Privacy Policy

How Canoe Therapy collects, uses and protects your personal information.

Last updated: October 19, 2026

At Canoe Therapy, we understand that reaching out for support is personal. Protecting the privacy of the children, teens, adults and families we work with is part of how we care for them. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect through our website, online forms, live chat, phone, email, social media and advertising, how we use and protect it, and the choices you have.

Canoe Therapy operates clinics in Burlington and Oakville, Ontario, offering counselling and psychotherapy, behavioural therapy (ABA), occupational therapy, psychology and psychoeducational assessments, speech-language pathology, family therapy and family mediation.

Our commitment and the laws we follow

We handle personal information in accordance with Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), which applies to the personal health information our regulated health professionals collect and use when providing care, and with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) where it applies. Our clinicians also follow the confidentiality and record-keeping standards of their professional regulatory colleges.

This policy explains our general practices. When you become a client, you will also receive our consent forms, which describe how your clinical information is handled in more detail.

Information we collect

Information you give us

  • Contact and enquiry forms: your first and last name, phone number, email address, the service you are interested in, the age of the client, your preferred clinic, and any message or questions you choose to include.
  • Facebook and Instagram lead forms: if you complete a form within a Facebook or Instagram ad, we receive the information you submit, such as your name, email address, phone number and your answers to the form’s questions.
  • Live chat, email and phone: the information you share when you chat with us on the website, email us or call either clinic.
  • Program and group sign-ups: the details you provide when you reserve a spot in one of our groups or programs.
  • Job applications: your resume, cover letter and contact details if you apply to work with us.
  • When you become a client: intake details, consent forms, assessment and treatment notes, reports, and scheduling, billing, payment and insurance information.

Please do not include detailed health information in website forms, live chat or social media messages. A brief description of what you are looking for is enough. Our Family Coordinators will follow up with you to gather what is needed in a private and secure way.

Information collected automatically

When you visit our website, we and our service providers automatically collect some technical information using cookies, pixels and similar technologies. This can include your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit, how long you stay, the website or ad that referred you, and actions such as clicking to call or submitting a form. We use:

  • Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it.
  • Advertising and measurement tools, including Google Ads, the Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Pixel and the Reddit Pixel, to show our ads to people who may benefit from our services and to measure how well our ads work.
  • Google reCAPTCHA to protect our forms from spam and abuse.
  • A live chat tool so you can ask us questions directly from the website.

We do not use these tools to collect personal health information, and we do not share your health or clinical records with advertising platforms.

How we use your information

  • To respond to your enquiry, answer your questions and book appointments.
  • To match you or your child with the therapist whose style, availability and expertise are the best fit.
  • To provide, coordinate and document care, including communicating with you about sessions, programs and groups.
  • To process billing, payments and insurance claims.
  • To meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations.
  • To review job applications.
  • To understand how our website and advertising perform, and to improve them.
  • With your consent, to send you updates such as The Canoe Monthly. You can unsubscribe at any time.

We only collect the information we need for these purposes. We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.

Consent

By contacting us or submitting a form, you consent to us using your information to respond to you and help you connect with services. When you become a client, we ask for your consent to treatment and explain how your information will be collected, used and shared.

For children 11 and under, consent is given by a parent or legal guardian. When parents are separated or divorced, either both parents must sign the consent, or a custody agreement is needed to confirm that one parent has sole decision-making rights. Children 12 and over who are considered capable of giving informed consent can sign for themselves.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual limits. If you do, we will explain how this may affect the services we can provide.

When we share information

Your information is shared only with people who need it to support you, and only as permitted or required by law:

  • Within Canoe Therapy: with the team members involved in your care, such as your therapist and our Family Coordinators.
  • With others, with your consent: for example, your physician, school, other health providers, or an insurer or third-party payer.
  • With trusted service providers who help us run the clinic, such as website hosting, email, scheduling, practice-management and billing software, payment processing and live chat. They may only use your information to provide services to us and must keep it secure and confidential.
  • When the law requires or permits it: for example, to protect a child at risk, to reduce a serious risk of harm to someone, in response to a court order or subpoena, or as required by a professional regulatory college.

Facebook and Instagram lead forms

When you submit a lead form within a Facebook or Instagram ad, Meta collects that information under its own privacy policy and passes the answers you submitted to us. We use this information only to contact you about your enquiry and to help you connect with our services. You can learn more about how Meta handles your data, and adjust your ad preferences, in your Facebook or Instagram settings.

Cookies and your choices

  • You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Some parts of the website may not work as well if you do.
  • You can opt out of Google Analytics using the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, and manage personalized Google ads in Google’s ad settings.
  • You can manage how Meta uses your information for ads in your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences.
  • You can learn more about interest-based advertising in Canada at YourAdChoices.ca.

How we protect your information

We use reasonable physical, administrative and technical safeguards to protect personal information from loss, theft and unauthorized access, use or disclosure. These include secure storage of records, access limited to team members who need it, password-protected systems, and confidentiality commitments from our staff and service providers.

Email, website forms and live chat are not completely secure. Please keep detailed health information out of these channels, and call us if you would prefer to discuss something by phone.

Some of our service providers may store or process information outside of Ontario or Canada, for example in the United States. When this happens, the information may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction, and we take steps to make sure it remains protected.

How long we keep information

We keep clinical records for the length of time required by our professional regulatory colleges and by law, and then securely destroy them. Enquiries from people who do not go on to become clients, and job applications, are kept only as long as reasonably needed and then deleted.

Your right to access and correct your information

You have the right to ask for access to the personal information we hold about you or your child, and to ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate or incomplete. To make a request, please contact us using the details below. We will respond within the timelines set out in the law. In some limited cases, the law may allow or require us to refuse access, and if so we will explain why.

Not for emergencies

Our website, forms, live chat, email and social media accounts are not monitored for emergencies. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, at any time. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.

Links to other websites and social media

Our website includes links to other websites and to our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites and platforms, so please review their privacy policies.

Questions or concerns

If you have questions about this policy, would like to access your information, or have a privacy concern, please contact us:

If we are unable to resolve your concern, you have the right to contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario or, where it applies, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, technology or the law. The latest version will always be posted on this page, with the date it was last updated.