Privacy Policy

At the City of Owen Sound, we are committed to collecting and using your personal information responsibly. The privacy and protection of your personal information is of utmost importance to us. The City is subject to the provisions of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). The Act requires that a local government protect the privacy of an individual's personal information that exists in its records and that it follows rules regarding the collection, retention, use, disclosure, and disposal of personal information in its custody or control.

The City endeavours to ensure that only required personal information is collected in accordance with authorized statues, by-laws, etc. and complies with the privacy provisions. Most of the information accessible on the City’s website does not require you to provide personal information about yourself. You may access it anonymously. The only personally identifying information arising from your use of the City of Owen Sound website is what you voluntarily supply.

Why is Personal information collected?

The City collects and retains personal information for several reasons:

• To process your requests for services, products, or additional information.
• To communicate/contact you regarding services that you have requested.
• To advise you of changes to our services and of service interruptions.
• To meet legal and regulatory requirements.
• To maintain a payment history.
• To collect unpaid accounts.
• To establish, administer and maintain billing, payment and other services related to accounting as well as security measures concerning your business and client relationship with us.

What Information do we collect?

Depending on the purposes(s) for which we need to collect it, we may ask for the following personal information about you including but not limited to:

• Basic identification information such as your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address, birth date.
• Medical information such as any condition that may affect your ability to participate in recreation activities, etc.
• Emergency contact information.

Who do we disclose your personal information to?

We do not sell or rent your personal information. Sometimes we must share your personal information with others to serve your needs. The following are some situations in which we share personal information:

• With companies contracted to process your requests (ex. Garbage disposal companies to action your complaints, etc.)
• For law enforcement purposes.
• For acting in an emergency to facilitate contact with your next of kin if you become injured or ill.

How do we protect your personal information?

To protect your personal information, the City of Owen Sound:

• collects only the personal information needed to provided services.
• keeps your personal information only for as long as we need it to provide services.
• safeguards your personal information to the best of our ability.
• responds to any request you may make to access or correct the personal information we hold about you.
• obtain appropriate consent from you for the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information.

Some other security methods/procedures include:

• the use of passwords for the protection of electronic information.
• firewalls for network security.
• standards relating to the storage of personal information.
• policies regarding the removal of records from the workplace, security of records in locked cabinets, briefcases, locking records in secure areas, etc.
• access and privacy policies and procedures to help restrict unauthorized access or release of your personal information.
• disposal of personal information in a confidential manner such as shredding; and

SSL Technology

Our website uses encryption technology, such as Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”), to protect your personal information during data transport. SSL encrypts personal and payment information such as your name, address, credit card number and any other personal information that is required to perform your transaction. Note, that the City of Owen Sound does not store your credit card information and that it is only used for the duration of the transaction.

Use of “Cookie” Technology

Cookie technology captures summary – not individual – information on visitor use on the website. It is a computer code that tracks “traffic’ so we can determine how effective the website is in meeting informational or service needs. A cookie contains no personal identifying information, and the City of Owen Sound acquires no knowledge of an internet visitor’s browsing habits. Apart from providing a performance measure, the data collected by the cookie is otherwise meaningless.