Privacy Policy
Indigenous Occupational Therapy Collective
Last Updated: July 5, 2025
The Indigenous Occupational Therapy Collective ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of our website visitors and members. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you visit and interact with our website, indigenousot.ca.
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As an organization operating in Canada, we adhere to the principles of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
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We understand and respect the importance of privacy, especially within Indigenous communities, and strive to uphold principles of OCAP® (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession) in our data practices where applicable to Indigenous data.
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1. Information We Collect
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We may collect various types of information, including personal information, in the following ways:
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Information You Provide Directly:
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Contact Information: When you contact us through our website, sign up for newsletters, or register for events, you may provide your name, email address, phone number, and postal address.
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Membership Information: If you apply for or become a member, we may collect information relevant to your professional background, Indigenous identity (if voluntarily provided and relevant to membership criteria), and payment details.
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Communications: Records of your correspondence with us, including emails and inquiries.
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Surveys and Feedback: Information you provide when participating in surveys or providing feedback.
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Information Collected Automatically:
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Usage Data: When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain information about your device and how you interact with our website. This may include your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, and the dates and times of your visits.
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Cookies and Similar Technologies: We may use cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies to enhance your experience, analyze website usage, and for security purposes. You can control the use of cookies through your browser settings.
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2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:
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To Provide and Improve Our Services:
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Operating, maintaining, and improving our website and its functionalities.
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Processing your membership applications and managing your membership.
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Responding to your inquiries and providing customer support.
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Registering you for events, workshops, and webinars.
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Personalizing your experience on our website.
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For Communication:
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Sending you newsletters, updates, and information about our activities, events, and initiatives that may be of interest to you.
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Communicating with you about your membership or inquiries.
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For Research and Analysis:
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Understanding how our website is used to improve its content and design.
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Analyzing trends and gathering demographic information for internal purposes.
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Conducting research to improve occupational therapy practices, particularly within Indigenous contexts, ensuring anonymization or explicit consent for personal information.
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For Security and Legal Compliance:
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Detecting, preventing, and addressing technical issues and security incidents.
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Complying with applicable laws, including PIPEDA, and other provincial and federal regulations.
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Protecting our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others.
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3. Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances, always in accordance with PIPEDA:
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With Your Consent: We may share your information if you give us explicit consent to do so.
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Service Providers: We may share your information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or providing services to you (e.g., website hosting, payment processing, email delivery, analytics). These service providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and only use it for the purposes for which we disclose it to them, in compliance with Canadian privacy laws.
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Professional Regulatory Bodies: If applicable, we may be required to disclose information to professional regulatory bodies governing occupational therapy practice in Ontario, such as the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario (COTO), as part of our professional obligations.
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Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law (e.g., a court order, subpoena, or government agency request) or in response to valid requests by public authorities, always striving to ensure the minimum amount of information is disclosed.
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Protection of Rights: We may disclose your information when we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
We will not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.
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4. Data Retention
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We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. When we no longer need your personal information, we will securely delete or anonymize it.
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5. Data Security
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We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. These safeguards include:
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Secure servers and data encryption.
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Access controls to limit access to personal information to authorized personnel.
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Regular security assessments and updates.
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Staff training on privacy and data security.
While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
6. Your Privacy Rights (PIPEDA)
Under PIPEDA, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:
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Access: The right to request access to the personal information we hold about you. We will provide you with access to your information, subject to certain exceptions outlined in the legislation.
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Correction/Rectification: The right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
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Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, the right to withdraw that consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions.
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Complaint to Privacy Commissioner: You have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) if you believe your privacy rights have been violated.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided below. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable Canadian privacy laws.
7. Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites that are not operated by us. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit.
8. Children's Privacy
Our website is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the updated Privacy Policy on this page and revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Your continued use of our website after the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Indigenous Occupational Therapy Collective