Terms of Use

1. Introduction

1.1 The EcoSchools Canada websites and platforms are owned and operated by EcoSchools Canada, and include the general public website https://www.ecoschools.ca, https://www.ecoschools.ca/fr and the application platform website https://app.ecoschools.ca, https://app.ecoschools.ca/fr collectively the “Sites” or the “Platforms”. Access and use of the Sites, including setting up an account or participating in any EcoSchools Canada program (“Programs”), is governed by the terms and conditions provided in these Terms of Use (“Terms”).

1.2 BY ACCESSING AND USING ECOSCHOOLS CANADA’S SITES, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS USER AGREEMENT.

2. About Us

2.1 We are EcoSchools Canada, a registered charity that aims to nurture environmental leadership, reduce the ecological impact of schools, and build environmentally responsible school communities.

2.2 If you have any questions about these Terms, or would like to contact us for any reason, please email info@ecoschools.ca.

3. Fees

3.1 At this time, use of our Platforms are free of charge for publicly-funded schools. Annual fees apply to independently-operated schools and school boards and districts that have opted to receive administrator access to the EcoSchools Certification Application platform. EcoSchools Canada may change the fee for use of the Sites or Platforms or participation in any Programs at any time, and will communicate any price changes to you in advance and, if applicable, how to accept those changes. If you do not agree with the price changes, you have the right to reject the change by discontinuing use from the Sites or Platforms.

4. Registration

4.1 You may visit and browse the Platforms as an unregistered visitor but you must register for an account (“Account”) with us in certain circumstances (for example, to participate in Programs, register for events with us, or make donations).

4.2 If you are under the age of 18 we ask that you seek parental or guardian (“Your Adult”) permission to use our Sites. You should show these Terms to Your Adult and discuss it with them. We reserve the right to refuse access to any of our Sites and/or any other services in the event such permission is not obtained and to verify consent. Your Adult must approve any information that you submit to us through our Sites.

4.3 If you are under the age of 13, you may use our Sites only with permission from Your Adult and you should not send us any personal information through our Sites.

4.4 When you register, you agree to provide accurate and current information about yourself and the school with which you are affiliated, if any, as required by the registration process, and to promptly update such information in order that it is kept accurate and complete.

4.5 Your Account is personal to you, and you agree to maintain the confidentiality of any passwords or other account identifiers which you choose or are assigned. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account and password and for restricting access to your computer or other electronic devices, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password.

4.6 You agree to notify us if you think that someone other than you has accessed your Account without your permission or if you lose your username or password.

5. User Conduct

5.1 Whether you have an Account with us or are just browsing our Platforms, you agree that you will not use the Platforms:

5.1.1 in any way that breaches the EcoSchools Canada User Code of Conduct, any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;

5.1.2 in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect;

5.1.3 for the purposes of or attempting to harm, bully, harass, intimidate or attempt to harm others in any way;

5.2 You agree not to use your Account to:

5.2.1 post, transmit, link to, or otherwise distribute any materials, information or content constituting, advocating or encouraging conduct that would be harmful or could constitute a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability;

5.2.2 defame, abuse, stalk, harass, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights of others, including without limitation, rights relating to privacy and publicity; and

5.2.3 post, transmit, link to, or otherwise distribute any information, material (including for greater certainty, software) which becomes a virus, cancelbot, trojan horse, or other harmful or disruptive component; and

5.2.4 post, transmit, link to, or otherwise distribute any materials, information or content that infringes any copyright, database right or trademark of any other person; and

5.2.5 isrepresent a school’s activities in its certification application. 

6. Rights to Your Content

6.1 Your Content refers to any information that you post to or upload to our Platforms.

6.2 You warrant that you own (or are the licensee) of Your Content.

6.3 By uploading or posting Your Content on our Platforms, you hereby grant us and our affiliates a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to reproduce, modify, adapt and use Your Content in connection with our provision of the Platform and/or any of our other services.

6.4 EcoSchools will not reproduce, share, or otherwise utilize any Content, including photos, except in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which can be reviewed here.

 6.5 You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any and all losses, liabilities, claims, actions or demands, including but without limitation reasonable legal fees resulting from or related to Your Content.

7. Data Collection, Use and Sharing

7.1 We collect the content and other information you provide when you use the Sites and Platforms, including when you sign up for an account and create or share content. We collect information about how you use the Sites and Platforms, such as the types of content you view or engage with; the features you use; the actions you take; the devices through which you are accessing the Sites and Platforms; and the time, frequency and duration of your activities.

7.2 We use the information that we collect to deliver and continually improve Programs, such as by conducting surveys and research, testing and troubleshooting new features, measuring the Programs’ effectiveness, and sending marketing communications.

7.3 We also work with third-party partners who help us with data analysis, evaluation, and program delivery. We may provide statistics, data and insights that help our partners better understand how schools are engaging with our Programs. We may also provide contact information and information about the Programs a school participates in to our designated EcoSchools delivery partners, to enable them to help EcoSchools deliver the Programs to these schools.This includes, without limitation, sending school sustainability data to Arc Skoru for storage and analysis. Arc Skoru’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy can be viewed by clicking the link for each.

7.4 In signing up for an account, you agree to receive regular and ongoing communications from EcoSchools Canada and the designated EcoSchools delivery partner for your area, including but not limited to newsletters, eblasts, and program updates. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by navigating to the bottom of the email and clicking ‘Unsubscribe’. Please note that you may continue to receive transactional or Program-related communications from us for so long as you are a participant in the Programs.

EcoSchools designated delivery partners:

Alberta, Canada: Alberta Council for Environmental Education (ACEE).

New Brunswick, Canada: The Gaia Project.

Québec, Canada : Mouvement ACTES – Centrale des syndicats du Québec.

Peel EcoSchools, Ontario: Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).

Saskatchewan, Canada: SaskOutdoors.

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada: Conservation Corps (CCNL) and Fishing For Success.

Nova Scotia, Canada: Clean Foundation

7.5 To review the full privacy policy for EcoSchools’ website, click here.

8. Downloads

8.1 The Platforms may allow you to download Content, including files, images, PDF documents, videos, audio files, or data incorporated therein (collectively, the “Downloadable Content”). The Downloadable Content is licensed to you for your personal and non-commercial use only. You agree to maintain all copyright and other proprietary notices in the Downloadable Content and that EcoSchools Canada retains complete title to the Downloadable Content and all the intellectual property rights therein. All risk associated with the use of, or reliance on, the Downloadable Content rests with you. You further agree that EcoSchools Canada, to the maximum extent permitted by law, makes no warranties regarding the Downloadable Content, and will not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, in any way for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of, or in connection with your use of, or reliance on, the Downloadable Content.

9. Links to Third Parties

9.1 Third parties may provide information displayed on the Sites. The third-party information displayed on the Sites is not necessarily sponsored, endorsed, recommended, or licensed by EcoSchools Canada. The third-parties ought to be contacted directly regarding any inquiries or for more information on their website policies.

9.2 The Sites may provide links to other Internet sites. EcoSchools Canada has no control over such sites. EcoSchools Canada does not endorse nor is it responsible for, any such sites or the information, material, products or services contained on or accessible through those other Internet sites.

10. Intellectual Property Rights

10.1 The materials displayed on or contained within these Sites including, without limitation all software, design, text, editorial materials, informational text, photographs, illustrations, images, audio clips, video clips, short features, tools, artwork and other graphic materials, and names, logos, trade-marks and service marks (the “EcoSchools Materials”), are the property of EcoSchools Canada or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trade-mark and other intellectual property laws.

10.2 EcoSchools Canada hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable license to use and display the EcoSchools Materials for non-commercial and personal use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained in such EcoSchools Materials. You agree not to produce, reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works from, display, perform, translate, distribute, adapt, broadcast, communicate to the public by telecommunication or circulate any EcoSchools Materials to any third party (including, without limitation, the display and distribution of EcoSchools Materials via a third party website) without the express prior written consent of EcoSchools Canada. Unless expressly permitted herein, any use of EcoSchools Materials is only permitted with the express written permission of EcoSchools Canada and/or its licensors. You further agree that you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the EcoSchools Materials.

10.3 Nothing contained in the licence granted under these Terms of Use shall be construed as conferring any right under any copyright of EcoSchools Canada or any other person who owns the copyright. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission, transfer, sale, distribution, display or exploitation of the information, in any form or by any means, or its storage in a retrieval system, whether in whole or in part, without the express written permission of EcoSchools Canada is prohibited.

11. Service Availability

11.1 Our Platforms may be unavailable from time to time, or your experience accessing the Sites and Platforms may vary depending on your region or device. We strive to keep our Platforms up and running; however, all online services suffer occasional disruptions and outages, and EcoSchools Canada is not liable for any disruption or loss you may suffer as a result. In the event of an outage, you may not be able to retrieve your content or data that you have stored. We recommend that you regularly back up your content and data that you store on our Platforms.

12. Modifications

12.1 EcoSchools Canada reserves the right, in its sole discretion to add to, remove from, modify or otherwise change any part of these Terms of Use, in whole or in part at a time. Except as expressly contemplated herein, changes will be effective when notice of such change is posted on the Sites. If any change is not acceptable to you, you must discontinue your use of the Sites, including your account, if any, or your participation on any of the EcoSchools programs. Your continued use of the Sites or continued participation in any EcoSchools program after any such changes are posted will constitute acceptance of those changes.

13. Termination

13.1 EcoSchools Canada reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to any or all our Platforms, at any time for convenience, or for any other reason, including without limitation if EcoSchools Canada has determined in its sole discretion that the use by your, or of third parties using your passwords or accounts of our Platforms was in breach of these Terms.

14. Limitation of Liability

14.1 The Sites are provided on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis. EcoSchools Canada does not provide any representation, warranty, guarantee or condition that the information accessible via the Sites is accurate, error-free, complete, current, or suitable for your intended use. All representations, warranties, guarantees and conditions are hereby disclaimed to the maximum extent permitted by applicable laws.

15. Indemnification

15.1 You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless EcoSchools Canada, its affiliates, its governing board, officers, agents, employees, partners, funders and suppliers from any liabilities, losses, claims, demands, and expenses (including reasonable lawyer’s fees) related to (a) your use of the Sites; or (b) violations of these Terms of Use.

16. Governing Law

16.1 These Terms of Use will be governed by the laws of Ontario, Canada, without reference to its conflict of laws principles. Each party hereby agrees to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of Ontario and to waive any objections based upon venue.

17. Entire Agreement

17.1 These Terms of Use you have entered into are personal to you, and you may not assign your rights or obligations to anyone. These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between you and EcoSchools Canada pertaining to your use of the Sites, Platforms, Content, and Programs, and supersede any prior agreements between you and EcoSchools relating to the subject matter hereof. If any of the provisions (or parts thereof) contained in these Terms of Use are determined to be void, invalid or other unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such determination will not affect the remaining provisions of parts thereof contained herein.