Privacy Policy

Ontario Pork represents the farmers who produce hogs in the province in many areas, including hog marketing, research, government representation, environmental issues, consumer education and food quality assurance.

Ontario Pork only collects, uses or discloses personal information in order to provide you with the best possible service, to efficiently operate Ontario Pork, and to achieve Ontario Pork’s mandate, purposes and objects. Ontario Pork does not share your personal information with organizations outside of Ontario Pork’s regular activities except as permitted or required by law.

Type of Information Collected

We collect personal information that you provide to us. This may include but is not limited to information collected through producer registration, event registration or premises registration forms, transporter license applications, surveys, questionnaires and regular activities, etc. whether in writing or electronically. This information may include but is not limited to your name, location of your production facility, email, phone number, username and password. We use this information to provide you with the services.

When you make payment to us, you will be asked to provide us with your credit card number and billing information. This information will be stored in a tokenized form and processed by a third party service provider. We use this information to process your payment, to manage any payment disputes and to detect and protect against error and unlawful activity.

We also collect information through operations, including but not limited to your communications with us concerning your shipments/transactions. This may include but is not limited to personal information, individual premises registration number, information about your hogs, hog production, hog production premises and facilities, and hog shipments or transactions, including but not limited to grading, health and financial details. We use this information to respond to your inquiry, and to provide you with the services.

We also collect information which is aggregated so that it is not personal information (i.e. it cannot be linked to an individual). For example, we use aggregated information about the visitors to Ontario Pork’s website (called visitor metrics) obtained from a third party provider in order to understand, in general terms, the nature of the audience that accesses our website (such as, for example, aggregated information about the age and gender of that audience). In this manner, we can better tailor our communications to serve you better.

In addition to the collection purposes set out above and as permitted by law, we also collect your personal information for the general purpose of improving our services.

Sharing Information

In order to provide you with the best possible service, to efficiently operate Ontario Pork, and to achieve Ontario Pork’s mandate, purposes and objects, we may share certain personal information under limited circumstances. For example, we may share certain personal information with third parties and groups outside of Ontario Pork. The following are some examples of third parties to whom we may disclose certain personal information (which list of examples is not exhaustive and is designed to help you understand how your information may be shared):

1. With companies or organizations that work with or for Ontario Pork to service your accounts, or to provide services or process transactions you’ve requested. For example, we may use companies to help us process payment and mail newsletters, news bulletins, statements etc. The categories of personal information we may share with these companies or organizations depend on the nature of the services and we limit the information shared accordingly.
2. With a party representing you, such as your accountant, farm business advisor, feed company representative, veterinarian, lawyer or other third parties at your direction/consent.
3. With government agencies that work with Ontario Pork in fulfilling its mandate. For example, we may share producer related information with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) to support delivery of programs.
4. With third parties to comply with law. For example, we share information (e.g. name, contact information) about a producer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to fulfill legal requirements related to the identification and movement of hogs.

Please contact us at the number or address set out below if you wish to discuss with us a request to withdraw consent to your personal information being collected, used and disclosed by Ontario Pork. However, in some circumstances, legal requirements may prevent you from withholding or withdrawing consent, and practicalities may restrict our ability to comply with your request in whole or in part; as well, if you withdraw such consent, we may have to limit the services we provide for you if the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information is necessary for the provision of those services.

Cookies

In browsing the internet, you will encounter a technology called “cookies”, which are small data files that are saved to your device when you visit our website. These are commonly used to provide you specific information from a website, and to provide the website’s operator information about you.  We use the following types of cookies:

1. Analytics Cookies

We use analytics cookies to understand how people use our website and to make it work better. The main tools we use are:

• Google Analytics: These cookies track when someone visits our website, whether they have been on our website before as well as which site they visited before visiting our site.
• Hotjar: This tool indicates how people use our website. It tracks how visitors move through the pages and whether they have been on the website before.

These tools help us see patterns in website use without identifying anyone personally.

2. Login Cookies

We use these cookies to validate a user when they login to our website.

Adjusting Cookie Settings on your Browser

Most internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can set your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, doing so may prevent you from accessing all or part of our website. If you wish to disable cookies on your browser, or be prompted prior to a cookie being loaded, you can do so by adjusting your browser’s settings. Consult each individual browser’s “help” feature for more information.

Transfer of Personal Information  

We store personal information in Canada. However, our service providers (including affiliates) may otherwise store and process personal information outside of Canada (including for Quebec individuals, outside of the province of Quebec), including in Ireland and other foreign jurisdictions. In such cases, we continue to protect the information with appropriate safeguards, but your personal information may be subject to the legal jurisdiction of foreign countries and governmental authorities.

Confidentiality and Security

Ontario Pork’s staff is required to follow procedures with respect to maintaining the confidentiality and security of your personal information. Your personal information is accessible to our employees in departments that require access to provide services. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect such information.

Retention

Ontario Pork retains personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with applicable laws. Once personal information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or to comply with applicable laws, it will be destroyed or deleted.

Access, Update and Correction

You may access, update or correct your personal information by making a request to us using the contact information below. We may need to verify your identity before granting access or otherwise updating or correcting your personal information.

Reviewing our Policies

Periodically Ontario Pork will review and revise its policies. Please periodically review our policies, including this policy, in order to be aware of Ontario Pork’s current policies from time to time.

For More Information

Ontario Pork has appointed a Privacy Officer to address any concerns, queries or complaints you may have. The Privacy Officer may be reached at 1-877-668-7675, by sending an email to [email protected] or by mail at the following address:

Privacy Officer, 655 Southgate Drive, Guelph ON N1G 5G6.

(February 2025)