1. Terms and Conditions

Information about the site content and how visitors are permitted to use it.

Members of the Public Policy and Governance (PPG) Portal are encouraged to participate in a dynamic policy community by sharing resources, participating in discussions and contributing to projects.  Each individual must claim responsibility for their own contributions to the Portal and thus, the appropriateness, integrity and accuracy of materials is left to the discretion of each Member. By sharing information, a Member acknowledges that it is neither discriminatory nor oppressive.  Any material deemed inappropriate by the Portal Editor Team will be removed.

Membership and participation in the Portal are purely voluntary and members can terminate their participation and have their profiles removed at any time by contacting the Portal Coordinator, Ian Clark, at id.clark@utoronto.ca.

The Portal does not guarantee the accuracy of posted information and is not responsible for the expressed opinions and written contributions of its Members.  

The PPG Portal is not liable for information provided by external sources, hyperlinked websites or uploaded documents, and all is subject to change without notice.

Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, the PPG Portal takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

2. Privacy

Personal information and the PPG Portal.  

The Portal contains personal information for the purpose of building and encouraging participation in community building. Personal information and stored documents will not be shared or distributed without consent, other than as described in these Notices .  

Membership to the Portal requires a name and email address. By requesting Portal membership, individuals consent to the release of this information within the Portal community, and to the availability of their postings within the Portal community. Contact information is made available for the purpose of communication and students will be encouraged to contact professors and practitioners through these means for strictly academic or professional purposes.  The addressee is under no obligation to respond.

The Portal Editor Team recommends the inclusion of a photograph, brief biographical note, and a list of affiliations to facilitate the exchange of ideas and promote collaboration in areas of public policy discourse and practice. The information that you choose to include in your profile is only visible to Portal Members and will not be visible on the public access site.  

A member’s degree of participation is dependent on that individual and the level of permissions assigned by the Portal Management Team. Members can use the Portal to browse concepts, courses, projects, practice areas, read materials provided on any of these sites, connect to external links, participate in discussions, contribute resources, sign up for email alerts, and with high levels of permission, create and modify web pages or existing sites.

Each member has a personal profile which contains their name, affiliation, email address and any additional information volunteered by that individual.  Portal members have access to all member profiles. They can be accessed in one of three ways:  

1.     The “People” search function allows members to enter a first name, last name, or organization in the search bar. A search for “Toronto” in the “Organization” search bar will produce all Portal members that have used the word “Toronto” in their affiliated organization. From this list, a member can click on any individual and be redirected to their personal profile.

2.     Practice Area Leaders, Course Instructors and Project Leaders are represented on these sites by a name/photograph which links directly to their profile. 

3.     Members contributing work to the Portal (adding, reviewing or modifying concepts; posting or modifying documents; initiating or participating in a discussion) will have their name/photograph appear under “submitted by” or “modified by”, which links directly to their profile.”

The PPG Portal supports secure file sharing. Files that are uploaded to “My Site” cannot be viewed by other members unless designated as a shared file. 

 A password and username assigned to each Portal Member ensures the security of the intranet. Usernames and passwords should not be shared.

 The PPG portal does not use cookies, and will not track IP addresses.  

The PPG Portal provides links to external websites which are not governed by this privacy policy. When you link to an outside website, you are leaving the PPG Portal and our important notices no longer apply.  

For more information on privacy laws, please see the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

 For questions regarding the PPG Portal’s collection of personal information, please contact:

Ian D. Clark
Professor
School of Public Policy and Governance
University of Toronto
Room 316, 14 Queen's Park Cres. W., Toronto, ON, M5S 3K9
Phone 416.978.2841 Fax 416.978.5079
Cell 416.727.1226 id.clark@utoronto.ca

3. External Service Provider

Privacy policies extend to contracted web developers.  

In order to effectively operate its website, the PPG Portal uses external service providers.  Our service providers are bound by a contract to treat any personal information they receive in a manner consistent with the provisions of the FIPPA. Web developers will not copy or remove any documents or other materials from the PPG Portal and maintain with strict confidentiality all personal or confidential Information to which they have access.  

4. Hyperlinks

Links to external sites are not controlled by the PPG Portal. 

The PPG Portal provides links to external websites for the interest and convenience of its users. The PPG Portal is not responsible for the operation, accuracy or reliability of the content (including the right to display such information) of any of the linked websites, nor does it endorse the sites and their contents. Any comments or inquiries regarding the linked websites are to be directed to the particular organization for whom the particular website is being operated.

5. Copyright

Guidelines for the reproduction and distribution of material contained on the PPG Portal. 

The resources made available on the PPG Portal are intended for personal, academic and non-commercial use and should be referenced appropriately.

Information displayed on member profiles is made available to the PPG Portal community. The reproduction or distribution of this information in any external context is strictly prohibited. 

For more information on copyright laws, please see the Copyright Act.

 6.  Acknowledgements