The Ottawa Valley Guild of Stitchery (OVGS) is committed to protecting the privacy rights of its members.

When you apply to become a member of the OVGS, or renew your membership, you are asked to provide your name, address, telephone number and email address. This is information needed by the Guild to contact you about meetings, workshops and other events through the year. You have the right to withhold any of the information requested, with the understanding that this will limit the Guild's ability to communicate effectively with you. You also have the right to request that your information not be included in the membership list made available to members from time to time, again with the understanding that this will make it difficult for other members to contact you about OVGS-related activities in which you may be interested.The personal information received by OVGS is also sent to the Embroiderers' Association of Canada, Inc., the national organization to which you automatically belong as a member of our Guild. This enables EAC to mail you a copy of the membership magazine, Embroidery Canada, and to contact you if necessary on membership-related issues.  

Both OVGS and EAC have adopted privacy policies to safeguard personal information submitted by members. This is not a legal requirement but a voluntary one, in recognition of the need to ensure that membership information will not be used in an unauthorized manner.

Why these precautions? We have all heard about identity theft, stalking, and fraud resulting from improper use of personal information. Sadly, some of our members know about this first hand (though not, thankfully, as the result of their OVGS membership). The Guild wants to be absolutely sure that your information is used only for the purposes for which it was intended - to ensure that you receive the full benefits of your OVGS membership.

The ability to communicate member to member within the Guild is an essential part of your membership, since the Guild is as much a social organization as a learning one. As part of the OVGS policy, all members undertake not to disclose any personal information relating to another member to anyone outside the Guild without first receiving that member's specific consent. This is a condition of OVGS membership. When you fill out your membership form, therefore, remember that there are safeguards in place and that you can provide your personal information with full confidence that it will be protected by everyone in the Guild. And by enabling other OVGS members to contact you about Guild-related activities, you will be adding to your own enjoyment of membership in the OVGS.

Privacy Policy

1. The Ottawa Valley Guild of Stitchery shall collect only such personal information from its members as is necessary for the operation of the Guild and Guild activities, and to comply with the requirements of chapter membership in the Embroiderers’ Association of Canada, Inc.


2. The OVGS shall safeguard all personal information relating to Guild members, including addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and membership numbers.


3. The OVGS shall take all necessary steps to ensure that information it may have in its possession in relation to any OVGS member not be used for an unauthorized purpose, either by another member of the OVGS or by any other person.


4. Every member of the OVGS shall execute a form no later than at the time of renewal of annual membership:
   1. authorizing the collection and retention of personal information specified by the member;
   2. undertaking not to disclose personal information of any other OVGS member that may come into his/her possession.


5. Every member of the OVGS has the right to withhold personal information from the Guild, with the understanding that this may limit the ability of the OVGS and EAC to communicate news and announcements to that member.


6. Any member of the OVGS who fails to respect the confidentiality of personal information relating to another member of the Guild shall be subject to sanction by the OVGS. Breach of confidentiality shall include providing the name and contact information of any member of the Guild to a person who is not an OVGS member without first obtaining the consent of the Guild member concerned.


7. All personal information relating to any OVGS member in the possession of the Guild shall be destroyed no later than one year after the expiry of that member’s membership in the OVGS, with the exception of any material on or reference to that member in archived issues of the OVGS newsletter and archival records of the Guild.