Privacy policy

Last updated: September, 2022

United Church Bookstore is a ministry of the General Council Office of The United Church of Canada ("The United Church"). We are committed to protecting your privacy.

Privacy Policy Summary

Below is a summary of our Privacy Policy. You can review the Privacy Policy in full lower down this page.

The Privacy Policy covers

  • How we collect, use and protect your personal information when you visit, make a purchase from, or otherwise interact with the United Church Bookstore;
  • When and how we share your personal information; and
  • What choices you can make about how we collect, use and share your personal information.  

We collect and use your personal information when

  • You give us the information through your interactions with the United Church;
  • We collect it automatically; and
  • We receive it from others.

For example, when you create an online account with us, place an order, make a purchase, sign up for our emails, follow, like, share or comment on our social media posts, or interact with our customer service team, you provide us with your personal information.   We may also receive your personal information from other ministries or departments within the United church.

We also collect information through automated technology such as cookies placed on your browser, with your consent where applicable, when you visit the United Church Bookstore website, UCRDstore.ca.

We may also receive your personal information from someone who has sent you a gift card or product as gifts or from a third-party social media and communication services, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Your information may be shared

To help you manage and track your orders for products and services and to communicate with you about your orders, purchases, returns and/or account. The full Privacy Policy explains how your personal information is shared.

Your rights and choices

You can protect your privacy in may ways. For example, you may withdraw your consent at any time regarding the use of your personal information by managing your preferences. See Consent and Managing your Preferences for more information.

You can contact us

More information about our privacy practices is in our full privacy policy. You can contact us below in the "Contact Us" section to ask us questions about our privacy policy.

Complete Privacy Policy

Table of Contents

Collection of Personal Information

When you interact with the United Church Bookstore website, UCRDstore.ca, we may collect the following kinds of personal information:

  • Name, billing address, shipping address, payment information (including credit or debit card number)
  • Email address, password, phone number and transaction details such as information about the products or services you order or purchase;
  • Any other information you provide us.

The United Church Bookstore may also receive from other ministries or departments within The United Church, personal information about you and your interactions with such other ministries or departments, for instance, your name, email address and information about products or services you have ordered or purchased from such other ministries or departments.

We may receive personal information from other sources

  • We sometimes collect personal information about other individuals from customers who wish to send a gift card or products as gifts.
  • We may receive information from you or third-party social media and communications services, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, when you interact with the United Church Bookstore's accounts or posts on social media platforms or share information (including via plugins or other tools)
  • We also use certain technologies to collect personal information and technical data from you when you use our Website. See Use of Cookies, Interest-Based Advertising and Other Technologies below to learn more.

Use of Personal Information

We may use the information we collect about you or that you provide to us, including personal information, as described in this Privacy Policy:

  • to process, fulfill, manage and track your orders for products or services, and process any returns;
  • to communicate with you about your orders, purchases, returns and/or account;
  • to respond to your customer service inquiries, requests for information, or other communications;
  • to evaluate and improve our Website, marketing, and the products and services we offer;
  • to personalize or enhance your browsing and customer service experience;
  • to identify promotions and offers that may be of interest to you;
  • to send you news, information about events, promotions and offers from The United Church and/or on behalf of our partners, that we believe may be of interest to you, in accordance with your preferences and as permitted by applicable law;
  • to display advertising tailored to your interests on our Website or other websites, and evaluate the effectiveness of such advertising, by using cookies and other tracking technologies;
  • to detect, protect against, or investigate security breaches, errors or fraud;
  • to maintain appropriate records for internal administrative purposes;
  • for any other purpose identified to you with your consent; and/or
  • as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

Use of Cookies, Interest-Based Advertising and Other Technologies

When you use or interact with our Website, we and/or our service providers may use cookies and other automatic data collection technologies, such as Shopify and Google Analytics, to collect certain information about your computer or device, browsing actions, and patterns.

See Consent and Managing Your Preferences to learn what options you have regarding cookies and other technologies and for how you can opt-out of interest-based advertising.

Sharing or Disclosure of Personal Information

We may share your personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Policy in the following circumstances:

Within The United Church and for Fundraising

We may share your personal information with other ministries or departments within The United Church for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and for fundraising purposes by The United Church and/or The United Church of Canada Foundation.

Service Providers

We may share your personal information with third party service providers that we use to support our business and help us provide our products and services, such as those that provide website hosting, payment processing, warehousing, communications services, email delivery, shipping, delivery, and analytics services. In such cases, we share the information reasonably necessary to achieve the stated purpose, and require that it only be used and disclosed for that purpose or as required by applicable law.

Product Partners

We may share your personal information with third party providers of select products or services, such as digital subscription services, that you purchase in order to provide you with such products and services.

Advertising platforms and networks

We may share your personal information with third party advertising platforms and networks that require the information to select and serve relevant advertisements to you, subject to your choices, as described herein.

We may also disclose your personal information:

  • to comply with a court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request, in accordance with applicable law;
  • to enforce or apply our agreements or terms of use;
  • if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of The United Church, our customers, Website users or others;
  • for any other purpose identified to you with your consent; and/or
  • as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

By using our Website or providing us with your personal information, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to any legal and contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you with the information, product or service you request. We will explain the implications to you at the time to help you with your decision. To withdraw your consent, please contact us as described below (see Contact Us).

E-Newsletters

By subscribing to our email list on our Website, you consent to receiving emails with news, promotions and offers from The United Church. Additionally, as permitted by applicable law, you may receive e-mail communications from The United Church after making a purchase from our Bookstore. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from The United Church at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in those emails or by contacting us as described below (see Contact Us). Unsubscribe requests will be fulfilled within 10 business days, and no further promotional emails will be sent to you unless you re-subscribe, make another purchase or we otherwise have your consent. Please note that even if you unsubscribe from receiving promotional emails from us, we may still send you non-promotional emails and other types of communications, as permitted by law, including emails about your orders, purchases or account, or in response to your inquiries or support requests.

Cookies

You can manage cookies in your web browser. Please note that limiting, removing or blocking cookies may affect your user experience and the availability and functionality of certain parts of our Website (for instance, features like your shopping cart may not work as seamlessly as expected).

Google Analytics and Google Ads

For instructions on how to opt out of Google Analytics on desktops or laptops, see Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. You can use Google Ad Settings to manage and opt out of targeted advertising by Google.

Facebook and Instagram Ad Preferences

You can find tools and information on how to manage your Facebook and Instagram ad preferences in Facebook Settings and Instagram Settings.  

Interested-Based Advertising

You can also opt-out of many third party ad servers' and networks' interest-based advertising by using opt-out tools created by self-regulatory programs such as the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada or the Network Advertising Initiative. Opting out does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising, but such advertising will not be tailored to your web preferences and usage patterns. You may also be able to adjust your privacy and advertising settings on your device to control whether you want to receive more relevant advertising.

Do Not Track

Please note that because there is no common understanding about what a "Do Not Track" signal is supposed to mean, we currently do not alter our data collection and usage practices when we detect such a signal from your browser.

Protection of Personal Information

The security of your personal information is important to us. We use reasonable and appropriate security safeguards, including physical, organizational and technological measures, designed to protect your personal information against loss and unauthorized access, use, disclosure, copying or modification while it is in our custody or under our control. We protect the privacy of your personal information through contractual and other means when we are working with third party service providers.

No information system, however, is 100% secure and we cannot guarantee that our safeguards will always be effective or that your use of our Website will be completely secure. Moreover, we are not responsible for the security of information you transmit to us over networks that we do not control, including the Internet and wireless networks. A breach of security safeguards can result in such risks as phishing and identity theft. In such circumstances, we will act promptly to mitigate the risks and to inform you where it is reasonable to believe that there is a real risk of significant harm, or as otherwise required by applicable law.

You can also help to protect your personal information. For instance, if you create an account on our Website, you should use a unique and strong password, not share your password with others, and promptly alert us if you believe your password has been compromised.

Retention of Personal Information

We retain your personal information as long as reasonably necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes for which it was collected, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law. For example, if you make a purchase, we will store personal information associated with that purchase and your account as long as required to fulfill the order and meet our legal obligations, process any returns, provide customer service, remember your preferences for future interactions and/or to provide you with tailored offers, services or communications in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may also anonymize and aggregate the data and retain the data in that form for analytical purposes.

Storage and Transfer of Personal Information

Your personal information may be transferred to and stored or processed by or on behalf of The United Church outside of Canada, including in the United States and/or other countries. In such circumstances, it may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts and/or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of the country to which it is transferred in accordance with the laws of that country. Regardless of where your personal information is processed or stored, we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws. For further information, please contact us as set out below (see Contact Us).

Links to Other Websites

Our Website may contain links to other websites that are operated and maintained by third parties over which we have no control. Following these links may allow the third party to collect or share data about you. Such sites are not governed by this Privacy Policy and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their privacy policies or practices. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

Contact Us

If you have questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, you may email us at info@ucrdstore.ca, call us at 1-800-288-7365, or write to us at:

The United Church of Canada
3250 Bloor Street West, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M8X 2Y4
Attention: Privacy Officer

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may also raise your concerns to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as follows:

30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3
Toll Free: 1-800-282-1376
www.priv.gc.ca