Policies

Map.ca Policy Constitution

The non-negotiable values of the platform. Policy sits above growth, monetization, convenience, partnerships, and speed.

Map.ca's Policy Pledge

The public version of how Map.ca behaves: short, plain, and built so the platform can be held to it.

Privacy Policy

What Map.ca collects, why, how long it is kept, who it is shared with, and what rights people have.

Terms of Use

The basic rules of using Map.ca: who can do what, what is expected, and how disputes are handled.

Pin Owner Agreement

The rights and responsibilities of Pin owners — who can create a Pin, what they control, what must stay accurate.

Civic Pin Policy

What can be reported as a Civic Pin, who can report it, how it displays, and how it routes to municipalities.

AI Use Policy

Where AI is used on Map.ca, what it can and cannot do, and how humans stay responsible for outcomes.

Community Standards

What behaviour is welcome across Pins, Civic Pins, events, Discovery Rooms, and Map Mail — and what gets removed.

Data Retention and Deletion Policy

How long Map.ca keeps data, what happens on deletion, and how URL permanence interacts with content deletion.

Accessibility Policy

How Map.ca builds and maintains accessibility for seniors, Deaf, blind, low-vision, mobility-limited, neurodiverse, newcomer, and low-bandwidth users.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty Policy

How Map.ca handles Indigenous community data, cultural places, traditional knowledge, names, language, heritage, and map layers.

Drafts and working documents

Public Interest Charter

Explains why Map.ca exists as community infrastructure rather than as a growth-driven app.

Platform Integrity Policy

Combines performance, security, privacy, lifecycle, and data sovereignty into one operating commitment.

Governance and Transparency Policy

Explains how Map.ca makes platform decisions, changes rules, manages disputes, and publishes major policy updates.

Policy Review and Versioning Policy

Every policy needs an owner, a version number, a review date, an approval status, and a change log.

Meaningful Consent Policy

Makes consent simple, understandable, layered, and revocable. Plain language, just-in-time notices, no dark patterns, no bundled consents.

Data Minimization Policy

Do not collect data because it might be useful later. Collect it only because it is necessary now.

Data Residency Policy

Defines where Map.ca stores and processes data. Canadian-first residency wherever practical; disclosure when trusted vendors process data outside Canada.

Sensitive Location Data Policy

Protects homes, shelters, children’s programs, places of worship, support services, vulnerable populations, and safety-sensitive locations.

Pin Accuracy Policy

Requires Pin owners to keep public-facing information accurate: name, address, contact, hours, pricing, credentials, licensing.

Abandoned Pin Policy

Defines when a Pin is considered inactive and what Map.ca does before archiving, hiding, transferring, or flagging it.

Duplicate Pin Policy

Prevents clutter, fraud, and SEO pollution from duplicate Pins for the same business or place.

Discovery Fairness Policy

Explains how search and discovery work: no paid ranking, no hidden sponsorship, results based on location, tag relevance, and quality rules.

Anti-Manipulation Policy

Prevents tag stuffing, false service claims, duplicate Pins, fake locations, false reviews, mass-generated spam, and misleading listings.

Vertical Map Policy

Defines how EatMap, RealMap, PetMap, LawMap, EventsMap, DeafMap, CivicMap, and other verticals use the same Pin data without duplicate-content or trust issues.

Civic Safety and Abuse Policy

Prevents Civic Pins from becoming tools for harassment, doxxing, false accusations, neighbour disputes, or public shaming.

Civic Data Sharing Policy

Defines what civic data can be shared with municipalities, what is public, what is private, and what requires consent.

Public Accountability Policy

Allows communities to see civic activity without exposing private complainants or creating unfair pressure campaigns.

Claim and Verification Policy

How Pin claims are made, verified, disputed, and resolved — with anti-impersonation safeguards built in.

Feedback Policy

How user feedback on Pins is collected, weighted, contested, and protected from manipulation.

No Paid Placement Policy

Map.ca does not sell visibility. Ranking, search position, and category placement are not for sale at any price.

Municipal Partner Policy

How municipalities partner with Map.ca: intake routing, response SLAs, data sharing, and what stays under municipal control.

API Use Policy

Who can use Map.ca's APIs, how, and what limits and data-handling obligations apply to integrators.

Anti-Spam Policy

What Map.ca treats as spam across Pins, civic reports, Map Mail, and events — and how it is detected and stopped.

Security Policy

How Map.ca protects accounts, infrastructure, secrets, and operational data day to day.

Incident Response Policy

How Map.ca classifies, responds to, and communicates about security and operational incidents.

Child and Youth Safety Policy

How Map.ca protects minors: photo controls, sensitive locations near schools, age-appropriate experiences, mandatory reporting handling.

Ambassador Outreach Policy

What Master Ambassadors do, what they are authorized to do, and the boundaries that keep the role from becoming gatekeeping.

Data Portability Policy

How users export their Map.ca content in machine-readable formats so they can move it elsewhere without losing it.

Origin Pin Policy

How Origin Pins anchor a place's identity over time using verifiable, tamper-evident proof of location.

Tag Governance Policy

How Map.ca's structured tag system is created, governed, deprecated, and used as signal rather than label.

SEO and Public Indexing Policy

What Map.ca exposes to search engines, what stays out of public indexes, and the controls users have over indexing.

Emergency and Crisis Mapping Policy

How Map.ca operates during emergencies: surge capacity, sensitive-location safeguards, coordination with authorities.

AI Vendor Policy

Standards that AI vendors must meet to handle Map.ca traffic — data handling, training restrictions, audit requirements.

Appeals Policy

The appeals path for moderation, claim, accuracy, ownership, and policy decisions that affect users.

Events Policy

How Event Pins are created, hosted, moderated, age-gated, and removed when they end or violate standards.

Open Data Policy

What aggregated and anonymized data Map.ca releases as open data, with what license, and what stays out.

AI Human Oversight Policy

Which AI-involved decisions must route through a human reviewer before becoming final.

AI Output Accuracy Policy

Standards Map.ca holds AI-generated and AI-assisted outputs to before they reach users.

AI Training and Data Use Policy

How Map.ca's user content is and is not used for training AI — Map.ca's own systems and external vendors alike.

AI Moderation Policy

How AI assists moderation without replacing the human judgment required by the Constitution.

AI Transparency Label Policy

Where and how AI usage is disclosed to users across Map.ca surfaces.

Content Moderation Policy

How content is reviewed, when it is hidden, when it is removed, and how decisions are appealed.

Reputation and Vouching Policy

How reputation signals work on Map.ca and how vouching is structured to prevent it from being gamed.

DeafMap and Sign Language Policy

How Map.ca supports the Deaf community: sign-language layers, captioning, and Deaf-community-led design.

Multilingual Access Policy

Map.ca's commitment to French and English official-language access, plus the multilingual layer for newcomer communities.

Low-Bandwidth and Device Access Policy

Performance targets that keep Map.ca usable on older devices, slower connections, and rural and northern networks.

Cultural Heritage Policy

How Map.ca handles cultural-heritage sites, including those identified by Indigenous communities and historic-preservation bodies.

Place Names Policy

How Indigenous, settler, and minority-language place names are presented, ordered, and updated on Map.ca.

Pricing Transparency Policy

How Map.ca presents prices, fees, and Mission Funds contributions so users always know what they will pay.

Advertising and Sponsorship Policy

What sponsorship and advertising Map.ca permits, how it is labelled, and how it stays separate from ranking.

Marketplace Neutrality Policy

How Map.ca stays neutral among similar businesses on the platform and does not pick winners outside the doctrine.

Anti-Fraud and Misrepresentation Policy

What counts as fraud or misrepresentation on Map.ca and how Map.ca detects, responds to, and prevents it.

Competition and Marketing Compliance Policy

How Map.ca's marketing, ranking, and discovery practices stay aligned with the Competition Act and Competition Bureau guidance.

Map Mail Policy

Rules for person-to-person and business-to-person messaging through Map.ca’s Map Mail surface.

Notification Policy

How Map.ca decides what notifications are sent, how often, and how users control them.

Access Control Policy

How internal access to production systems, user data, and admin functions is granted, reviewed, and revoked.

Privacy Breach Policy

How Map.ca detects, contains, reports, and learns from privacy breaches — aligned with PIPEDA's breach reporting framework.

Audit Logging Policy

What Map.ca logs for audit purposes, how those logs are protected, retained, and used.

Vendor Security Policy

Security requirements Map.ca holds vendors to before, during, and after engagement.

Backup and Recovery Policy

How Map.ca backs up production systems, how often, and how recovery interacts with deletion rights.

Developer Terms

The relationship between Map.ca and developers who integrate with the platform via APIs, SDKs, or partner tooling.

Scraping and Automated Access Policy

What automated access to Map.ca is authorized, what is not, and how unauthorized scraping is detected and stopped.

Data Licensing Policy

How Map.ca data is licensed to partners, researchers, and the public — and what is never licensed at any price.