Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 24, 2026

Many people contact St. Joseph's Centre of Hope for Women at a difficult moment. This Privacy Policy explains, in plain words, what we collect, why, who can see it and how we protect it. It applies to this website and to the forms on it. St. Joseph's Centre of Hope for Women is based in Ontario, Canada. We follow Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and, for people in Quebec, Quebec's privacy law (Law 25).

The short version

• We collect what you choose to tell us so we can help you. Some of it is sensitive, and we treat it that way.
• Only the people on our team who are helping you can see it. The copy kept on this website is encrypted.
• We never sell your information or use it for advertising, and we never build a profile of anyone who asks us for help.
• You can see, correct or delete your information, or withdraw your consent, at any time: help@sjcentre.ca or 416-672-0144.

1. Who we are and who is responsible

St. Joseph's Centre of Hope for Women is a non-profit organization that offers support and practical help and is responsible for the personal information it holds. Our privacy contact is the person accountable for privacy (for Quebec residents, the person in charge of the protection of personal information). You can reach them at help@sjcentre.ca or 416-672-0144.

2. What we collect

• What you send us. When you fill in a form, call, text or email us: your name, phone number, email, how you prefer to be contacted, the date and time that suit you for an appointment, and anything you choose to write.
• Sensitive information, only what you choose to share. To understand how we can help, we may ask about things that are sensitive: a pregnancy, your health, past pregnancies or abortion, your age, your family situation, whether you feel safe or are affected by abuse, money worries and whether you have a safe place to stay. You never have to answer anything you do not want to. You can still get help if you leave a question blank.
• If you donate. Your name, contact details, the amount and date of your gift and what we need for a tax receipt. Card and PayPal payments are handled by the payment provider; we never see or store your full card number.
• Your cookie choice. A random receipt number, your choice, the date and time, the version of our cookie notice, whether your browser sent a Global Privacy Control signal, and a scrambled (hashed) version of your internet (IP) address, as proof of what you agreed to.
• Security information. A one-way, scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address, used only to stop spam and repeated form submissions. We do not keep your IP address in readable form.
• How you found us, in general terms, only after you say yes. A first-party note of whether your visit came from a search engine, another website or a link. It is kept on your device only after you say yes to analytics, and sent to us only if you send a form. Without your yes, nothing is kept: a form you send carries only how you reached the page you send it from. It never includes the pages you read.
• Website analytics on our pages about giving, praying and our story, only after you say yes. With your OK we count the pages you open, your clicks and how far you scroll, see where people click as heatmaps and may record visits with everything you type hidden (typing is never recorded). PostHog links these visits with a random number kept on your device and also receives your type of device and browser, the website that sent you and a rough location worked out from your internet (IP) address. Never your name, email, phone number or anything you type. See "Website analytics" below.
• Page openings on our pages about getting help, only after you say yes. PostHog counts that a page was opened and when it was closed, which of our pages or what kind of site (search, social media, another website, a link in one of our campaigns) led there, how many steps of a form were reached (never the answers) and taps to call, email, book or get directions, by name. No clicks, no scrolling, nothing you type, no recordings, no heatmaps, no location worked out from your IP address and nothing that identifies you. Nothing is kept in your browser, so a visit to these pages cannot be linked to any other visit.

We do not collect information about you from other sources, such as data brokers or social media.

3. Why we ask and how we use it

• To answer you, understand what kind of help you need and connect you with the right person on our team.
• To arrange and keep track of appointments, support and practical help you asked for.
• To contact you only in the way you told us is safe. If you tell us a time or a way that is not safe, we will not use it, and we will not leave a message unless you say that is OK.
• To process donations, issue tax receipts and keep the financial records the law requires.
• With your permission, to see how our pages about giving, praying and our story are used so we can improve them.
• To protect this website from spam and abuse, and to meet our legal obligations.

We never sell or rent your information, use it for advertising, build a profile of anyone who asks us for help, use it for automated decisions about you, or share your story in fundraising, newsletters or on this website without your specific, written permission.

4. Website analytics (PostHog), no ad tracking

It is off until you click Accept in the cookie banner, and it stops when you choose Reject in Cookie settings. A Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal from your browser counts as a no.

PostHog (website analytics)

PostHog, Inc. runs our website analytics, with servers in the United States. We use it in two different ways.

On our pages about giving, praying and our story, if you click Accept, PostHog receives:

• the pages you view and how long you stay on each page;
• the links and buttons you click, including clicks that do nothing and repeated quick clicks;
• how far you scroll and which sections of a page you read;
• where on a page people click and scroll, shown to us as heatmaps;
• your type of device, browser and screen size, and the website that sent you;
• a rough location (country, province or state, and city) worked out from your internet (IP) address. PostHog discards the IP address itself.

It links your visits to these pages with a random number kept on your device (see the cookie table). Session recording is switched on for these pages: PostHog may record how a page is used (scrolling, mouse movement and clicks) so we can find problems. Everything you type into forms is always hidden, and typing is never recorded.

On our pages about getting help, even if you click Accept, PostHog counts only that a page was opened and when it was closed, which of our pages led there (or, from outside, only the kind of site: search engine, social media, another website, or the name of one of our own campaigns), and how many steps of a form were reached. No clicks, no scrolling, nothing you type, no answers, no recordings, no heatmaps, no location and no profile. Nothing is kept in your browser (no cookie and no stored number), so a visit to these pages cannot be linked to any other visit or to anything you send us. If you tap to call, email, book or get directions there, or send a form, only that action is counted, by name. These counts help us understand how to help mothers better; nothing in them identifies a person.

Ways to get help shown on other pages (for example a "Get help" button on our home page) and taps on links to our pages about getting help are never counted or shown in a heatmap. A page that shows such a way to get help has no heatmap; if it is recorded, that part is a blank box, and the recording stops for good as soon as someone touches it or taps a link to one of our pages about getting help.

PostHog never receives your name, email, phone number or anything you type into a form.

• No AI on requests for help: nothing about our pages about getting help or about a request for help is ever sent to an AI service, and we never sort, score or profile the people who ask us for help.
• No ad tracking: we do not use advertising or social media tracking. No advertising pixels or tags run on this website.

PostHog works for us as a service provider, under contract, and may use this information only to provide its service to us. We do not sell it.

5. Offers on this website and personalised offers

Some of our pages about giving, praying and our story show a short offer, for example in a small box at the bottom of the screen. Without your OK, an offer can only match the page you are on: nothing is saved in your browser and nothing about you is used.

If you switch on Personalised offers in the cookie banner (Accept all switches them on, Reject all does not), this website also compares what you do during this visit with a few broad supporter types (for example someone who would like to volunteer) and, once it is fairly sure which one fits, shows the offer for that type instead.

• What is used: which of our pages about giving, praying and our story you open during this visit, the buttons and links you press, which sections of a page you read and which of our forms you start or send. Never what you type, and nothing from other websites or earlier visits.
• Never on our pages about getting help: nothing is read, kept or shown there, and nobody who asks us for help is ever matched to a type. The types describe ways of supporting our work only.
• Where it runs: only in your browser. The result (the type that fits and any offer you closed) is kept in your browser's session storage under the name csl_offer and is deleted when you close the tab. It is not a cookie, and it is not sent to us, to an advertising company or to anyone else.
• Counting: if you also accepted analytics, PostHog counts which type was matched and which offers were shown and pressed, as part of our website analytics. Never with your name, email or phone number, and never as part of a profile of you.
• If you send us a form: the type is never added to an enquiry you send.
• Open to everyone: every offer shown on this website is available to anyone who asks for it, whether or not it was shown to them. We never show higher prices to anyone, and types are never used for any decision with legal or similarly significant effects on you.
• Optional: it is off until you switch it on, and saying no changes nothing else on the site. Turn it off at any time with Cookie settings; the session storage is cleared at once. A Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal from your browser keeps it off.
• Quebec (Law 25): this is technology that can profile you, so it is off by default and starts only when you switch it on.

6. Who can see it

• Only the staff and trained volunteers who are helping you, and only what they need to do that.
• When you send a form, our team gets an email that says a confidential request arrived. The email does not contain your name or your answers. Your answers are read in our customer relationship manager (CRM), which only our team can sign in to.
• A backup copy is kept on this website, encrypted. Only a website administrator can open it.
• When the law requires it: we may have to share information without your consent where the law requires or allows it, for example if someone is at risk of serious harm, if we must report that a child may need protection, or if a court orders it. When we can, we will tell you first.

7. Service providers we use

We use a small number of service providers to run this website and our work. They may use your information only to provide their service to us, under contracts that require them to protect it:

• Our website host: stores this website and the encrypted copies of requests sent through it.
• Our email service: delivers the alert emails our team receives (which do not contain your answers).
• Customer relationship manager (CRM) (Our CRM provider, servers in the United States): Stores your request, your contact details and our follow-up so the right person on our team can help you. Only the staff who need it can see it.
• Consent records (This website): Keeps a record of each cookie choice (a random receipt number, the choice, the time and a scrambled version of your IP address) as proof of what you agreed to.
• PostHog (website analytics) (PostHog, Inc., servers in the United States): On our pages about giving, praying and our story, with your OK, we count the pages you open, your clicks and how far you scroll, see where people click as heatmaps and may record visits with everything you type hidden (typing is never recorded). On those pages PostHog also works out a rough location from your internet (IP) address and then discards the address. On our pages about getting help we only count page openings, how many steps of a form are reached and which of our pages or what kind of site led there, with no lasting number in your browser and no recordings. It never receives your name, email, phone or anything you type. Only after you click Accept. Their privacy policy.
• Stripe (Stripe, Inc., United States): Processes card payments and checks for fraud. We never see or store your full card number. Their privacy policy.
• PayPal (PayPal Holdings, Inc., United States / PayPal Canada): Processes donations or payments you choose to make with PayPal, on PayPal's own pages or window. We never see or store your card or PayPal login details. Their privacy policy.
• Donation and booking forms from our CRM (Our CRM provider, servers in the United States): Some forms on this site (for example donation forms and the appointment calendar) are shown in a frame that our customer relationship manager (CRM) provides. What you type there goes straight to our CRM, not through this website. The frame loads when you open that part of the page and may set its own cookies needed for the form to work.

How forms reach us: when you send a form, your answers go to our customer relationship manager (CRM), whose servers are in the United States, so the right person on our team can reply. An encrypted copy is kept on this website as a backup.

Donations: gifts are processed by Stripe or PayPal, which handle your payment details under their own privacy policies (linked above). We receive the amount, the date, your name and contact details and what we need for your receipt.

We do not work with advertising or social media tracking companies, and none of their tags run on this website.

8. Where it is stored

Some of our service providers, including our CRM, store information outside Canada, mainly in the United States. While there, it is protected by contract but may be accessed by courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of that country under its laws. Before we transfer information outside Quebec, we assess whether it will be adequately protected.

9. Your consent

When you send us a form, you agree that we may use what you shared to help you, as described here. Because some of it is sensitive, we ask only for what helps us help you, and you can leave anything blank. Website analytics stay off until you accept them in the cookie banner. Personalised offers stay off until you switch them on. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we treat it as a no, and Do Not Track as a no to analytics and personalised offers. You can withdraw your consent at any time (see "Your rights"); we will tell you if that means there is something we can no longer do for you.

10. Emails, texts and calls

We reply about your request by the way you chose. We send newsletters or appeals only if you agree to receive them. Every email has an unsubscribe link and texts accept STOP; we act on it within 10 business days.

11. Young people under 18

Our services may be used by people under 18. You do not need cookies, analytics or an account to get help, and you can call us. Questions of consent and care for young people are handled by our staff, in line with the law, and we treat their information with particular care. We may have legal duties to protect a young person who may be at risk, as described in "Who can see it".

12. Cookies and browser storage

Cookies are small files your browser keeps for a website; browser storage works the same way. "Necessary" ones make the site and our forms work and remember your choice. Analytics and personalised offers are optional. Saying no never stops the site, our forms or our help from working. Donation forms and the appointment calendar come from our CRM in a frame and may set their own cookies when you open them.

Change your cookie choice

You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page, or here: Open cookie settings. You can also delete cookies in your browser settings.

13. How long we keep it

• The encrypted copy of a request kept on this website: 12 months, then deleted automatically.
• Records of your cookie choices: 12 months.
• Website analytics: up to 12 months. Page openings on our pages about getting help are tied to no lasting number.
• Our CRM: only as long as we need it to support you and to keep the records the law requires, then deleted. You can ask us to delete it sooner (see "Your rights").
• Donation and tax receipt records: as long as Canada Revenue Agency rules require.

14. Your rights

• Access: ask what we hold about you, how we used it and who we shared it with. We answer within 30 days, free of charge.
• Correction: ask us to correct anything that is wrong or incomplete.
• Withdraw consent: tell us to stop using your information or to stop contacting you, or change your cookie choice, at any time.
• Deletion: ask us to delete your information, unless the law requires us to keep it (for example, donation receipts).
• Complain: contact us first. If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Quebec residents (Law 25): you also have the right to receive the information you gave us in a structured, commonly used technological format (portability), to be told if technology that can profile you is used (we use it only on our pages about giving, praying and our story, only after you say yes, and never for anyone who asks us for help), to be informed of any decision based only on automated processing (we make none), and to ask us to stop sharing your information or to de-index it. You can complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec.

15. How to reach us privately

To make a request or ask a question, contact us at help@sjcentre.ca or call 416-672-0144. Tell us the safest way and time to reach you, and whether we may leave a message. We may need to confirm who you are before we share or change anything, so that nobody else can get your information.

16. How we protect it

We use safeguards that match how sensitive this information is: encrypted connections (HTTPS); encryption of the copy kept on this website; alert emails without your answers; access limited to the people helping you, with individual sign-ins; no advertising or social media tags; and automatic deletion after the retention period. No system is perfectly secure, but we review these safeguards. If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify you and the Privacy Commissioner as the law requires.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed; it also changes when the services we use change. Important changes will be highlighted on this site.

18. Contact us

St. Joseph's Centre of Hope for Women
302 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, ON M5A 2G7
Email: help@sjcentre.ca
Phone: 416-672-0144