may have already provided Personal Information to us and as a result, they help speed up your future activities when accessing any of our web sites. The cookies are persistent cookies and reside on your Internet browser for six (6) months. Nature Canada does not share Personal Information obtained through cookies with any third parties that do not agree to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to Nature Canada and under the instruction of Nature Canada and, with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with the relevant principles articulated in this Policy.

Most Internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can set yours to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. Please refer to your software manual or Internet provider for instructions.

In some instances, you may have received a unique Client ID and created a password in order to use the secure portions of an Nature Canada web site. You are requested not to divulge your Client ID or password to anyone other than Nature Canada personnel (e.g. Customer Service assistance, if provided) and then only for the purpose of permitting them to provide service to you.

In addition to Personal Information you provide and cookies, Nature Canada may collect other information about your visits to our web sites. For example, we may collect information about your computer, such as your IP address (a number assigned to your computer whenever you surf the World Wide Web); the type of Internet browser you are using; the type of computer operating system you are using; or the domain name of the web site from which you linked to our Websites. This information will not be linked to your Personal Information and will only be collected in the aggregate in connection with all the users of our Websites for planning, forecasting and/or evaluation purposes.

Nature Canada has no control over the content of third party web sites that may be identified on the Nature Canada web site or, if applicable, accessed through hyperlinks.

7. Access to Personal information

Nature Canada permits access to and review of Personal Information held by Nature Canada about an individual by the individual concerned.

If an individual believes any Personal Information concerning that individual is not correct, that person may request an update of that information by sending a request to the person indicated in Section 1 of this Policy. Nature Canada reserves the right not to change any Personal Information but will append any alternative text the individual concerned believes appropriate. 

Opting-Out: An individual may also request that Nature Canada delete an individual's Personal Information from Nature Canada’s system and records by contacting the person in Section 1. However, due to technical constraints and the fact that Nature Canada backs up its systems, Personal Information may continue to reside in Nature Canada’s systems after deletion. Individuals, therefore, should not expect that their Personal Information would be completely removed from Nature Canada systems in response to an accepted request for deletion.

Nature Canada reserves the right to decline access to Personal Information where the information requested:

a) Would disclose the Personal Information of another individual or of a deceased individual;

b) Would disclose business confidential information that may harm Nature Canada or the competitive position of a third party;

c) Is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege;

d) Could reasonably result in:

  (i) serious harm to the treatment or recovery of the individual concerned;

  (ii) serious emotional harm to the individual or another individual; or

  (iii) serious bodily harm to another individual;

e) May harm or interfere with law enforcement activities and other investigative or regulatory functions of a body authorized by statute to perform such functions;

f) Is not readily retrievable and the burden or cost of providing would be disproportionate to the nature or value of the information; or

g) Does not exist, is not held, or cannot be found by Nature Canada.

Where information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with the reasons for non-disclosure.

Where information will be disclosed, Nature Canada will endeavor to provide the information in question within a reasonable time and no later than 30 days following the request.

Nature Canada will not respond to repetitious or vexatious requests for access. In determining whether a request is repetitious or vexatious, it will consider such factors as the frequency with which information is updated, the purpose for which the information is used, and the nature of the information. To guard against fraudulent requests for access, Nature Canada will require sufficient information to allow it to confirm the identity of the person making the request before granting access or making corrections.

8. Amendment of Nature Canada Practices and This Policy

This statement is in effect as of April 4, 2011. Nature Canada will from time to time review and revise its privacy practices and this Policy Statement. In the event of any amendment, an appropriate notice will be posted on Nature Canada web sites and communicated to our Affiliates, and provided to our Customers upon request. Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of posting of the revised Policy Statement to Nature Canada’s web site as well as to existing information held by Nature Canada.

9. What You Consent and Agree To

In summary, when you provide Nature Canada with Personal Information, you consent and agree to the following:

• The collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information from or about you as described in Section 2, and to your right to access and correct data as described in Section 7.
• Your acceptance of the risks concerning the transmission of information to Nature Canada as described in Section 5.
• The amendment of this Policy Statement as described in Section 8.

Contact us at info@naturecanada.ca to do any of the following:

• to request a copy of your Personal Information
• to ask that we not contact you
• to report any violations of the Privacy Policy

Nature Canada is committed to protecting your privacy.

MyParksPass.ca Online Privacy Policy

Guidelines on Privacy and Confidentiality Policies

Internet Privacy Policy

Nature Canada develops and maintains the online presence, myparkspass.ca, for the My Parks Pass program partners (Nature Canada, Parks Canada and The Historica-Dominion Institute).  Myparkspass.ca is an information tool that strives to provide Canadians with opportunities to engage in activities at national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas. An important part of this website involves dialogue, questions and answers, and feedback. If you are considering exchanging information with us, you may wonder what standards we uphold and how we protect your privacy. 

Our standards

Nature Canada follows the Canadian Marketing Association’s guidelines. We are committed to its high standards, which require honesty, integrity and fairness in all customer relationships. Our Web site managers adhere to the Canadian Marketing Association’s Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice (Section J). We also uphold the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which came into effect in Canada in 2004. 

Collection of personal information

Nature Canada collects personal information from you so we can start and maintain an active relationship to provide you with the service you want, and respond to your questions and conservation interests. 

We make sure you are aware we collect your personal information, that you know what information is being collected, and how it will be used. Should you inquire about our programs, participate in a survey or promotion, or contact our office, Nature Canada, on behalf of the My Parks Pass program partners, may also request some or all of the following personal information from you: your name, address and telephone number, e-mail address, fax number, and date of birth. You have the right to decline giving us this information.

Nature Canada does not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law.  Nature Canada retains personal information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.

How does Nature Canada protect my personal information?

Any personal identifiable data about our supporters and on-line visitors is stored securely and kept in confidence. Our staff is authorized to access personal information only when the need for the information is in line with the reason it was provided. Nature Canada has technological and administrative safeguards in place that ensure the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was obtained. Other measures are in place to maintain the information’s integrity and to prevent its being lost or destroyed.

On our Web site a locked padlock icon indicates that a page is secure through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This means that industry-standard encryption technologies are active during the transfer and reception of your personal information. 

What information is collected or released automatically on our Web site?

Internet Protocol Address:

We collect an IP address from all visitors to our Site. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our Site, analyze trends, track users' movement, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use in order for us to improve the site, and deliver customized, personalized content. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. 

Use of "Cookies":

Our Site may use cookies to enhance your experience while using our Site. Cookies are pieces of information that some Web sites transfer to the computer that is browsing that Web site and are used for record-keeping purposes at many Web sites. Use of cookies makes Web-surfing easier by performing certain functions such as saving your passwords, your personal preferences regarding your use of the particular Web site and to make sure you don't see the same ad repeatedly. Many consider the use of cookies to be an industry standard. 

Your browser is probably set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our Site will not function properly when you view them. 

Security:

All information provided to Nature Canada is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a proven coding system that lets your browser automatically encrypt, or scramble, data before you send it to us. We also protect account information by placing it on a secure portion of our Site that is only accessible by certain qualified employees of Nature Canada. Unfortunately, however, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information. 

Tell-A-Friend:

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our Site, we ask them for the friend's name and email address. Nature Canada will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the Site. Nature Canada stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email. 

Other Web Sites:

Our Site contains links to other Web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another Web site for which Nature Canada has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.

What other information is collected?

From time to time we may collect the addresses of our visitors in order to better understand where you live and therefore how closely you might be connected to a particular issue. We do not use this information to identify you personally. 

How does Nature Canada use non-personal information?

The information you supply is added to our database. As a result we may use e-mail to keep in touch with you and other interested individuals. We never share e-mail addresses with other organizations other than the My Parks Pass program partner (excluding Parks Canada). 

When you leave this site

Our site contains links to the Web sites of other organizations. Once you link to another site you are subject to its privacy and security policies, not those of Nature Canada. 

What information can I update?

In response to an e-mail message, telephone call or letter, we will update your Nature Canada account or record, including 

• contact information (name, address, phone number); and
• transaction information (dates on which we received your support).

Children’s policy

Nature Canada does not intentionally solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or request support from anyone under the age of 18 without the written consent of a parent or guardian. From time to time we will survey our young visitors, however, so we can consider their views when developing new educational materials. 

If you want your name removed or your listing updated

If you do not want Nature Canada to use or disclose your name and other details for the sake of providing you with information which might be of interest to you, or if you want us to update your information, please contact us at the address below. Subject to any legal or statutory requirements, we will abide by your request. It generally takes 15 business days to update our records. 

If you have not notified us previously about your preferences and do not do so now, we will understand that you have consented to our continued use, disclosure and retention of your information for these purposes. You may contact us to withdraw or change your consent at any time. 

Any questions or concerns about our privacy practices or your personal information in our possession should be sent in to:

Privacy Officer

Nature Canada
75 Albert St., Suite 300
Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7
Toll-free: 1-800-267-4088
E-mail: info@naturecanada.ca