Sure - Canadian Substance Use Resource and Knowledge Exchange Centre

Scope of Policy 

This privacy policy describes how the SURE website (the Site) collects, uses and processes an individual’s personal information, such as name, email address, contact details, online identifiers, or other information that you provide when using the website.

SURE is committed to respecting and protecting the personal privacy of individuals who visit the Site. Please take some time to read through this privacy policy carefully.  

Collection of Information 

1. Personal Information 
The content and resources made available on SURE is accessible by all site visitors. However, certain features may require registration or require you to provide your contact information in order to access resources. All users who register with SURE have the ability to access certain features such as bookmarking and saving search results. 

Depending on the content and the features users wish to access, users may be required to provide part or all of the following information:

  • First and last name
  • Email address
  • Organization information 
  • Role 
  • Location

2. Non-personal Information
SURE automatically collects and tracks certain non-personal information from site visitors such as website navigation data, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, timestamps and URLs. This information is used for internal evaluation to assess users’ demographics, behaviours, and interactions with the Site to understand how SURE can be improved upon to better support its users. 

3. Correspondence and Contributions 
Correspondence and contributions submitted to SURE with the exception of information provided for account registration, will be retained indefinitely to maintain the Site content and for evaluation purposes. These include:

  • Questions and/or comments submitted to Contact Us
  • Any resources submitted to Contribute to SURE 


Use of Information  

The information that is collected and provided by you is used purely for analysis, evaluation, and follow up to enhance the Site content, features, and functions. 

SURE uses Wicket and Google Analytics to collect information. Personal information that is provided by you during registration or when accessing certain Site content is collected using the cloud-based software, Wicket. Non-personal information is anonymously tracked and collected by Google Analytics which reports on visitor interaction and trends.

Like many Internet services, Wicket and Google Analytics use third-party and first-party ‘cookies’, respectfully, to track visitor interactions. Cookies are small text files that identify an individual computer’s browser accessing a website. Cookies are used to store information, such as what time the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the website before, and what site referred the visitor to the website. Browsers do not share first-party cookies across domains. The Site uses cookies only for the above-mentioned purposes and will not use them to identify users or to track usage that is not related to the Site.

If you do not want a cookie placed on your computer by SURE, you may disable cookies in the web browser configuration options. Note that it is possible that some aspects of the Site may be unavailable to you if this option is chosen.

Protection of Information 

Any personal information gathered during the online registration processes or that may be gathered by other means is not shared, rented, traded or sold for any reason with any other party or organization. In the event a complaint is received or an issue is identified that requires investigation, such as a breach in the Terms of Use, the information provided may be used to investigate the complaint and/or resolve the issue, if the information that is provided by you is related to the complaint. SURE may disclose the information you provided if it is required for law enforcement purposes, subject to a court order or required by law.

Further, SURE takes the following measures to safeguard your information:

  • Limit the number of SURE staff who can access the personal information you provide.
  • Employ software programs such as encryptions, restricted data access, etc., to protect your information from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure or disposal.
  • Information used for evaluation and reporting of the Site interactions are anonymized and not linked with information that can be used to identify you.

Should you decide to cancel or delete your registration account, your personal information will be kept for a minimum of one year and anonymized, for the purpose of evaluation. 

Other Websites

SURE provides links to other websites whose privacy policies may differ from ours. As such, SURE is not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of the websites to which it links.

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, please contact us.