Privacy Policy

Last Updated: Nov 12, 2026


About this policy


The Town of Aberdeen ("the Town", "we", "us") operates aberdeen.ca. This policy explains what personal information we collect through the website, our online advertising and our online forms, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.


This policy covers:

  • the website at aberdeen.ca and its pages;
  • Town advertisements on Facebook, Instagram and Google;
  • Facebook and Instagram lead forms ("instant forms") that the Town runs and that link to this policy.


It does not cover other organizations' websites, apps or social media platforms, even when we link to them. Those organizations have their own privacy policies.


The short version

  • You can browse aberdeen.ca without telling us who you are.
  • The site uses advertising and analytics tools from Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google. A banner explains them on your first visit, and you can turn them off at any time with Decline or Cookie settings.
  • When those tools run, they tell Meta and Google which pages you visited and which actions you took, such as submitting a form. We use this to measure whether our ads work and to show Town ads to people who have already visited the site.
  • Information you send us through a form is used for the purpose you sent it, and nothing else without your consent or legal authority.
  • We do not sell personal information.
  • Some of the services we use store information outside Canada, mainly in the United States.



Who is responsible and our legal authority


The Town of Aberdeen is responsible for the personal information collected through aberdeen.ca and our online advertising. We handle it under The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LA FOIP), the Saskatchewan law that governs how municipalities collect, use, disclose and protect personal information.


LA FOIP allows us to collect personal information only for a purpose that relates to an existing or proposed Town program or activity. Through the website and our advertising, those programs and activities are:

  • providing Town services and responding to residents, businesses and visitors;
  • sharing Town news, notices and events;
  • economic development, including promoting residential lots in Aberdeen and attracting new residents and businesses;
  • measuring and improving the website and our advertising.


The Town may utilize third party service providers to manage aberdeen.ca and run our online advertising on our behalf. Information they handle for this work belongs to the Town, and they may use it only for the Town's purposes.



Information you give us


We collect personal information directly from you when you choose to give it to us. What we collect depends on what you do.


Each form says why we are asking. Fields marked optional are optional. If you would rather not use a form, you can contact the Town Office by phone, mail or in person.


When you submit a Town lead form on Facebook or Instagram, Meta collects your answers and passes them to the Town. Meta may pre-fill some fields, such as your name and email address, from your account. You can change them before you submit. Meta's own handling of that information is covered by the Meta Privacy Policy.



Information collected automatically


When you visit aberdeen.ca, your browser automatically sends some technical information to our website host, Duda. This includes your IP address, your browser and device type, the page you asked for, the page you came from, and the date and time. Duda uses this information to deliver the site, keep it secure and fix problems.


The site also uses a small number of necessary cookies. These keep the site working and remember your cookie choice. They do not track you on other websites. You cannot turn them off in the cookie banner because the site needs them to work.


A cookie is a small file that a website saves in your browser. Pixels and tags are small pieces of code that send information to a service when a page loads or when you take an action on it. In this policy, "cookies" includes these similar technologies.



Advertising and analytics tools

aberdeen.ca uses four tools from Meta and Google. They start when you arrive on the site, and a banner on your first visit explains them. If you choose Decline, or turn off a category in Cookie settings, the tools in that category stop running for you. Because they start on arrival, Meta and Google receive information about the first page you view, even if you then decline. If you visit from a place whose laws require consent first, such as the European Union or the United Kingdom, the tools do not run until you accept.

  • Meta Pixel - Tells Meta which pages you viewed and which actions you took, such as submitting a form. We use it to measure our Facebook and Instagram ads and to show Town ads to people who have visited the site.
  • Meta Conversions API - Sends the same website events to Meta through a server connection instead of from your browser, so our ad measurement is more complete. It stops sending your events if you decline advertising tools.
  • Google Analytics 4 - Counts visits and shows us, in totals, how people find and use the site.
  • Google Ads tag - Measures whether our Google ads lead to visits or form submissions, and lets us show Town ads to people who have visited the site.


Providers sometimes change cookie names and lifetimes. The Cookie settings panel on the site lists the cookies currently in use.



What these tools send to Meta and Google


Unless you have declined them, these tools can send:

  • the address of the page you are on and the page you came from;
  • your IP address and information about your browser and device;
  • the cookie identifiers listed above;
  • actions you take, such as clicking a button or submitting a form, including the button's label and the names of form fields (for example, "email"), but not what you type;
  • if you arrived from one of our ads, an identifier for that ad click.


Google Analytics 4 does not log or store individual IP addresses. It uses them only to work out an approximate location, such as a city or region.



What we do not send or do


  • We do not send what you type into our forms, including your name, email address or phone number, to Meta or Google, in plain or scrambled (hashed) form.
  • We do not upload lists of names, email addresses or phone numbers to Meta or Google.
  • We do not run advertising tools on pages where you submit an access to information or privacy request, a complaint, or a payment.
  • We do not use these tools to target people based on health, finances or other sensitive characteristics. Our ads for residential lots follow Meta's and Google's housing advertising rules, which do not allow targeting by age, gender or postal code.



How Meta and Google use this information


Meta and Google do not only process this information for the Town. They also use it under their own privacy policies, for example to measure ads, prevent fraud, improve their services and, depending on your settings with them, personalize the ads and other content you see. If you are logged in to Facebook or Instagram, Meta can connect your activity on our site to your account.

To learn more, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services, the Meta Privacy Policy and the Meta Cookies Policy.



What the Town sees


Meta and Google give us reports, not a list of who visited. We see totals, such as how many people viewed a page, which general areas visits came from, and how many form submissions followed an ad. We can also create advertising audiences, such as "people who visited the lots page in the last 90 days." Meta and Google hold these audiences. We cannot see who is in them.



How we use, share, store and keep information


Use


We use personal information for the purpose you gave it to us, or for a purpose consistent with it, as LA FOIP allows. We do not use it for anything else without your consent unless the law permits or requires it.



Sharing


We share personal information only:

  • with service providers that work for the Town, such as our website host (Duda), Prairie Rising, and the email and file storage services we use to respond to you, who may use it only to provide services to the Town;
  • with Meta and Google through the advertising and analytics tools described above, unless you decline them;
  • where LA FOIP permits or requires disclosure without consent, for example to comply with a subpoena, warrant or court order, or to protect someone's health or safety.


We do not sell, rent or trade personal information. We do not share your lot interest details with builders, realtors or other businesses unless you agree to it.



Storage outside Canada


Some of our providers store information outside Canada. Duda hosts the website on Amazon Web Services in the United States. Meta and Google process information in the United States and other countries. Information stored outside Canada is subject to the laws of the country where it is held, and the courts and authorities of that country may be able to access it.



How long we keep information


  • Messages and form submissions - As set out in the Town's records retention and disposal schedule for that type of record
  • Lot information and early access lists - Until you unsubscribe, or 24 months after our last contact with you, whichever comes first
  • Google Analytics data - 14 months for visit-level data. Totals with no individual data can be kept longer.
  • Advertising audiences in Meta and Google - Up to 180 days after your last visit
  • Your cookie choice - 12 months, then the banner appears again


Meta and Google keep the information they receive according to their own policies.



Your choices


  • Cookie settings. On your first visit, a banner tells you about our analytics and advertising tools. You can decline all of them, or turn each category on or off in Cookie settings. You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. Declining stops future collection. It does not delete what Meta or Google have already received, including information about pages you viewed before you declined.
  • Meta. In Meta's Accounts Center, under Your information and permissions, you can manage how Meta uses activity that websites like ours share with it. Depending on your country and app version, this setting is called "Activity from other businesses" or "Your activity off Meta technologies." You can also manage your ad preferences there.
  • Google. In My Ad Center you can turn off ad personalization. You can also install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
  • Your browser. You can block or delete cookies, including third-party cookies, in your browser settings. Private or incognito browsing does not stop these tools from running.
  • Email lists. Every email we send to a list includes an unsubscribe link. You can also ask the Town Office to remove you.


Declining does not stop you from seeing Town ads on Facebook, Instagram or Google. It means the ads you see will not be based on your visits to aberdeen.ca.



Your rights, security and other websites


Access and correction


Under LA FOIP, you have the right to ask for access to your personal information held by the Town. If you believe it contains an error or omission, you can ask us to correct it. If we do not make the correction, you can ask us to note on the record that you requested it. Send your request in writing to the Town Office, using the contact details below. We respond to access requests within 30 days, as LA FOIP requires.

Information held only by Meta or Google, such as their records of your activity, is not in the Town's possession or control. To see it, use Meta's and Google's own account tools.



Security


We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect personal information, as LA FOIP requires. Only Town staff and contractors who need it for their work can access it. The website uses an encrypted connection (HTTPS). No system is completely secure. If a privacy breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you.



Children


aberdeen.ca is for a general audience. Our forms and advertising are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the website.



Other websites, embedded content and social media



The site links to other websites. Those websites have their own privacy policies, and this policy does not apply to them.

Some pages may show content from other services, such as a Google map or a YouTube video. That content works as if you were visiting the service directly, and the service may set its own cookies.


If you message or comment on a Town social media account, the platform handles that information under its own policy. Your message may also become a Town record that we keep and that may be subject to LA FOIP.



Changes, questions and complaints


We will update this policy when our tools or practices change, and the date below will show the latest version. If we add a new advertising or analytics tool, we will update the cookie banner and show it to you again.



Questions and requests


Address privacy questions, access requests and correction requests to the Town Administrator: