Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 18, 2026

1. Introduction

Fern Magnolia (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website fernmagnolia.ca (the “Site”). We are committed to protecting the privacy of our Canadian customers and website visitors. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

2. Consent

By accessing and using this Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. You consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described herein. Because we have strictly limited our data collection to non-identifiable statistical data (as detailed below), we rely on implied consent for the use of necessary analytical cookies.

3. Information We Collect Automatically (Privacy-First Architecture)

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand website traffic and improve our services. We have implemented a “Privacy-First” architecture that restricts data collection at the code level. This means our website explicitly commands the analytics tool to reject invasive tracking before it loads.

Technical Privacy Controls

To protect your privacy and minimize data collection, we have hardcoded the following restrictions into our website’s source code:

  • Advertising Storage Denied: Our site is configured to automatically block the storage of cookies or identifiers used for advertising purposes (ad_storage is set to ‘denied’ by default).
  • No “Remarketing” or Profiling: We have disabled “Google Signals” and “Ad Personalization.” This prevents Google from creating a profile of your interests or tracking you across different devices (e.g., from phone to laptop).
  • Restricted Data Processing: We have enabled the “Restricted Data Processing” flag. This signals to Google that it acts merely as a service provider and is legally restricted from using our data for its own purposes.
  • Location Privacy: We have disabled the collection of granular location (GPS) and device-specific data. We only process broad, city-level information to understand regional traffic trends.

What We DO Collect

Because we have blocked the features above, we strictly collect anonymous, aggregated statistical data, including:

  • Pages visited and time spent on the Site.
  • General geographic region (e.g., “Toronto, ON”).
  • Browser and device type (e.g., “Chrome on Android”).
  • Referring websites (how you found us).

Cookies

We use first-party cookies solely for statistical analysis (Analytics Storage). Because we have technically blocked advertising cookies, your browsing history on our Site will not follow you to other websites.

4. How We Use Your Information

The limited information collected is used strictly for legitimate business purposes, including:

  • Analyzing website traffic patterns and trends to improve content.
  • Identifying and fixing technical issues with the Site.
  • Optimizing the user experience for different device types.

We do not use your data for targeted advertising, retargeting, or individual profiling.

5. Limiting Disclosure and Retention

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties.

  • Third-Party Processing: Data collected by Google Analytics is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers that may be located outside of Canada. However, due to our “Restricted Data Processing” setting, Google is contractually limited in how it may use this data.
  • Retention: We have configured our analytics retention period to the minimum standard (2 months) to ensure we do not hold data longer than necessary for statistical analysis.

6. Your Rights and Opt-Out Options

Although we have already minimized data collection on our end, you retain the right to opt out of analytics entirely.

  • Browser Add-on: You can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript from sharing any information about your visit activity.
  • Do Not Track: Our Site is designed to respect browser-based privacy settings where applicable.

7. Data Security

We implement reasonable physical, technical, and administrative security safeguards to protect your information against loss, theft, and unauthorized access.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page with an updated “Effective Date.”

9. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us.