The Nuclear Waste Management Organization ("the NWMO", "we", "us" or "our") is committed to maintaining your privacy and the confidentiality of personal information that we have about you. "Personal information" is any information about an identifiable individual, and includes information such as your name, phone number and email address. This privacy policy (the "policy") describes your privacy rights and how we collect, use, disclose and protect the personal information that you provide to us. This policy forms part of our website’s terms of use. By accessing or using this website, www.nwmo.ca, you agree that we may collect, use and disclose your personal information as outlined in this policy.

Your consent

If you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as outlined in this policy, you will be able access and use our website and any services it offers. You can always withdraw your consent; however, if you choose to do so, we may not be able to provide you with the full range of services available through our website.

Changes to this policy

We may update or amend this policy at any time by posting a revised version on this webpage, which will be effective as of the published effective date. Your continued accessing or use of our website following a change to this policy means that you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set out in the updated policy. Please check back periodically for updates.

Questions about the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, or access to such information, should be addressed to our Privacy Officer through our contact us page.

What information is collected?

We collect information provided by you directly (for example, when you provide information to sign up for a newsletter or your email address when you ask us a question). We also keep a record of correspondence sent to us through the website.

As part of our commitment to openness, transparency and inclusion, our website contains submissions that individuals have provided to us and consented to for publication. These submissions may include personal information, such as your name. While we encourage all submissions to be open and honest, we also encourage you to be cautious about providing any other personal information in these submissions, as all submissions will be posted publicly on our website without any revisions or edits to your wording. We discourage you from sharing any sensitive personal information (e.g., address, health information, financial information) about yourself and others in your submissions if you would not like this information to become available to the public.

Passive tracking technologies and cookies

Like many other websites, our website uses passive tracking technologies like cookies to track user sessions anonymously and collect information about your computer, your IP address, your operating system, your browser, data about the pages you access, statistics on page views, etc. A "cookie" is a text file that websites send to a visitor’s computer or other internet-connected devices to uniquely identify the visitor’s browser or to store information or settings in the browser. Cookies make it more convenient for you to use our website. You can choose to set your browser to detect and reject cookies, to accept cookies from all sites, or to prompt you whenever a website wants to send you a cookie. Additionally, we may use web analytic services (e.g., Google Analytics), which collect and generate information in an anonymous form, to help analyze the use of our website.

For more information about cookies, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

Social media platforms

You can engage with us through third-party social media platforms linked to our website. We may collect your information from your use of these platforms that interact with our website. For example, if you tag us or post on our Facebook page, we and other users of Facebook may be able to view your profile depending on your privacy settings in Facebook. Your use of third-party platforms remains subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of such platforms.

We do not collect information from minors

Our website is not intended to solicit information of any kind from individuals under the majority in their jurisdiction of residence ("minors") without the required consent from their parents/guardians. If you are a parent/guardian and you suspect that your child may have submitted personal information to us, please contact our Privacy Officer through our contact us page.

Why does the NWMO collect information?

We collect only the personal information necessary to fulfill the purposes described below:

• To respond to requests and queries that you submit to us, including when you request for us to post your comments to our Submissions Library or otherwise;
• To process online job applications;
• To send you information, such as our newsletter, if you have opted in to receive it;
• To conduct analysis and evaluations about website usage to determine what is most effective about the website, to help identify ways to improve it and to make it more user-friendly;
• To diagnose technical problems and improve the website’s content; and
• For any other purpose which is described to you before or at the time of collection.

Does the NWMO share collected information?

Your personal information is not shared with anyone except our personnel or hired consultants who need to know the personal information in order to fulfill the purpose for which the information was collected.

We may also use services provided by third-party platforms (such as social media and other websites) to serve targeted advertisements on such platforms to you (and others). If you have signed up for our marketing list, we may provide a hashed version of your email address or other information to third-party platforms for such purposes. To opt out of the use of your information for such purposes, please contact us.

We do not sell, rent, trade or exchange any personal information.

We may disclose your personal information in certain circumstances, such as when required to do so by law to law enforcement authorities or regulatory agencies, or when you have consented to the disclosure (e.g., consented to the publishing of your submission on our website).

How does the NWMO protect collected information?

We protect your personal information using physical, technical and administrative security measures to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure or alteration. This includes, where appropriate, using encryption technologies while data is being transmitted.

How can you access or update your personal information?

You can review any of the information we hold about you and learn about how we have used such information or who we have disclosed it to by contacting us. We try to ensure all personal information collected on this website is accurate. Subject to any exceptions prescribed by law, you may request access to your personal information by emailing our Privacy Officer through our contact us page. If you believe your personal information is incorrect, you can send a written request asking that it be updated.

We may deny access when required or authorized by law. For example, we may deny access when granting access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy or when necessary to protect our confidential commercial information if the requested information cannot be severed from the balance of the record in which it is contained. If we deny your request for access or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why.

How long does the NWMO keep my information?

The NWMO keeps your information only as long as reasonably required for the purposes of our project, to complete our dealings with you (e.g., to respond to inquiries you submit to us), or as required by law, whichever is longer.

You can submit a request that we remove your information from our records by contacting our Privacy Officer using the contact information below. Subject to our requirements for continued retention of your information (e.g., auditing purposes) or to fulfill our legal obligations, we will make every reasonable effort to honour your request.

Questions?

If you have any questions, concerns or wish to request access to personal information we may hold about you, please contact our Privacy Officer through our contact us page. You can also write to us at:

Nuclear Waste Management Organization
22 St. Clair Avenue East, 4th Floor
Toronto, ON M4T 2S3
Attention: Privacy Officer

**If you choose to communicate with us via email, please be aware that email is not a 100 per cent secure medium for sending any personal or confidential information to us.**

Last Updated: September 13, 2022