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Privacy Policy (abilities.ca)

1. Overview

The Canadian Abilities Foundation (“CAF”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who visit abilities.ca and interact with us online or offline. We collect, use, and disclose personal information in a manner that is consistent with applicable Canadian privacy laws and that respects the dignity and autonomy of people with disabilities.

This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information collected through abilities.ca and related channels.

2. Personal information we collect

We may collect the following types of information:

  • Contact information, such as name, email address, mailing address, and phone number, when you subscribe to our newsletter, request information, or contact us.
  • Communication details, such as the content of emails or messages you send to us and our responses.
  • Subscription and engagement information, such as your preferences for receiving communications about Abilities Magazine, events, or updates.
  • Technical information, such as IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, and referring website, collected through cookies and similar technologies to help us understand how our site is used and to improve performance and accessibility.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive health or other highly sensitive information through abilities.ca forms. If you choose to share such information with us, we will treat it with appropriate care.

3. Donations and CanadaHelps

We do not collect or process payment card information on abilities.ca. When you choose to donate online, you are redirected to CanadaHelps, a secure, third‑party platform that processes donations on our behalf. Your use of CanadaHelps is governed by its own privacy policy and terms of use, and we encourage you to review those documents before completing a donation.

CanadaHelps may share with us limited donor information, such as your name, contact information, donation amount, and communication preferences, so that we can issue acknowledgements and maintain our donor records. We use this information for stewardship and reporting purposes and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.​

4. How we use personal information

We use personal information for purposes including:

  • Providing you with Abilities Magazine and related content, services, and resources you request.
  • Managing subscriptions, mailing lists, and event or program communications.
  • Responding to inquiries, feedback, and accessibility‑related requests.
  • Communicating with donors about their support, where information is shared with us by CanadaHelps.
  • Operating, maintaining, and improving abilities.ca, including accessibility and usability.
  • Meeting legal, regulatory, and reporting obligations applicable to registered charities in Canada.

We limit collection and use of personal information to what is reasonably necessary to achieve these purposes.

5. Legal basis and consent

In most cases, we rely on your consent to collect, use, and disclose your personal information. By providing personal information to us (for example, by subscribing to our newsletter or sending us an email), you consent to its use for the purposes explained at the time of collection and in this Privacy Policy.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. For example, you can unsubscribe from email communications using the link included in our messages or by contacting us directly.

6. Sharing personal information

We do not sell or trade your personal information. We may share personal information:

  • With trusted service providers who support our operations (for example, email marketing platforms, website hosting and analytics services), and who are contractually required to protect your information and use it only for the services they provide to us.
  • With CanadaHelps and other donation or event platforms you choose to use, in accordance with their own privacy policies.
  • When required or permitted by law, such as to comply with a court order, legal process, or regulatory request.

7. Storage, security, and retention

We take reasonable physical, administrative, and technical measures to protect personal information against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification.

Personal information may be stored on servers located in Canada or other jurisdictions. In some cases, it may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions. We retain personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes identified or as required by law, after which it is securely destroyed or anonymized.

8. Cookies and analytics

Abilities.ca may use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Remember user preferences such as language or font size.
  • Understand how visitors use our site, including which pages are visited and how users arrive at the site.
  • Improve content, navigation, and accessibility over time.

You can adjust your browser settings to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable cookies, some features of the site may not function as intended.

9. Access, correction, and questions

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, to ask for corrections if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete, and to ask questions or raise concerns about our privacy practices.

To make a request or ask a question, please contact us:

Canadian Abilities Foundation
247 King Street East
Cobourg, ON K9A 1L7
Phone: 416‑421‑7944
Email: hello@canadianabilities.org

We may require verification of your identity before providing access. We aim to respond to privacy‑related requests within a reasonable time.

10. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The effective date will appear at the top of the page, and the revised Policy will apply to all information collected after that date.