Privacy Statement
Halton Community Legal Services is committed to protecting personal information by following responsible information-handling practices in keeping with privacy laws. Halton Community Legal Services uses modern information and communication technologies to support our activities. This privacy policy applies to the Halton Community Legal Services website.
Anonymous access
You can access the Halton Community Legal Services website home page and browse our site without disclosing your personal data. As a general policy, no personal information is collected from our visitors. The only personal information we collect is the information that you volunteer, such as:
- When you give us feedback, submit an inquiry form, ask a question, or complete a survey
- When you give us your email address to allow us to send you requested information, such as an email bulletin
- When you sign up to receive social media updates
- We use and disclose data, which does not identify individuals, for statistical purposes to develop and enhance Halton Community Legal Services activities and services.
Email mailing list subscriptions
When you subscribe to an email list from Halton Community Legal Services, you need to supply your name and an email address. This email address is used to deliver the mailing list messages to you, such as information about Halton Community Legal Services activities or projects. Your email address will not be disclosed to any other mailing list subscriber, organization, website, or government agency. If you do not wish to hear about Halton Community Legal Services programs, projects, updates, or opportunities, you may unsubscribe at any time.
Information Sharing
We do not share or sell the personal information we collect. We will not disclose your personal information to anyone else without your prior knowledge or consent unless that personal information discloses a likelihood of serious harm to you or someone else.
Use of cookies
A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred from any website you are on to the hard drive of your computer so that the website may identify separate visitors to the site and track users’ activities on the website. A cookie will not give a website any personally identifiable information about you, such as your name and address. Halton Community Legal Services uses cookies only to keep track of how many people visit the Halton Community Legal Services website and how frequently each page is visited. Specifically, cookies are used to:
- Preserve and expire visitor sessions on the site (keeping visitors signed in after authenticating or saving data; and ending the session after a period of inactivity)
- Store font size preferences on the site
- Enable web analytic tool
Individual movements of users cannot be tracked while on the Halton Community Legal Services website. We use cookies to track page popularity only to be able to improve the quality of the site and meet your needs. We collect information about you only if you volunteer it.
Visitors who wish to opt out of cookies should review the help documentation for their browser software to decline or selectively decline cookies. Visitors can also regularly delete their browser and cookie history. Note that declining cookies may adversely impact site performance for you.
Google Analytics
The Halton Community Legal Services website uses Google Analytics to track performance. Google Analytics uses persistent cookies to track visitor sessions, visitors across multiple sessions, and referral sources to both websites. We also track the performance of promotional links to our site. In compliance with the Google Analytics Terms of Service, at no time is personally identifiable information passed to Google Analytics. Note that Google Analytics stores its data within the United States and is subject to US laws. Those wishing to opt out of Google Analytics data collection should use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Links on our website
The Halton Community Legal Services website provides links to other websites. Halton Community Legal Services assumes no responsibility for the information practices of sites you are able to access through our site. We encourage visitors to review each site’s privacy policy before disclosing any personally identifiable information.
Confidentiality and security
Halton Community Legal Services maintains physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards that are appropriate to the type of personal information we obtain from you. Halton Community Legal Services staff and volunteers who have access to personal data are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and handle it responsibly. As a law office, any information you give us is confidential. The only exceptions are if information shows a likelihood of serious harm to you or others or (if we are providing you with a service) if we get a request from Legal Aid Ontario (our funder) for financial information that shows that you qualify for our services.
Privacy Questions
If you have a complaint or concern about Halton Community Legal Services’ information-handling practices, we encourage you to let us know. In most cases, our staff will be able to address your concerns. For any inquiries about Halton Community Legal Services privacy practices, please contact:
haltonconsult@hcls.clcj.ca
400-700 Dorval Drive
Oakville, ON L6K 3V3
Tel: 905-875-2069