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Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 9, 2026.

Draft for review. This text has not been approved by IGVA’s owner or legal counsel.

Effective date: [date of publication]

This Privacy Policy explains how IQW Inc. collects, uses, discloses and protects personal information through IGVA (igva.ca), a business directory for Metro Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is written to follow British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where it applies, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

1. Who is responsible

IGVA is operated by IQW Inc., 204-10212 B Yonge St, Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 3B6, Canada. IQW Inc. is responsible for personal information under its control and has designated a Privacy Officer who is accountable for compliance with this policy.

Privacy Officer, IQW Inc. — email info@igva.ca (subject line “Privacy”), or write to the address above.

2. What this policy covers

It covers personal information about visitors, members (people with an IGVA account) and the individuals who represent businesses on IGVA. Information that a business publishes about itself, such as its name, business address, business phone number and website, is business contact information. We use it to list the business, which is the purpose for which the business provided it.

3. What we collect and why

We collect only what we need for the purposes below, and we tell you the purpose when we collect it.

  • Account. Username, email address and password (stored only as a protected hash). Optional: display name, first and last name, website and a short biography. Purpose: to create and run your account, keep it secure and send account messages such as password links.
  • Sign in with Google (only if you choose it and it is turned on). Google gives us your email address, name and a Google account identifier. We never receive your Google password. Purpose: to create and sign in to your IGVA account.
  • Terms acceptance. Which version of the Terms of Use you accepted, and when. Purpose: to show what you agreed to.
  • Business listings. Information you submit about a business: name, description, address or service area, phone, business email, website, hours, categories, social links, photos and logos. The address, phone, website and photos can be shown publicly; the business email is not. Purpose: to publish and manage the listing. New listings are reviewed by an administrator before publication.
  • Claims and verification. If you ask to manage an existing listing: your explanation, the checks we carry out (for example a confirmation sent to the business email, or a call-back) and the decision. Purpose: to confirm that you are authorized to represent the business.
  • Enquiries and booking requests. When you contact a business through IGVA: your name, email address, phone number if you give it, subject and message, and for a booking the service, date, time and notes. Purpose: to pass your message to that business so it can respond. The business and IGVA’s administrators can read it.
  • Following, hearts, saves, event interest and reports. The businesses you follow, the business posts (announcements, events and offers) you heart or save, the events you mark as interesting, and any post you report. Purpose: to provide these features and to review reports. Totals such as follower or heart counts can be shown publicly. Who followed, hearted or saved is not shown, and a report is seen only by administrators.
  • Email preferences. If you opt in to IGVA promotions or community news (optional, and off unless you tick it): which kind of email, when and how you gave or withdrew your consent, and the exact wording shown to you. Purpose: to send only the email you asked for and to keep proof of consent as Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) requires.
  • Website autofill. If you enter your business website when adding a business, our server loads that one public page to suggest details. We do not keep the page. Only the details you choose to save become part of your listing.
  • Technical and security information. Cookies that keep you signed in, IP addresses, browser details and security records such as failed sign-in attempts. Purpose: to run the site, prevent fraud and abuse, and keep accounts secure.
  • Website analytics. When you visit, Google Analytics records how the site is used: pages viewed, how you arrived (for example from a search engine), your device and browser type, approximate location (city or region, derived from your IP address), and actions such as opening a phone, email or outside link. Purpose: to understand which pages and features help visitors, and to improve the site. We see these as statistics; we do not use them to identify you or to show you ads.

We do not collect sensitive information such as health, financial or government identity information through IGVA. Please do not include it in a listing, an enquiry or a message.

4. Consent

By creating an account or submitting information, you consent to its use for the purposes stated when you provided it. Optional uses, such as promotional email, ask for separate, express consent and are never a condition of using IGVA. You can withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual limits. For example, we cannot run your account without an email address. We will tell you what withdrawing means for you.

5. How we use and share information

We use personal information only for the purposes above, or as the law requires or permits. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers.

We share it with:

  • the business you contact, which receives your enquiry or booking request;
  • service providers that process information for us under contract, only as needed to provide their service;
  • authorities, where required by law, or to protect the rights, safety or property of IGVA, its users or others, as the law permits;
  • a successor organization, if IQW Inc. or IGVA is sold or reorganized. The successor must continue to protect the information as this policy describes.

6. Service providers and where information is stored

  • Hosting: Amazon Web Services (AWS Lightsail), Canada (Central) region, for the website and its database.
  • Email delivery: a mail server hosted by HostPapa in Canada.
  • Google reCAPTCHA (where turned on) checks sign-up, sign-in, enquiry and booking forms for automated abuse. Google receives technical information such as your IP address and browser details and may set cookies.
  • Google sign-in (optional), as described in section 3.
  • Google Analytics (Google LLC), set up through Google’s Site Kit plugin, receives the usage information described in section 3 and sets its own cookies. We have not linked it to Google Ads and do not use it for advertising.
  • Google Search Console gives us reports on how igva.ca appears in Google Search. It receives no information from your visits to igva.ca.

Google may process information outside Canada, including in the United States. Information processed outside Canada is subject to the laws of that country and may be accessible to its authorities. We require our service providers to protect personal information to a standard comparable to this policy.

A business page may link to Google Maps for directions. Nothing is sent to Google unless you open that link. We do not use advertising networks.

7. Email

We send service messages that relate to your account, listings, claims, enquiries and bookings. These are not promotional, and you receive them while you have an account. Promotional and community email from IGVA goes only to members who opted in. Each such email identifies IQW Inc., gives our mailing address and includes an unsubscribe link. We act on an unsubscribe within 10 business days.

8. Cookies

We use cookies that are necessary to sign you in, keep your session secure and remember your choices. If you block them, sign-in will not work.

Google Analytics sets cookies (named _ga and _ga_…) to tell visits apart and count returning visitors. reCAPTCHA and Google sign-in may set their own cookies where they are used. We do not use advertising cookies.

Your choice: you can block or delete analytics cookies in your browser settings, or install Google’s Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The site works the same without them.

9. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purpose it was collected for, or as the law requires. Then we delete it or make it anonymous.

  • Account information: while your account is open. When you ask us to close it, we delete or anonymize it within 30 days, except for what we must keep for the reasons below.
  • Enquiries and booking requests: up to 2 years after they are sent.
  • Claim and verification records: up to 2 years after the decision.
  • Email consent records: while the consent is in effect and for 3 years after it is withdrawn or ends, as proof of consent.
  • Security logs: up to 12 months.
  • Analytics data: kept in Google Analytics for the retention period set in our Google Analytics account [Owner to confirm: 2 or 14 months], then deleted by Google. Reports we keep contain totals only.
  • Information we used to make a decision about you: long enough for you to request access to it, and at least 1 year.
  • Backups: backup copies are kept for a limited time and overwritten in the normal backup cycle. Deleted information can remain in backups until then.

We may keep information longer where needed to resolve a dispute, enforce our terms or meet a legal obligation.

Business listings are public business information. They stay published while the business is listed, and a business can ask us to correct or remove its listing.

10. Safeguards

We protect personal information with safeguards suited to its sensitivity:

  • encrypted connections (HTTPS);
  • hashed passwords;
  • access limited to authorized administrators;
  • encrypted storage of sensitive credentials;
  • security monitoring;
  • abuse checks.

No method is perfectly secure. If a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, as applicable, and keep a record of the breach, as the law requires.

11. Your rights

You may ask to:

  • access the personal information we hold about you;
  • learn how it has been used and to whom it has been disclosed;
  • correct it if it is inaccurate;
  • withdraw consent;
  • delete your account.

Write to the Privacy Officer at info@igva.ca. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. We respond within 30 days and tell you if we need more time, as the law allows. Access is free unless we tell you about a minimal cost in advance.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or, where federal law applies, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

12. Children

IGVA is intended for adults and businesses. You must be at least 19 years old, the age of majority in British Columbia, to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

13. Changes to this policy

We will post any change on this page with a new effective date. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold, we will notify members by email or on the site before it takes effect, and ask for consent where the law requires it.

14. Contact

Privacy Officer, IQW Inc., 204-10212 B Yonge St, Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 3B6, Canada — info@igva.ca.