Privacy Policy

Alberta Parenting for the Future Association (“apfa”, “we”, “us”) collects the personal information you provide for the purpose of the program, event, camp, or service for which you register, apply, or are referred. We comply with all laws that apply to the protection of personal information for non-profit organizations in Alberta, including the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

This policy explains what we collect through this website, why we collect it, who else can see it, and how you can access, correct, or remove it.

Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information:

• Event registration information — name, email address, phone number, and details about the child or children being registered, along with any additional questions the specific event asks. Where an event offers childcare or a waitlist, we also record those requests.
• Account information — if you create an account, your name, email address, phone number, and the children you choose to save for faster registration, including each child's name and date of birth. We ask for a date of birth rather than an age so the record stays accurate over time.
• Program, intake, waiver, and referral forms — depending on the form, this can include home address, community of residence, year of birth, children's names and dates of birth, whether you or your children were born in Canada and how long you have been here, whether English or French is your first language, whether you identify as First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Francophone, the reason you are participating or being referred, who referred you, and your typed name where it is used as a signature on a consent or release.
• Newsletter subscriptions — email address provided when subscribing to our mailing list.
• Contact form submissions — name, email address, and message content submitted through our contact form.
• Usage data — information about how visitors interact with our website, collected through analytics tools (see Google Analytics below).

Some of this is sensitive information. We collect it because our funders and Family Resource Network partners require aggregate reporting on who our programs reach, and because it helps us deliver programs that fit the families we serve. Fields of this kind are optional wherever a program does not strictly require them, and choosing not to answer will not affect your access to a program.

Children's Information

We collect information about children from their parent or guardian, not from the children themselves. If you create an account, the children you save are visible only to you and to apfa staff — never to other members or the public. You can edit or remove a saved child at any time from your account page.

How We Use Your Information

• To register you for, and run, the program or event you signed up for.
• To send you a registration confirmation, calendar details, and any necessary updates, reminders, or cancellation notices about that program.
• To manage capacity, waitlists, and childcare spots.
• To respond to messages you send us and to process referrals.
• To send our newsletter, where you have asked for it.
• To produce aggregate, de-identified statistics for our funders and partners.
• To keep the website working, secure, and free of abuse.

Text Messages and Email

Some registration and referral forms ask you to agree to receive text messages and emails from apfa for the purpose of that event or service. That consent covers program communications only — confirmations, changes, reminders, and follow-up about the program you registered for or were referred to. It is separate from our newsletter, and you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us at frontdesk@apfa.ca. Withdrawing it may mean we can no longer send you important updates about a program you are enrolled in.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website uses cookies, browser storage, and similar technologies. Cookies are small text files stored on your device; browser storage works in much the same way.

We use the following:

• Essential — your chosen language, and, if you sign in, the session cookies that keep you signed in. The site cannot work properly without these, and they are not used to track you.
• Your cookie choice — whether you accepted or declined analytics is saved in your browser's local storage, so we do not have to ask again on every page.
• Analytics — Google Analytics sets cookies (such as _ga) to measure how visitors use the site. These load only if you accept them. Until you do, Google Analytics is not loaded and sets nothing.

We ask for your choice the first time you visit. You can change it at any time using the Cookie Preferences link at the bottom of any page — declining also clears the analytics cookies from any earlier visit. Declining has no effect on your ability to browse the site, register for programs, or use your account.

You can also control or block cookies through your browser settings, and opt out of Google Analytics everywhere using the add-on linked below. Blocking essential cookies will prevent parts of the site — including signing in — from working.

Who Can See Your Information

Information you submit through this website is accessible to apfa staff who administer programs, and to the service providers described below who store or transmit it on our behalf. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing.

Beyond that, we disclose personal information only:

• To a partner agency, when you are referred. Our referral form is used to connect a family to another organization — for example Native Counselling Services of Alberta, Big Brothers Big Sisters, or Lobstick Successful Kids & Families. The form records that the client is aware of the referral and has consented to their information being shared with the named agency. Nothing is shared through a referral without that consent.
• Where we are required or permitted by law to do so, including our legal duty to report a child who may be in need of intervention.

Where Your Information Is Stored

Registrations, form submissions, member accounts, and uploaded images are stored in our Supabase database and file storage, hosted in the United States (AWS us-west-2). The website itself is hosted by Vercel, and our email is sent through Resend. This means your personal information is stored and processed outside Canada and is subject to the laws of the United States, including lawful access by U.S. authorities. By submitting information through this website, you consent to that transfer and storage.

How Long We Keep It

We keep your personal information for as long as necessary for the program, event, or service it was collected for, and afterwards only for as long as we are required to for our funding, reporting, insurance, and legal obligations. Waivers and consents are kept for as long as they may need to be relied on. Account information is kept until you ask us to remove it. When information is no longer needed for any of these purposes, we securely delete or de-identify it.

Your Rights and Choices

• Access — you may ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction — you may ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate or incomplete. If you have an account, you can update your own details and your saved children at any time from your account page.
• Cancellation — you can cancel an event registration from your account up to 24 hours before the event starts; after that, contact us and we will do it for you.
• Deletion — you may ask us to delete your account and the information attached to it. Email frontdesk@apfa.ca and we will action it, except where we are required to retain something for the reasons described above.
• Withdrawing consent — you may withdraw your consent to non-essential communications at any time.

We will respond to requests within the timelines set by Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act. To help us find your records, please write from the email address you used with us.

Security

To protect your personal information, we maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards over the personal information in our custody or control, and we periodically assess those safeguards. Access to registrations and form submissions is restricted to authenticated apfa staff accounts. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Consent

When you provide personal information to complete a registration, an account, a form, or a referral, you consent to our collecting and using it for that specific purpose and for the related purposes described in this policy. Where a form asks for a separate, explicit consent — such as agreeing to receive texts and emails, accepting a waiver, or authorizing a referral — that consent stands on its own and can be withdrawn on its own.

Age of Consent

By using this site to create an account or to register in programs or camps, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your province of residence, or that you are registering with the involvement of a parent or guardian where a program is designed for youth.

Third Party Services

In general, the third party providers used by us will only collect, use, and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as our programs and this website change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last revised, and the current version always governs.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this policy, or you wish to access, correct, or delete your information, please contact us:

See also our Terms of Use.