Nature Explorers Privacy Policy: Guidelines on Privacy and Confidentiality Policies

Internet Privacy Policy

Nature Canada’s online website, NatureExplorers.ca, is an information tool that strives to provide Canadians with opportunities to engage in nature-based activities on an ongoing basis. An important part of this on-line 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.

We 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.

What Kind of Visitor Information Do We Collect?

Some information is gathered automatically about all visitors to this web site, and some information is gathered by voluntary submission.

Information Automatically Gathered About All Visitors

We collect aggregate and user-specific information on which pages visitors access. This information is used to generate reports that help us assess the value of and interest in different pages or features in the community. We use the information we collect to improve the content of our web pages. We can build a better site if we know which pages our users are visiting, how often they visit and how long they stay on a page.

Our web servers automatically collect limited information about your computer's connection to the Internet, including your IP address (but not the e-mail address), when you visit our sites. 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.

To help make our sites more responsive to the needs of our visitors, we may utilize a standard feature of browser software called a "cookie." 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 browsing 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.

Information Gathered by Voluntary Submission

To make use of certain features on the website (such as posting photos, entering contests or posting comments) visitors need to register and to provide certain information as part of the registration or participation process. During the registration process, you will be asked to provide an e-mail address, name, username, physical location, and age. It is not mandatory to provide your physical location in order to register on the website, but the information you supply will help us offer you more personalized features, to tailor our sites to your interests and make them more useful to you. The more you tell us about yourself, the more value we can offer you. Supplying such information is entirely voluntary.

When you register on Nature Explorers, a cookie will be used to automatically identify you as a registered user when you are using our site. These cookies are known as persistent cookies and continue on your computer after the initial session in which they are created.

How does Nature Canada protect my personal information?

Any personal identifiable data about our online 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.

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.

Other Web Sites

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

How does Nature Canada use my information?

The information you supply is stored in our database. The information you supply will help us offer you more personalized features, to tailor our community to your interests and make it more useful to you. We may use e-mail to keep in touch with you about the Nature Explorers program and other Nature Canada programs that we think may be of interest to you. We never share e-mail addresses with other organizations.

When you leave this site

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

What information can I update?

You can update your personal profile information, including e-mail address and password, by clicking on your username at the top left of any NatureExplorers.ca website page while you are logged in. Once you’ve made your updates, click Save.You may also have your profile removed by emailing Nature Explorers (accounts@natureexplorers.ca) with Remove Profile and your username in the subject. We will have your profile deleted within 3 business days.

Questions?

Any questions or concerns about our privacy practices or your personal information in our possession should be sent to:
Privacy Officer
Nature Canada
75 Albert St., Suite 300
Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7
Toll-free: 1-800-267-4088
E-mail:natureexplorers@naturecanada.ca