Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 4, 2026

Backyard History respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we use it, when we share it, how long we keep it, and the choices available to you when you visit backyardhistory.ca, subscribe to our emails, contact us, or place an order.

Who is responsible for your information

Backyard History is responsible for the personal information under its control. Questions, access requests, corrections, withdrawals of consent, and privacy complaints may be sent to:

Privacy Officer, Backyard History
PO Box 563 Stn. A
Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 4Y2
andrewmaclean@backyardhistory.ca

Information we collect

Orders

When you place an order, we may collect your name, email address, telephone number, billing and shipping addresses, products purchased, order and payment status, shipping and tax information, and any book-signing, delivery, or special-request note you choose to provide. Please do not include sensitive personal information in an order note.

Payment-card and wallet details are handled by the payment provider you select, such as WooPayments or PayPal. Backyard History does not receive or store your complete payment-card number. Interac e-Transfer payments are handled through the participating financial institutions; we receive the information needed to identify and reconcile your payment.

Newsletters and marketing

After a paid purchase, we add your email address and, where provided, your name to a customer contact group maintained through our email-delivery provider. This customer record does not by itself subscribe you to the weekly newsletter.

If you choose the weekly-newsletter checkbox during checkout or use another newsletter signup form, we retain your email address together with the consent wording, date, source, and subscription or synchronization status so that we can honour your choice and demonstrate that consent was obtained.

Messages and support

If you contact us, we collect the information in your message and the contact details needed to respond and resolve your request.

Website, security, and analytics information

Our website, hosting, and security systems may process technical information such as your Internet Protocol address, browser and device type, requested pages, timestamps, referring page, and security events. We use this information to deliver the site, protect it from abuse, diagnose problems, and maintain reliable service.

We do not currently use Google Analytics, behavioural analytics, or advertising trackers. We may review aggregate server information to understand overall traffic, diagnose problems, and improve the site. If we later introduce optional analytics or advertising technologies that process identifiable information, we will explain the change and obtain consent where required before activating them.

How we use your information

We use personal information only for identified and reasonable purposes, including to:

• operate the website, cart, and checkout;
• process payments, fulfil and deliver orders, provide requested inscriptions, and handle cancellations, returns, refunds, and support;
• send order, payment, delivery, security, and other service messages;
• maintain customer contact records connected with completed purchases;
• send the weekly newsletter when you have consented;
• maintain consent, transaction, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, and security records;
• measure aggregate site performance and improve our products and services; and
• meet legal, regulatory, insurance, and dispute-resolution obligations.

Consent and your choices

When you provide information to request a product or service, we use it for the purposes a reasonable person would expect, such as completing and delivering your order and maintaining the associated customer record. We request separate, express consent for the optional weekly newsletter. Choosing not to receive the newsletter does not prevent you from placing an order or receiving transactional messages about it.

You may unsubscribe using the link in a marketing email or by contacting us. We process unsubscribe requests without charge and within the period required by Canadian law. You may also withdraw other consent, subject to reasonable notice and any legal or contractual restrictions. Withdrawal does not affect processing already lawfully completed and may limit our ability to provide a requested service.

Cookies and similar technologies

The site uses cookies and similar storage that are necessary for functions such as the shopping cart, checkout, security, load balancing, and remembering a session. Disabling these technologies may prevent parts of the store from working. We do not use necessary cookies for behavioural advertising.

To avoid repeating the same promotional popup on every page during one visit, we store a first-party session marker in a browser session cookie and session storage. The marker contains only the value “1,” is not a visitor identifier, is not shared with an analytics or advertising provider, and is used only to remember that the popup has already appeared during the current browser session.

Google may add a referral parameter when someone arrives through a free Google product listing. We may send public product and store information to Google Merchant Center so that our products can appear in free listings. We do not send customer personal information as part of that product feed, and we do not currently use Google Ads campaigns, enhanced conversions, or customer matching on this site.

When we share information

We do not sell or rent personal information. We disclose it only as reasonably necessary to operate Backyard History, complete a transaction, follow your instructions, or comply with law. Recipients may include:

• payment and financial-service providers, including WooPayments, PayPal, and participating Interac financial institutions;
• email-delivery provider Sender, to maintain the customer contact group after a paid purchase and, separately, to deliver the weekly newsletter when you subscribe;
• web-hosting, content-delivery, backup, security, and technical-support providers, including Web Hosting Canada, Cloudflare, WordPress/WooCommerce service providers, and hosting security tools;
• shipping, postage, and fulfilment providers, such as Canada Post and the shipping tools used to prepare or track a delivery;
• Google Merchant Center for public catalog listings, as described above;
• accountants, insurers, professional advisers, regulators, courts, law enforcement, or other parties where disclosure is required or reasonably necessary; and
• a successor in a proposed or completed sale, reorganization, or transfer of the business, subject to appropriate safeguards.

Processing outside Canada

Some service providers may process or store information outside New Brunswick or Canada. Information handled in another jurisdiction may be accessible to courts, law-enforcement agencies, or national-security authorities under that jurisdiction’s laws. Backyard History remains responsible for personal information transferred to service providers for processing and uses contractual or other appropriate safeguards.

How long we keep information

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the identified purposes or as required by law. In particular:

• order, payment, tax, and accounting records are generally retained for at least six years from the end of the last tax year to which they relate;
• newsletter information is retained while you are subscribed; after unsubscribe, we may retain a limited consent and suppression record to ensure we respect your request and meet legal obligations;
• support messages and technical or security records are retained only for the period reasonably needed to resolve the issue, protect the site, or establish a necessary record; and
• information may remain temporarily in restricted backups until those backups are overwritten under the backup schedule.

When information is no longer required, we delete it, anonymize it, or securely dispose of it.

Safeguards

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. These include encrypted connections, access controls, software maintenance, backups, security monitoring, and limiting access to people and providers who need the information for an authorized purpose. No Internet or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.

Access, correction, and complaints

You may ask whether we hold personal information about you and request access to or correction of that information. You may also ask about its use and disclosure or challenge our compliance with this policy. Contact the Privacy Officer using the details above. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the period required by applicable law and explain any lawful reason that prevents us from fulfilling all or part of a request.

We encourage you to bring a concern to us first so that we can try to resolve it. You may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Children’s privacy

Backyard History’s stories may interest readers of many ages, but the store and email signups are not directed to children under 13. A child who cannot provide meaningful consent should not submit personal information without consent from a parent or guardian. Please contact us if you believe a child has provided information inappropriately.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our practices, providers, or legal obligations change. We will post the revised policy here, change the “Last updated” date, and provide additional notice or seek new consent if a significant change requires it.