Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Up-Lifted Newcomers Inc. ("Up-Lifted," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website and use our services.

This Privacy Policy complies with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) where applicable, and other applicable Canadian provincial privacy legislation.

2. Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you:

• Register for an account or sign up for our services
• Complete contact forms or request information
• Book premium services or subscriptions
• Participate in community forums or mentorship programs
• Upload documents for credential assessment
• Communicate with us via email, phone, or chat

This may include:

• Name, email address, phone number, and mailing address
• Immigration status and date of arrival in Canada
• Employment history, education credentials, and professional background
• Financial information for payment processing (handled securely by Stripe)
• Language preferences and communication preferences
• Any other information you choose to provide

Automatically Collected Information: When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, and the dates/times of your visits. This data helps us improve our website and services.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To provide and maintain our settlement services (housing, employment, education support)
• To process your bookings, subscriptions, and payments
• To connect you with mentors, employers, landlords, and community resources
• To communicate with you about your account, services, and updates
• To personalize your experience and provide tailored settlement guidance
• To improve our website, services, and AI-powered Information Hub
• To comply with legal obligations and protect our rights
• To send you newsletters and promotional materials (with your consent)

4. How We Protect Your Information

• SSL/TLS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers
• Secure database storage with access controls and authentication
• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
• Limited access to personal information by authorized personnel only
• PCI-DSS compliant payment processing through Stripe (we never store your full credit card details)
• Regular backup and disaster recovery procedures

5. Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information with service providers (such as payment processors), community partners (with your consent), and government authorities when required by law.

6. Your Rights Under Canadian Law

Under PIPEDA and applicable provincial legislation, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to access: You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Right to correction: You can request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete information
• Right to withdraw consent: You can withdraw your consent to our collection, use, or disclosure of your information at any time
• Right to complain: You can file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you believe we have mishandled your personal information
• Right to deletion: You can request deletion of your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience, analyze our website traffic, and understand where our visitors come from. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of our website.

Our hosting provider (GoDaddy) also places its own performance-analytics script on our pages; you may opt out of it by contacting GoDaddy support as described in its notice on our site. See Section 14 for more on service providers.

8. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable laws and regulations. When your information is no longer needed, we securely destroy or anonymize it in accordance with our data retention policies.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are not intended for individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately and we will promptly delete it.

10. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will post the updated policy on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

12. Email Communications (Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation — CASL)

We send two kinds of email:

• Transactional messages — account confirmations, password resets, booking and payment receipts. These are part of the service you signed up for.
• Commercial electronic messages — newsletters, event invitations, service updates and promotions. We send these only if you have expressly opted in (for example, by ticking the consent box at signup or subscribing to our newsletter).

Every commercial message identifies Up-Lifted Newcomers Inc. and includes a working unsubscribe link. You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking "unsubscribe" in any email, changing your preferences in your dashboard, or emailing hello@up-lifted.ca. Unsubscribe requests are honoured within 10 business days, as CASL requires. Withdrawing consent to marketing emails does not affect transactional messages related to your account.

13. Data Breach Notification

If a breach of security safeguards involving your personal information occurs and poses a real risk of significant harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as soon as feasible, in accordance with PIPEDA's mandatory breach-reporting requirements. We keep a record of every breach of security safeguards for 24 months, as required by law.

14. Service Providers and International Processing

We use trusted third-party service providers to operate our website and services, including GoDaddy (website hosting, which may use its own analytics script on our pages) and Stripe (payment processing). Some of these providers process or store information in the United States, where it may be subject to the laws of that country. We contractually require our providers to protect your information and use it only to provide their services to us.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:

Privacy Officer
Up-Lifted Newcomers Inc.
900 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M6H 1L1, Canada
Email: hello@up-lifted.ca
Phone: +1 (437) 987-3771
Toronto, ON, Canada

You also have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.