Privacy Policy
Updated October 23, 2026
The short version
WhiteSneakers.ca collects as little personal information as possible. We use Google Analytics, which sets cookies, to see which guides help readers. In Québec, and anywhere outside Canada and the United States, it stays off until you click Accept. Elsewhere in Canada and in the United States, it runs by default, a notice tells you so, and you can turn it off at any time. It’s never used for advertising. We don’t sell personal information. Questions or requests go to privacy@whitesneakers.ca.
This policy is written to meet Québec’s Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (as amended by Law 25) and the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Who is responsible for your personal information?
WhiteSneakers.ca is responsible for the personal information it collects. The person in charge of the protection of personal information is the site’s publisher. You can reach them at privacy@whitesneakers.ca for any question, request or complaint about this policy or how we handle your information.
What information do we collect?
We collect only what we need to run the site and answer you: aggregated, cookieless analytics about page visits, the technical request data our host needs to deliver pages securely, and whatever you choose to send us by email. We don’t ask for your address, phone number, payment details or date of birth.
| When | What we collect | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You visit any page | Aggregated, cookieless analytics: pages viewed, referring site, browser and device type, approximate country | To understand which guides are useful and fix problems |
| You visit any page | Technical request data processed by our hosting provider, such as IP address, browser and time of request | To deliver pages and protect the site against abuse and attacks |
| You email us | Your email address, name if you give it, and what you write | To reply, correct errors, and handle your request |
| You load a page | Your approximate country and province or state, worked out from your IP address by our hosting provider when the page loads | To apply the right analytics rule for where you are. We don’t store it |
| Google Analytics is on for you (see below) | Pages viewed, how you arrived, approximate location, device and browser, and cookie identifiers (_ga, _ga_*) |
To understand which guides help readers. Not used for advertising: ad storage and ad personalization are switched off |
| You make a choice in the analytics banner | Your choice (accept or decline), saved in your browser’s local storage, not in a cookie | So we don’t ask again on every page |
We don’t sell, rent or trade personal information.
If we launch a newsletter, we’ll only add you with your express consent, identify ourselves in every email, and include a working unsubscribe link. We’ll update this policy before we start.
Do we use cookies or tracking?
Only Google Analytics, which sets two cookies (_ga and _ga_*) that last up to two years unless you clear them or turn analytics off. When it runs depends on where you are:
| Where you are | Google Analytics |
|---|---|
| Québec | Off until you click Accept in the banner. Declining is as easy as accepting. |
| Elsewhere in Canada, and in the United States | On by default. A notice tells you, and Turn off stops it and deletes its cookies. |
| Anywhere else (including the European Union and the United Kingdom) | Off until you click Accept. |
| We can’t tell where you are, or your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal | Off until you click Accept. |
How it works in practice:
- How we know where you are: our hosting provider, Vercel, looks up your approximate country and province or state from your IP address when a page loads. We use it only to pick the rule above and don’t store it. Location from an IP address isn’t always right, for example behind a VPN, so if you’re in Québec and see the “on by default” notice, choose Turn off or use Cookie settings.
- Changing your mind: use the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. If you turn analytics off, we stop Google Analytics and delete its cookies on our domain. You can also email us and we’ll help.
- Your choice is remembered in your browser’s local storage, not in a cookie, so we don’t ask on every page.
Links to retailers take you to their sites, where their own privacy policies apply. If we join affiliate programs in future, a retailer or affiliate network may be able to tell that you arrived from our site. We’ll update this policy and our disclosure before that happens.
Who do we share information with?
Only with service providers that help us run the site, and only what they need: our hosting provider, Vercel; Google, for Google Analytics, but only if you accept analytics cookies; and our email provider. They may process information only on our behalf and for the purposes described here. We may also disclose information if the law requires it. We never sell personal information.
Where is your information stored?
Our service providers may store or process information outside Québec and outside Canada, including in the United States. Before we communicate personal information outside Québec, we assess whether it will be adequately protected, as Québec law requires, and we put written agreements in place. Information held in another country may be accessible to that country’s authorities under its laws.
How long do we keep it, and how do we protect it?
We keep personal information only as long as we need it. Emails are deleted once your request is handled, within 24 months at most, unless the law requires us to keep them longer. Analytics are aggregated and don’t identify you. Our hosting provider keeps request logs for limited periods under its own policies.
We protect information with access limited to the people who need it, encrypted connections (HTTPS) across the site, and service providers that maintain their own security safeguards. If a confidentiality incident creates a risk of serious injury, we’ll notify the people affected and the relevant privacy regulator, as the law requires.
What are your rights?
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, have it corrected, withdraw your consent, and, in Québec, receive it in a structured, commonly used technological format. You can also ask us to stop disseminating your information or to de-index it where the law allows. Email us and we’ll respond in writing within 30 days.
To make a request, email privacy@whitesneakers.ca and tell us what you’re asking for. We may need to confirm your identity before we share or change anything. There’s no charge for a reasonable request.
How can you make a complaint?
Contact us first at privacy@whitesneakers.ca, and we’ll try to resolve it. If you’re not satisfied, you can complain to a regulator. Québec residents can contact the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec. Anyone in Canada can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Children
WhiteSneakers.ca is a general-audience site and isn’t directed at children under 14. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 14. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we’ll delete it.
Changes to this policy
When we change how we handle personal information, we’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change takes effect. If a change is significant, such as adding optional analytics or a newsletter, we’ll say so clearly on this page.
October 23, 2026: we added Google Analytics behind a consent banner. It’s opt-in in Québec and outside Canada and the United States, and on by default with an easy opt-out elsewhere in Canada and in the United States.
Questions about this policy: privacy@whitesneakers.ca.