Privacy Policy

What Information We Collect

We believe in data minimization, which means we only ask for the absolute bare minimum needed to run this site.

• Contact info: If you use our "Contact Me" section, we will see your email address and your name (or username) so we can reply to you.
• Website traffic: We might look at basic, anonymous stats (like how many people visit the site each day, their country), but this doesn't tell us who you are or where you live. This data may be subject to the terms of GitHub Pages.
• Form submissions: When you use our petition form or MP finder tool, data is processed entirely in your browser (client-side) or sent directly to third-party services as described in their respective sections below. BackOnline does not store this information on our servers.

How We Use Your Data

We only use your email address to answer your questions or talk about youth rights advocacy. We never sell, trade, or share your personal information with third parties or advertisers.

Site Hosting (GitHub Pages)

BackOnline.ca is hosted on GitHub Pages, which means GitHub may see basic request metadata when you visit our site:

• What GitHub may see: GitHub's servers log standard web request information: your IP address, the pages you visit, and basic browser metadata. This is normal for any web hosting service.
• What GitHub cannot see: GitHub does not have access to any form data you submit (petition forms, MP lookups, etc.) since those go directly to third-party services like OpenNorth and the CCF.
• No personal data storage: We do not store contact information, postal codes, emails, or any personal data on the GitHub Pages server.
• GitHub's privacy policy: For details on how GitHub handles this data, visit GitHub's privacy statement.

Important Note for Visitors Under 13

Protecting children online is a top priority. If you are under the age of 13, please get permission from a parent or legal guardian before sending us an email or using our contact form.

How Long We Keep Your Info

We don't hoard data. Once we have finished replying to your message and resolved your question, we periodically delete old email threads to keep your data safe and off our servers.

Your Rights and Control

Since this is a youth rights site, we firmly believe you own your data. At any time, you can email us to ask what information we have about you, or request that we delete your messages permanently.

You also have the right to review or edit our entire codebase on our Github. Edits will be manually reviewed before being merged.

Changes to This Policy

We might update this page occasionally as the website grows. If we make big changes, we will post a notice on our homepage.

The MP Finder Tool

Our "Find Your MP" tool helps you look up your federal Member of Parliament and send them a message about Bill C-34. Here's what happens with your data:

• Your postal code (client-side lookup): When you enter your postal code, your browser sends it directly to OpenNorth's Represent API (a public, third-party service) to find your MP. We do not store your postal code on our servers—it passes directly from your browser to OpenNorth. The lookup happens in two steps: (1) your postal code goes to OpenNorth to get geographic coordinates, and (2) those coordinates are used to find your representative. OpenNorth may log your postal code in their server logs as part of processing API requests for government transparency purposes.
• Your message: The email template is edited entirely on your device. It never leaves your computer unless you decide to send it by clicking "Open in Email App" (which opens your personal email client) or copying it manually. We never see it. Clicking "Open in Email App" also sends a count-only signal to our action counter (no message text or personal data — see the Action Counters section below).
• Your privacy: When you successfully find an MP, your browser sends a count-only signal to our action counter (described in the section below) — no postal code, name, or any other personal information is included. Beyond that one-number increment, we don't collect or log anything about your lookup or your message.
• OpenNorth's privacy: OpenNorth is a reputable, non-profit organization. For details on how they handle postal code data, visit opennorth.ca.

The Petition Form

BackOnline's homepage features an integrated petition form that lets you sign the Canadian Constitution Foundation's "Stop Bill C-34" petition directly from our site. Here's how it works:

• Direct submission to CCF: When you submit the form with your first name, last name, email, and postal code, your signature is sent directly to the Canadian Constitution Foundation's petition system at theccf.ca/stopc34/.
• BackOnline does not store your data: We do not collect, store, or retain any personal information from petition submissions. Your name, email, and postal code go directly from your browser to the CCF's servers. On a successful submission, your browser also sends a count-only signal to our action counter (no personal data — see the Action Counters section below).
• CCF's privacy policy applies: Any information you submit on the petition form is governed by the Canadian Constitution Foundation's privacy policy, not BackOnline's. The CCF manages all petition data and communications.
• Client-side submission: The form submission happens entirely in your browser (client-side). We do not process your information on our servers.
• Questions about your data: For questions about how the CCF handles petition data or to manage your preferences, visit theccf.ca.

The Action Counters

Our homepage shows three live tallies — how many people found their MP, opened an email to their MP, and signed the petition. These are the only features that talk to a server we operate ourselves — a small counter service running on Cloudflare at api.backonline.ca. We built it to collect as little as humanly possible:

• No personal data is sent: When you successfully look up your MP, open a message in your email app, or submit the petition, your browser sends a single, near-empty request that just names which of the three actions happened (for example, "petition signed"). It contains no name, email, postal code, message text, or any other personal information.
• We do not use your IP address or any identifier: The counter does not read, hash, log, or store your IP address, and it sets no cookies. It simply adds one to a running total. We keep no record that links an action to you, your device, or your connection — so there is nothing that could single you out.
• All we store are three numbers: The only data saved is the three totals shown on the page. Because we deliberately keep nothing about who triggered them (and place no limits per person), the counts are a best-effort indication of activity, not a precise or verified figure.
• Cloudflare: Because the counter runs on Cloudflare's network, Cloudflare's servers handle your request in transit and see your IP, as with any website request. We never receive or retain it. For details, see cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.
• You can opt out by doing nothing special: The counter relies on JavaScript. If you browse with scripts disabled (for example, Tor with NoScript), nothing is ever sent to the counter — the petition and MP tools still work through their direct links.

Bill Tracker (Parliament.ca API)

Our "Where Canada Currently Stands" section displays the live legislative status of Bill C-34 by fetching data from Parliament.ca. Here's what happens:

• Live bill status: The site periodically fetches the latest bill status from the official Parliament of Canada API at parl.ca/LegisInfo/en/bill/45-1/c-34/json.
• No personal data involved: This request contains no information about you—it only retrieves publicly available bill information. Parliament.ca may log your request in their server logs as a standard part of web server operations, but this is basic infrastructure logging, not tracking.
• Fallback to local data: If the live API is unavailable, the site falls back to a locally stored snapshot of the bill status.
• Questions about Parliament.ca: For details on their privacy practices, visit parl.ca.

External Resources (Font Awesome Icons)

This website uses Font Awesome icons, which are loaded from their CDN. Here's what you should know:

• What's loaded: We load Font Awesome's stylesheet and icon library from the CDN at cdnjs.cloudflare.com.
• What data is involved: When your browser loads these resources, it makes a request to Cloudflare's servers. This request includes your IP address and basic request metadata (like the time and your browser type) as part of standard web operations.
• No personal data: We do not identify you or share any personal information with Font Awesome or Cloudflare through these icon loads.
• Privacy policies: For details on how Cloudflare handles this data, visit cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.

Got Questions?

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, feel free to reach out — we're happy to help.