Privacy

What stays in your browser

You can search, filter, save centres, draft applications, and track waitlists without an account. The information you add, including the centres you save, your waitlist notes and check-ins, and anything you type into an application draft such as a child’s name and birthdate, is stored only in this browser on this device. It doesn’t reach our servers unless you sign in.

What we store if you sign in

Signing in is optional and only exists so your saved daycares and waitlist progress follow you across devices. If you sign in, we store your email address, saved-centre history, the verified application route you used, and the application answers and draft you chose to save. Depending on a centre’s requirements, those answers can include a child’s name and birthdate, desired start date, schedule, subsidy status, postal code, and parent contact details. Sign-in and your email are handled by our authentication provider (Clerk); we never see or store a password. We also store your reminder-email preference and when a reminder was last accepted for delivery. When you first sign in, anything you saved as a guest is moved into your account.

Application drafts

When a verified route calls for email, we prepare an editable draft addressed to the application-specific recipient. It is only sent when you choose to open and send it from your own mail application; we don’t email centres or submit forms on your behalf. If you are signed in, the route, answers, and draft are saved with your waitlist history so you can follow up using the instructions you actually followed.

Where the daycare information comes from

Official licence data from the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario, and the Province of British Columbia anchors every published listing. Regional and centre-level sources add details such as subsidy, availability, quality, websites, and application routes where they publish them or we can verify them. Those added details are checked on different schedules. Always confirm details, especially fees and openings, directly with the centre.

Anonymous usage analytics

We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand which parts of the daycare directory are useful. Demand events contain only a coarse public area being viewed or searched, such as a service area, municipality, ward, or partial postal area, a public daycare slug where relevant, and a short action category. The area describes the directory or map content on screen, not where a visitor lives or is standing.

We do not send names, email addresses, IP addresses, full postal codes, typed search text, map coordinates, application answers, or destination URLs as analytics event properties. Query strings and page fragments are removed before page-view analytics are sent. Known crawlers are filtered by Vercel and by a conservative browser-side check; the browser’s user-agent string is used only for that local check and is not added to our events.

Like every host, Vercel receives connection information needed to serve the site and maintain security logs. Vercel says its Web Analytics reports are aggregated and cookie-free, do not expose or retain an IP address as an analytics property, and do not identify a visitor across sites. During platform processing, Vercel still derives an approximate visitor city and aggregates device and browser categories. DaycareMap receives those coarse aggregates and neighbourhood-interest counts, not a person’s browsing history or precise location.

Who else handles your data, and where

We use a small set of service providers to run DaycareMap, and share only what each needs to do its job:

• Clerk: generates and verifies sign-in codes and manages your account email (we never see your password).
• Neon: the encrypted database that stores your saved centres and waitlist history.
• Vercel: hosting, security request logs, and aggregated cookie-free Web Analytics for the website.
• Resend: delivers sign-in codes, follow-up reminders, and system emails, and receives mail sent to our public support and privacy addresses.
• Google Maps: renders the map; a postal code you type to centre the map is sent to Google.
• Stripe: if you send an optional tip, Stripe securely processes the payment and emails your receipt. It receives your email and card details to complete the charge; we only ever see the transaction record (amount, date, email), never full card numbers.

These providers process and store data on servers in the United States, so your information is stored and handled outside Canada and may be subject to lawful access requests there. We share data with them only to operate the service, under agreements that require them to protect it. We never share it for their own marketing.

How long we keep it

Guest data stays in your browser until you clear it. If you have an account, we keep your information for as long as the account is open so your waitlist history is there when you return. If an account goes unused for 24 months we may remove the saved application details (including any child information) and then close the dormant account. When you delete your account, we remove your personal data, including saved centres, notes, application drafts, offers, and check-ins, from our database right away, and delete your sign-in identity from Clerk. Backups roll off on their own schedule shortly after.

What we never do

We never sell or rent your information. We collect and use it as described above to provide DaycareMap and help your family find a spot.

Your choices and rights

You can remove any saved centre or clear your browser data at any time. If you have an account, from your Account page you can choose how often to receive follow-up reminders, download a copy of everything we hold about you, and delete your account and all of its data yourself. Every reminder email also includes an unsubscribe link. You can also ask us to access, correct, or delete your information, or explain how it’s handled, by emailing privacy@updates.daycaremap.ca. We’ll respond within 30 days.

Who’s accountable

Nadia Wright is the accountable privacy contact at DaycareMap, responsible for how your information is handled and for answering questions or complaints. Reach them at privacy@updates.daycaremap.ca. If we ever have a privacy breach that could put you at risk, we’ll notify affected families, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and any provincial privacy regulator whose residents are affected, as required.

Questions

Reach us any time at privacy@updates.daycaremap.ca. See also our Terms.