Terms of use

OTF Website - Terms of Use

By accessing this website, you are agreeing to these Terms of Use (“ToU”). Therefore, we suggest that you review these ToU carefully. Each time you access this website you indicate your acknowledgment and acceptance of the terms and conditions below, which may be revised periodically without prior notice. These ToU affect your legal rights and obligations. If you do not accept these ToU, do not access this website.

If you can’t access these ToU or any link provided as part of these ToU, please contact us.

Who we are

When we say “OTF”, “the foundation”, “we”, “us” or “our”, we mean the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) an agency of His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario (more commonly known as the Government of Ontario).

Acceptable use of this website

We require you to follow several simple rules when accessing or using this website. You must not:

  1. use this website in violation of any law, rule or regulation;
  2. interfere with or disrupt this website or any of our computer systems, servers, networks, databases, software, hardware or equipment used by or for this website;
  3. interfere with the use or enjoyment of this website by others;
  4. introduce code which is disruptive or harmful;
  5. attempt to gain unauthorized access to our computer systems, servers, networks, databases, software, hardware or equipment, including to user-restricted areas of this website; logins and passwords of others; or personal information or personal accounts of others.

Privacy

Your privacy is important to us! If you provide any personal information to us through this website, we will handle it according to what we say in our Privacy Statement. Please review the Privacy Statement to learn about the type of information collected, how we use cookies and web analytics, and security.

Copyright

Unless we indicate otherwise, the content on this website is protected by Crown copyright. Crown copyright is held by the Queen's Printer for Ontario. Your ability to use and reproduce content owned by the Queen’s Printer for Ontario is set out on the Copyright Information page.

Copyright ownership in user submitted content is not held by the Queen’s Printer for Ontario, unless we tell you otherwise. You must obtain the prior consent of the copyright holder before doing anything with user submitted content.

Links to other websites and social media platforms

You may see links on this website to other websites and some widely-used social media platforms. We have included them because they may be of interest to you. Providing a link to them does not indicate that we endorse or recommend them to you.

Since other websites and social media platforms are controlled and maintained by other people or organizations, we can’t be sure that the link will still work when you click on it or that the service or content is useful, appropriate, virus-free or reliable. Therefore, you need to decide for yourself whether you want to follow any link or to agree to receive or rely on any service or content that is made available to you.

Your privacy and third party sites

Important Privacy Information: Any information that you provide to or through a social media platform or other website is not collected or controlled by us. Social media platforms or other websites are not bound by our Privacy Statement. You should review the privacy policies of any linked website or social media platform before providing any personal or other information. Others may not comply with the same privacy laws, policies and practices that we do! Please be careful.

Links from other websites and social media platforms

Unless we indicate otherwise, other websites and social media platforms that link to this website or any Government of Ontario website are not associated with us or endorsed by us.

Disclaimer of warranty / Limitation of liability

We cannot make this website as current, informative and interactive as possible without the important legal disclaimers of warranty and liability set out below. Make sure you don’t skip this section!

Warranty disclaimer

Use of this website and its contents is at your own risk. This website and all of its content are provided "As Is". You must not rely on any content published on or linked to this website without first making your own enquiries to verify it is accurate, current and complete. We do not make, and expressly disclaim, any representations, warranties, covenants and conditions, express or implied, arising out of operation of law, course of performance, course of dealing, usage of trade or otherwise, including any express or implied warranties and conditions of: merchantability; merchantable quality; fitness for a particular purpose; non-infringement; safety; quality; freedom from defects or that defects will be corrected; uninterrupted, virus-free or error-free use of this website; or accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness or appropriateness relating to the content of this website.

Limitation of liability

Under no circumstances will OTF, its employees or volunteers have any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage whatsoever (including without limitation direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary or other damages, and including without limitation to any loss of profit, costs, expenses, harm to business, business interruption, reputation, loss of information or programs or data, loss of savings, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of tangible or intangible property, legal fees or legal costs, wasted management or office time or damages of any kind whatsoever), whether based in contract, tort, negligence or any other legal basis, arising out of or in connection with this website, any linked website or linked social media platform (including without limitation any damages suffered as a result of the use, inability to use, failure of, or any omissions or inaccuracies in, this website, any linked websites or linked social media platforms, or any of the services or content of the foregoing), even if OTF, its employees or volunteers have been specifically advised of the possibility of such damage or loss, or if such damage or loss was foreseeable.

General

OTF reserves the right to supplement, remove or modify these Terms of Use at any time and from time to time without notice. Please check this website regularly for any changes. If you continue to use this website following a change to these Terms of Use, you will be deemed to have accepted the changes.

If any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions will continue in full force.

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and deemed to be entered into by you in the Province of Ontario.

Updated: February 22, 2021

Published: February 22, 2021

Trademarks

The official logos and symbols of Ontario Trillium Foundation may not be reproduced, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, without our prior authorization which you must receive in writing from us.

Copyright

Unless otherwise noted, the content of this website, including but not limited to images, text, illustrations, designs, icons, photographs, multimedia clips and other materials, are the exclusive property of OTF and are protected by the Copyright Act, and other applicable Canadian and foreign intellectual property laws. Unauthorized use may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws.

OTF’s logos and slogans are registered and unregistered trademarks of OTF. Any reproduction of these logos and slogans, other than with OTF’s prior express written permission, is strictly prohibited.

The name of OTF or any OTF program may not be used in any way, including in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of materials on this website, without prior written permission from OTF.

OTF prohibits use of the OTF logo as part of a link to or from any site unless the establishment of such a link is expressly approved in advance by OTF in writing.

All product and company names mentioned on this website are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Social Media - Terms of Use

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (“OTF”) welcomes comments, posts, messages and creative content (“posts”) on all OTF social media channels (the "Channels"), provided that your posts comply with the following Terms of Use (“ToU”).  By accessing the Channels, you are agreeing to these ToU. Please review these ToU carefully.  Each time you access the Channels you indicate your acknowledgment and acceptance of these ToU, which may be revised periodically without prior notice. These ToU affect your legal rights and obligations. If you do not accept these ToU, do not access the channels.

It is helpful to remember that your posts may also be bound by the Terms and Conditions of each social media platform (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube).

A. Content posted by us

OTF provides support through our Channels in a variety of ways resulting in a variety of frequency of posting and types of content shared. However, you can expect us to share helpful information about granting opportunities as well as sharing links to more in-depth resources.

  • Monitoring: Unless otherwise noted, we monitor OTF Channels during normal business hours.
  • Responding: We make every effort to support you through our Channels by responding to your posts, however, depending on the volume of posts received, we may not be able to respond to everyone and will focus on those we can most effectively aid. Note: on some Channels, OTF does not respond to posts (e.g., YouTube).
  • Languages: OTF maintains Channels in both French and English, following our French Language Services Policy and The French Language Services Act.
  • Accessibility: OTF complies with The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act where we can.  However, each Channel is a 3rd party service provider and is not legally bound by the standards for web accessibility.
  • Links to Other Websites.  We may display links to other websites because they may be of interest to you. Providing a link to them doesn’t mean that we endorse or recommend them to you.  Also, since these other websites are controlled and maintained by other people, we can’t be sure that the link will still work when you click on it or that the service or content is useful, appropriate, virus-free or reliable. Therefore, you need to decide for yourself whether you want to follow any link or to agree to receive or rely on any service or content that is made available to you. 

OTF employee & volunteer social media personal use

OTF employees and volunteers may use social media outside of work hours or use it personally under their names or pseudonyms. Only comments posted on OTF channels by authorized OTF employees represent the official position of OTF.

B. Content posted by the public

We support an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and respectful environment, free of discrimination and harassment on OTF Channels. We also encourage focused, thoughtful questions and discussion responding or related to OTF funding opportunities, topics, new initiatives or upcoming events.

With these goals in mind, we have set in place these ToU to foster the positive community experience we aim to provide. On the other hand, we reserve the right to remove, edit or move, at any time, any post which does not fully comply with these ToU.

Repeated violations may result in the offender being blocked or banned from future use of our Channels. We may also notify the channel service provider of the offending behaviour.

Posting Guidelines

You are responsible for your posts on OTF Channels.  If you choose to post, please keep in mind that you must not:

  1. mislead us or anyone else as to your identity or the origin of the posted content, or falsely claim to represent a person, organization or entity;
  2. solicit personal information from other users (e.g. a person’s home address, health card number);
  3. post or transmit any message, content or link to content that:
  • you either do not own or do not have the necessary rights to post or transmit;
  •  violates any law, rule or regulation or any 3rd party right, or promotes illegal activity or conduct that would contravene any law, rule or regulation or 3rd party right;
  •  is abusive, hateful, homophobic, discriminatory, malicious, aggressive, threatening, violent, sexist, harassing, inflammatory, indecent, tortious, defamatory, knowingly false, misleading, deceptive, vulgar, obscene, offensive, scandalous, sexually explicit, profane;
  • incites hatred, racism, bigotry, discrimination or physical harm of any kind against any individual or class of individuals based on a protected ground in the Ontario Human Rights Code, including ancestry, colour, race, citizenship, ethnic origin, place of origin, creed, disability, family status, marital status, gender identity, gender expression, sex (including pregnancy and breastfeeding) or sexual orientation;
  • is unsolicited or unauthorized, such as unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional material, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letter," "pyramid scheme," or any other form of solicitation (commercial or otherwise);
  • includes advertising or solicitation content, spam/malware or other irrelevant material;
  • is in breach of any confidence;
  • includes personal data or information about others; or
  • can result in us being liable to anyone else under any intellectual property rights law.

If we suffer costs or damages as a result of your violating these guidelines, we expect you to cover our costs and damages.

While we may moderate posts, we are not required to, nor should you expect that we will, take action in response to any content posted on our page or feed. The views expressed by others represent their own views and are not endorsed or approved by us, nor do we endorse or approve any events or other activities posted by a user.

Your posts and privacy

Avoid posting personal or confidential information.  OTF Channels are publicly accessible and posts are visible to the public. Therefore, please don’t post any personal information about you or anyone else.  All or part of any posts containing personal or confidential information (e.g. a person’s home address, health card number) may be removed.

To the extent that we collect any personal information through an OTF Channel, we will handle it according to our Privacy Statement.

We will cooperate with law enforcement officials and comply with any court order concerning any claim or investigation due to any posts and will provide such content and information regarding your identity as well as other relevant information.

For any matter that is confidential, or too complicated for posting to the public, please contact the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Support Centre at otf@otf.ca or 1 800 263-2887.

If you choose to communicate with OTF through a social media channel, please note that we don’t have any control over the social media channel and therefore we have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which those organizations collect, use, disclose, secure or otherwise treat your personal information. You should review the privacy policies of any social media channel before providing any personal or other information. Others may not comply with the same privacy laws, policies and practices that we do.

Updates to our Terms of Use

OTF reserves the right to add to, remove or update these ToU at any time without notice. Please check this website regularly for any changes. If you visit our Channels following a change to these ToU, you will be deemed to have accepted the changes.

Disclaimers

Use of all OTF Channels is at your own risk. They and all of their content are provided "As Is". You must not rely on any content published on or linked from our Channels without first making your own enquiries to verify it is accurate, current and complete.  We do not make, and expressly disclaim, any representations, warranties, covenants and conditions, express or implied, arising out of operation of law, course of performance, course of dealing, usage of trade or otherwise, including any express or implied warranties and conditions of: merchantability; merchantable quality; fitness for a particular purpose; non-infringement; safety; quality; freedom from defects or that defects will be corrected; uninterrupted, virus-free or error-free use of our channels; or accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness or appropriateness relating to the content of them.

Under no circumstances will OTF, its employees or volunteers have any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage whatsoever (including without limitation direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary or other damages, and including without limitation to any loss of profit, costs, expenses, harm to business, business interruption, reputation, loss of information or programs or data, loss of savings, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of tangible or intangible property, legal fees or legal costs, wasted management or office time or damages of any kind whatsoever), whether based in contract, tort, negligence or any other legal basis, arising out of or in connection with our social media sites, any linked website or linked social media platform (including without limitation any damages suffered as a result of the use, inability to use or failure of, or any omissions or inaccuracies on, our social media sites, any linked websites or linked social media platforms, or any of the services or content of the foregoing), even if OTF, its employees or volunteers have been specifically advised of the possibility of such damage or loss, or if such damage or loss was foreseeable.

Legal Jurisdiction

These ToU are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and deemed to be entered by you in the Province of Ontario.