Policies

This page is the index to every policy The Neighbour’s Table publishes. Each one is written in plain language and applies to every chapter and to HQ.

Four documents sit behind this page. The privacy and cookies policy sets out what the website collects and what it does not. The terms and conditions set out who runs the site and how it may be used. The accessibility statement records the standard we build to and where we know we fall short. Our standards sets out how the organization conducts itself and what members undertake.

Each document is maintained by the organization and reviewed when the site changes. Each takes effect on the date it is published on this site. Questions about any of them go to andrew.sun.adair@gmail.com and are answered by HQ.

Written plainly, on purpose.

Privacy and cookies. The policy covers what this website collects, what it never collects, and what happens to anything a person sends us through an email link.

This site sets no advertising cookies and no tracking cookies, and it runs no third party analytics. We do not build profiles of the people who read these pages. What we hold is the correspondence people choose to send us: a name, an email address, and whatever is written in the message. The policy explains how long we keep that, who inside the organization can see it, and where it is stored. It also covers the farm contact records chapters keep, which are kept for at least three years. We do not run a mailing list or send newsletters.

It also sets out the rights people have under Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, including the right to see what we hold, to have it corrected, and to have it deleted, and how to exercise each of them.

No trackers. No profiles.

Terms and conditions. The terms say who runs theneighbourstable.ca, how the site may be used, and what we hold in the name and the writing.

The site is published by The Neighbour’s Table and the writing, the mark and the design belong to the organization. Pages may be read, quoted with attribution and linked to freely. The terms also cover accuracy: statistics on this site are taken from named published sources and dated, and where a source updates its figures we update ours. Links to other websites are provided for reference and we do not control what sits on them. Photographs on this site are licensed from Unsplash and show farms, produce, fields and markets. None of them shows a member of The Neighbour’s Table, a farm we have contacted or a person who uses a food bank.

Ontario law governs the terms and the Ontario courts have jurisdiction over any dispute about them. The document closes with the limits of liability and the address to write to, which is andrew.sun.adair@gmail.com.

Read it, quote it.

Accessibility. The statement records the standard this site is built to, what has been done to meet it, and the gaps we already know about.

We aim at WCAG 2.1 level AA. Text and background colours are tested against that contrast threshold, every page can be worked through with a keyboard alone, a skip link takes a reader straight past the navigation, images carry alternative text, and motion is reduced for anyone whose system asks for it. The statement names what still needs work rather than claiming the site is finished.

If something on this site blocks you, write to andrew.sun.adair@gmail.com with the page address and what happened. HQ will answer, and the fix goes into the next round of work on the site.

Report a barrier directly.

Our standards. This is the document that sets out how the organization conducts itself, what members undertake when they join, and how we treat the farms we write to.

Members hold named roles and are accountable for them. Farms are asked one question, honestly, and no farm is promised a pickup that the collecting organization has not confirmed. Students never handle food. Records are accurate, kept current and not embellished. Food banks and community food organizations are treated as the professionals they are, and the people they serve are never used as material.

Concerns about the conduct of anyone in The Neighbour’s Table can be raised at andrew.sun.adair@gmail.com. A concern about a member goes to that chapter’s Teacher Advisor, and a concern about a chapter or about HQ goes to the Director of Chapters. Every concern is answered, and the person who raised it is told what was done.

Every concern is answered.