Welcome to CIKH.CA — Canadian Immigration Knowledge Hub (“CIKH”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). We operate the website located at https://cikh.ca. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect any information that relates to you when you visit or interact with our website. By continuing to browse or use CIKH, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy.
We have written this Privacy Policy in plain language so that it is easy to understand. If you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your data, you are always welcome to contact us at info@cikh.ca.
1. Who We Are
CIKH is an independent online publication dedicated to providing accurate, up-to-date, and publicly available information about Canadian immigration policies, Express Entry draws, Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), citizenship, and related news. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or any Canadian government body. Our content is informational only.
2. What Information We Collect
We collect two types of information: information you provide to us directly, and information collected automatically when you use our site.
Information you provide directly:
- When you leave a comment on an article, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your comment. Your email address is used solely to identify you as the commenter and to send you a notification if someone replies to your comment. It is never displayed publicly on the site.
- When you subscribe to our newsletter or email alerts (such as Express Entry draw notifications), we collect your email address for the sole purpose of sending you those updates. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link included in every email we send.
- When you fill out our contact form to reach our team, we collect your name, email address, and the message you submit. This information is used only to respond to your inquiry.
- When you use our free CRS Score Calculator or Immigration Quiz tool, we do not collect or store any of the information you enter. These tools run entirely within your browser session.
Information collected automatically:
- Like almost every website on the internet, our server and analytics tools collect standard technical information when you visit, including your IP address (in anonymised form), the type of browser and device you are using, the pages you visit on our site, how long you spend on each page, and the page you came from before arriving at CIKH. This data is collected in aggregate and is used solely to understand how our content is being consumed and to improve the website.
- We use Google Analytics to collect this aggregated, anonymised usage data. Google Analytics uses cookies to track sessions. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
- We do not require you to create an account or log in to read any content on CIKH. All articles, news, draw results, and tools are freely accessible without registration.
3. Cookies
A cookie is a small text file that a website saves to your browser. CIKH uses the following types of cookies:
- Essential cookies: These are necessary for the website to function. They remember your session and settings such as language preference.
- Analytics cookies: These are set by Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors use the site. They do not identify you personally.
- Comment cookies: If you leave a comment, WordPress may save your name and email in cookies so that you do not need to fill them in again on your next visit. These cookies last for one year.
You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain parts of the website. To learn more about cookies and how to manage them, visit allaboutcookies.org.
4. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- To display your name (but not your email) alongside your comment when it is published.
- To send you email newsletters or draw alerts that you have explicitly signed up for.
- To respond to messages you send us through the contact form.
- To analyse overall website traffic patterns so that we can improve our content and user experience.
- To ensure the security and integrity of our website.
We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling. We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to any third party for their own marketing purposes.
5. Third-Party Services
CIKH uses a small number of trusted third-party services to operate the website. Each of these services has its own privacy policy:
- Google Analytics (analytics.google.com/analytics) — website traffic analysis.
- Google AdSense (adsense.google.com) — to display relevant advertisements. Google may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our site or other websites. You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings at adssettings.google.com.
- WordPress.org — our content management system. Comment data is stored in our own hosted database.
- Email service provider — used to send newsletters and alert emails to subscribers.
We do not share your personal data with any third party beyond what is described above and what is technically necessary to operate these services.
6. Google AdSense and Advertising
CIKH displays advertisements served by Google AdSense. Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads based on your browsing history across websites. This allows Google to show you ads that may be relevant to your interests.
You have the following choices regarding interest-based advertising:
- Opt out of personalised Google ads by visiting adssettings.google.com.
- Opt out of third-party vendor advertising cookies through the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page at optout.networkadvertising.org.
CIKH does not have access to or control over the cookies used by Google or other third-party advertisers.
7. Data Retention
We retain comment data, including the name and email address associated with a comment, for as long as the comment remains published on the site. If you request deletion of your comment, we will delete it and the associated data within 30 days.
Subscriber email addresses are retained until you unsubscribe. Upon unsubscribing, your email address is removed from our mailing list within 7 business days.
Contact form submissions are retained in our email system for up to 12 months and then deleted.
Anonymised analytics data is retained indefinitely as it cannot be linked back to any individual.
8. Your Rights
Depending on where you are located, you may have rights under applicable data protection laws, including the right to access the personal data we hold about you, the right to request correction of inaccurate data, the right to request deletion of your data, and the right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@cikh.ca. We will respond to your request within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.
9. Children’s Privacy
CIKH is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete that information.
10. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we collect against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Our website uses HTTPS encryption for all data in transit. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal reasons. When we do, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the website after a change has been posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us:
- Email: info@cikh.ca
- Website: https://cikh.ca