Privacy Statement
Community Legal Services of Ottawa is committed to protecting personal information by following responsible information-handling practices in keeping with privacy laws. The Community Legal Services of Ottawa website has embedded Steps to Justice legal information. The Steps to Justice website is developed by CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario/Education juridique communautaire Ontario). Both Community Legal Services of Ottawa and CLEO use modern information and communication technologies to support our activities. This privacy policy applies to the Community Legal Services of Ottawa website. For more information about Steps to Justice see the Steps to Justice privacy statement.
Anonymous access
You can access the Community Legal Services of Ottawa 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, 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 Community Legal Services of Ottawa activities and services.
Email mailing list subscriptions
When you subscribe to an email list from Community Legal Services of Ottawa, 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 Community Legal Services of Ottawa activities or projects, and Steps to Justice information updates. 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 Community Legal Services of Ottawa 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 disclosed 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. Community Legal Services of Ottawa uses cookies only to keep track of how many people visit the Community Legal Services of Ottawa website and the Steps to Justice content, 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 tools
Individual movements of users cannot be tracked while on the Community Legal Services of Ottawa website or the Steps to Justice embedded content. 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 Community Legal Services of Ottawa and the Steps to Justice websites use 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 Community Legal Services of Ottawa website and Steps to Justice content provide links to other websites. Community Legal Services of Ottawa and CLEO assume 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
Community Legal Services of Ottawa and CLEO maintain physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards that are appropriate to the type of personal information we obtain from you. Community Legal Services of Ottawa 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 Community Legal Services of Ottawa’s information-handling practices, we encourage you to let us know. In most cases, our staff will be able to address your concern. For any inquiries about Community Legal Services of Ottawa privacy practices, please contact:
Community Legal Services of Ottawa
1355, rue Bank Street, Suite 406
Ottawa, ON KlH 8K7
Tel. 613-733-0140
Fax 613-733-0401