Privacy Policy — Niagara Local
Version 1.4 — effective 5 October 2026.
This policy explains what we hold, why, and what you can ask us to do about it. We follow Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Questions, corrections or complaints: admin@niagaralocal.ca, telephone +1 289-672-2200, or write to us at Niagara Local, 637 Niagara Street, Welland, Ontario L3C 1E2, Canada
1. The short version
- We list local businesses using information those businesses have already published about themselves.
- A listing is free. We do not charge a business to appear, to be corrected, or to be removed.
- If you claim your listing, we ask you to verify you are connected to the business, and we keep a record of that.
- We only contact you about our marketing services if you tick the box that says so. You can untick it later.
- You can have your listing removed entirely, at any time, by asking.
2. Business listings, and why they are here
Most listings were created before the business asked us to create them. We compile them from information the business itself has made public — its own website, its published address, telephone number, opening hours and the services it advertises. We record the source and the date we checked it.
Under PIPEDA, business contact information — the name, title, business address, business telephone number, business email and business website of an individual acting in a business capacity — is treated differently from personal information when it is collected, used or disclosed solely to communicate with that person about their business. A directory listing is that kind of information.
We recognise the line is not always clean. Many small businesses are run from a home address, and a mobile number may be both business and personal. That is why:
- A listing shows a street address only if the business has chosen to show it. Owners can hide it.
- You do not have to accept a listing. Ask us and we will remove it — see section 8.
- We do not publish anything about a business that it has not itself published, other than the category we file it under and a description we write from its own material.
3. What we collect
From visitors to the website
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Pages requested, IP address, browser type, timestamps (server logs) | Keeping the site running; diagnosing faults; detecting abuse |
| Bot-protection signals on the claim form (Cloudflare) | Stopping automated and fraudulent claim submissions |
We do not use advertising trackers, and we do not sell or rent anything we hold to anyone.
From a business owner claiming a listing
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your name, email address and telephone number | To contact you about the claim and confirm the outcome |
| Your stated connection to the business and any evidence you send | To check the claim is genuine before we hand control of a listing to someone |
| The claim's date, time and originating IP address | Fraud prevention; an audit trail of who changed a listing |
When a verified owner sets their preferences
We record your choices exactly as you made them, together with the version of the wording you were shown (currently 2026-09-18.1) and the IP address the choice came from. This is deliberate: if you ever tell us you did not agree to something, we can check what you were actually shown and when.
The choices are:
1. Your listing — keep it, or remove your business from Niagara Local entirely.
2. MomentumOS business services — whether we may contact you by email about them. The wording shown is: "We may show you a free marketing audit and a mock-up built for your business."
3. Text messages (optional) — an express, separate opt-in with its own mobile number. The wording shown is: "You may text me about MomentumOS services at the mobile number below. Messages come from MomentumOS by Web Integrated Solutions; message and data rates may apply; reply STOP at any time to stop."
Email and text consent are separate. Agreeing to one is not agreeing to the other, and neither is a condition of having a listing.
Photographs. If you upload a photograph you are asked to confirm you own it or have permission to let us publish it, and to name the photographer or source. We store that confirmation with the image.
4. What we do with it
We use what we hold to publish and correct listings, to check claims, to answer you, to keep records that show a consent was properly obtained, and — only where you have agreed — to contact you about MomentumOS services.
We do not: sell, rent or trade personal information; use it to build advertising profiles; or pass it to anyone except the service providers in section 5.
5. Who else handles it
We use a small number of providers. They act on our instructions and may not use what they hold for their own purposes.
| Provider | What they handle | Where |
|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud | Website and database hosting; our own mail server for @niagaralocal.ca | Canada — Beauharnois, Quebec |
| Cloudflare | Bot protection on the claim form | Global network, company in the United States |
| HighLevel (LeadConnector) | Our CRM — holds the record of a verified claimant and their consent choices | United States |
| Mailgun | Delivery of email sent from our MomentumOS systems | United States |
Information leaving Canada. Records of verified claimants are stored in the United States by our CRM provider, and some email is delivered through providers there. While information is outside Canada it may be accessible to the courts and law enforcement of that country under its laws. If you would rather that did not happen, do not claim a listing — an unclaimed listing is published from our Canadian server and no record of you goes to the CRM.
6. How long we keep it
| Record | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Published listing information | While the listing is published |
| Claim submissions and evidence | 24 months after the claim is decided |
| Consent records (choice, wording version, IP, timestamp) | While the consent is relied on, and for three years afterwards, because we may have to prove a message was permitted |
| Server logs | 90 days |
| Removal requests | Indefinitely, as a short record that the business asked not to be listed, so we do not re-list it by mistake |
A removal record is deliberately minimal: the business, the date, and that removal was requested.
7. Keeping it safe
The site and the administration portal are served over HTTPS. The administration portal requires a named account and two-factor authentication, and no member of the public can reach it. Access is limited to people who need it to review claims and publish listings. Our mail server enforces SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
No system is perfect. If a breach ever creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the people affected, as PIPEDA requires.
8. Your choices
- See what we hold about you — ask at admin@niagaralocal.ca or +1 289-672-2200. We will respond within 30 days.
- Correct it — tell us what is wrong. Listing corrections are usually quicker through the owner update form.
- Change your mind — withdraw email or text consent at any time. Reply STOP to any text. Withdrawing consent does not remove your listing unless you ask for that too.
- Remove your listing entirely — ask, and "your listing will be taken down and your business excluded from future publication. You can ask for it to be restored at any time by contacting admin@niagaralocal.ca." We will not quietly re-list you afterwards; restoring a removed listing requires a fresh verified request.
- Complain — to us first, please, so we can fix it. You can also complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.
There is no charge for any of this.
9. Children
Niagara Local is a directory of businesses and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
10. Changes
If we change this policy we will change the date at the top. The consent wording shown to business owners is separately version-stamped, and a change there does not silently alter a consent you already gave — we ask again.