Privacy Policy

This policy was last updated on July 11, 2026.

Ember Care Inc. ("Ember Care", "we", "us") provides non-medical home care in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and nearby communities in Ontario. This policy explains how our website, embercare.ca, collects, uses, stores, and protects personal information — in plain words, on purpose. If anything is unclear, ask us.

One important distinction up front: your general personal information (an enquiry, a job application, website analytics) is protected under Canada's federal privacy law, PIPEDA — that's what this policy covers. Your personal health information — collected once we begin planning your care — is protected under Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and is covered by our Privacy Notice, our formal statement of information practices, which we give every client and will gladly share on request.

What information do we collect?

Information you give us. If you send a consultation enquiry, we receive what the form asks: who the care is for, the kind of support you're exploring, your area, your name and email, and optionally a phone number and the best time to reach you. If you apply for a job, we receive your name, contact details, the role you're interested in, where you're based, your availability and experience, and a resume if you attach one. If you call or email us instead, we keep a record of the conversation so we can follow up properly.

Information collected automatically. Like most websites, this site collects standard technical and usage information — such as your IP address, device and browser type, the pages you visit, how long you stay, and how you found us — through cookies and similar tools (see the cookies section below).

What we deliberately don't collect here. Please keep detailed health information out of the website forms — they're designed to start a conversation, not to collect a health history. The right place for those details is our unhurried intake conversation, which happens only after you've reviewed and signed our written PHIPA consent; from that point, your health information is handled under our Privacy Notice. This website is intended for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children — care for a child is always arranged by a parent or guardian.

How do we collect it?

Directly from you, when you submit the consultation form or the careers application form, call us, or email us; and automatically, when you browse the site, through cookies and the analytics and measurement tools described below.

Why do we collect it?

We collect personal information for these purposes only: to respond to your enquiry and arrange your free consultation; to provide, personalize, and improve our services; to consider your job application; to understand how the website is used so we can make it clearer and faster; to measure — in aggregate — whether our advertising is reaching families who need us; to keep appropriate business records; and to comply with the laws that apply to us. We never sell or rent personal information to anyone.

How do we store, use, share and disclose your personal information?

Hosting. Our website is built and hosted on the Wix.com platform. Information you submit through the site may be stored in Wix's data storage, databases, and applications, on secure servers protected behind a firewall.

Who we share with. We share personal information only with the service providers who help us run the website and the business — Wix (hosting and forms), Google (analytics, advertising measurement, and spam protection), and our email provider — and only so they can perform those services for us. We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a person. That's it.

Where it's stored. Our providers, including Wix and Google, may store or process information on servers outside Canada (for example, in the United States or Europe). Information held outside Canada is protected by our providers' safeguards and contractual commitments, but may be accessible to authorities in those countries under their local laws. We choose reputable providers and share the minimum needed.

How long we keep it. We keep consultation enquiries for as long as needed to respond and follow up, then for a reasonable period as a business record. We keep job applications for the hiring process and a reasonable period afterwards in case a suitable role opens. Client care records are kept under PHIPA and our Privacy Notice — commonly at least ten years — and are then securely destroyed.

How we protect it. Form submissions are stored in our secured website dashboard and email accounts, protected by strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, with access limited to the people who need it. Paper records are locked; digital records are protected. Every caregiver is screened with a Vulnerable Sector Check, trained in privacy, and bound to keep client information confidential.

How do we communicate with you?

We contact you — by email or phone, whichever you've given us — to answer the enquiry or application you sent, to arrange your consultation, and to manage the services you've asked for. We don't add you to a mailing list, and we won't send you marketing email unless you've clearly opted in; any future newsletter will be strictly opt-in with a working unsubscribe link, in keeping with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).

How do we use cookies and other tracking tools?

Platform cookies. Wix sets cookies necessary for the site to function securely — for example, session and security cookies.
Analytics. We use website analytics (Wix Analytics and, where enabled, Google Analytics) to see how visitors use the site in aggregate, which helps us improve it.
Advertising measurement. We advertise on Google. Where enabled, Google's measurement tools tell us — in aggregate — when an ad leads to a website visit, a form submission, or a phone call. As part of call measurement, the phone number displayed to you may be a Google forwarding number that connects directly to our real line; Google reports the call to us without recording its content.
Spam protection. Our forms may use Google reCAPTCHA to keep automated spam out.

Third-party tools such as Google Analytics and reCAPTCHA have their own privacy policies covering how they collect and store information; their practices are theirs, not covered by this policy. The same is true of other websites we link to, such as community resources or our social media pages. You can manage or block cookies in your browser settings, and use the cookie preferences tool on this site where offered — blocking cookies won't stop you from reading the site or calling us.

How can you withdraw your consent?

At any time. If you don't want us to process your information anymore, or you'd like us to correct or delete information we hold about you, contact us at contact@embercare.ca or (548) 900-5880 and we'll act on it promptly and without charge. You may also ask to see the personal information we hold about you. Withdrawing a consent related to your care may affect our ability to provide it — we'll always explain the consequences before anything changes.

We may change or update this policy, and we review it each year and whenever our practices change. Updates take effect when the new version is posted on this page, with a new "last updated" date — if we make a material change, we'll flag it here so you know what we collect, how we use it, and when we disclose it.

Questions and our contact information

Our Privacy Contact is the Care Coordinator — if you'd like to access, correct, or delete your personal information, or ask anything about this policy, we're always glad to help.

If you're not satisfied with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (1-800-282-1376 · priv.gc.ca). For personal health information, you can complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (1-800-387-0073 · ipc.on.ca).

Ember Care Inc. · contact@embercare.ca · (548) 900-5880 Serving Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge & nearby communities · embercare.ca

Care that sees the person.