Privacy Policy

Website Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 12, 2018

Last Modified: May 11, 2025

 

Introduction

This privacy policy (this “Policy”) describes West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.’s (“we”, “us”, “our”, “WF”) practices with respect to the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information we collect from users of our website.

This Policy is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Use and forms an integral part of them.

We may modify this Policy from time to time. When we post changes to this Policy, we will update the “last modified” date at the top of this page. You should review this Policy from time to time to keep informed about how we handle your personal information. By accessing and/or using any part of our website, you signify that you understand and agree with this Policy. If you do not agree with this Policy, please do not access or use our website.

In this Policy, “personal information” means information about an identifiable individual. Personal information does not include business contact information or information concerning a person’s performance of duties within an enterprise, as defined by applicable privacy laws.

This Policy does not address our collection, use or disclosure of the personal information of individuals who apply for positions through our Careers page. For more information about our processing of job applicants’ personal information, please see our Privacy Notice for Job Applicants.

 

  1. Key Highlights

Below are some important highlights of this Policy. However, you should read the entire Policy for more information about how we handle your personal information.

  • What personal information do we collect? This depends on how you interact with us and our website. Generally, we collect personal information that you provide when you fill out forms on our website, sign up to receive our news, or participate in our surveys, public engagement processes, contests or promotions, such as your full name, email address, telephone number, information about the organization you own or work for and/or your opinions or preferences. Our website may also use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect your IP address, referring URL, date and time of your visit, and information about your browser, device and actions you take on the website. We may also receive a confirmation when you open an e-mail from us, if your computer supports such capabilities.
     
  • How do we use personal information? Again, this depends on how you interact with us and our website. Generally, we use your personal information to satisfy the purpose(s) for which you give it to us, such as to send you news, consider and respond to the message or form you submit, provide you with the information you request, and administer our surveys, contests and promotions. We may also use your personal information to administer and improve our website, marketing efforts and services, protect against fraud and error, and generate aggregated information for statistical, analytics and research purposes, and for other purposes as permitted or required by law.
     
  • When do we share personal information? We may share your personal information with our affiliates and service providers (including third parties that host certain forms on our website, providers of marketing, automation and email platforms, and video hosting platforms), parties to potential or actual business transactions we participate in, and when otherwise permitted or required by law.
     
  • Are there any risks to you? Your personal information may be transferred or stored outside of Canada (and, if you are in Quebec, outside of Quebec) and may be accessible to foreign courts, law enforcement and national security agencies. Although we implement safeguards designed to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of personal information transmitted to us by electronic means, including through our website.

 

Policy

  1. Collection of Personal Information

The types of personal information we collect depend on how you interact with us and our website.

  • If you sign up to receive our news releases, publications, newsletters or similar materials using a sign-up form on the website, we may collect your email address. We may also receive a confirmation when you open an e-mail from us, if your computer supports such capabilities.
  • If you submit a message to us using our website’s “Contact Us” form, we may collect your full name and email address, the name of the organization you own or work for, and any personal information you share in your message. If you do not wish to provide this information, you can instead contact us by phone at 604-895-2700.
  • If you submit the “Carrier Application Form” or “Funding Application Form” on our website, we may collect your full name, title, telephone number and email address, the name and location of and information about the operation of the organization you own or work for, and any other personal information you share in the form.
  • If you participate in one of our optional surveys or public engagement processes through our website, we may collect your email address, the opinions and preferences that you express in your survey or participation responses, and any other personal information you share in your responses.
  • If you participate in one of our optional contests or promotions, we may collect your full name, email address, and telephone number.
  • As described further below, our website also uses cookies and other tracking technologies, which may collect the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of your device (which allows us to determine the city where you are located when you visit our website), the IP address of your Internet Service Provider, the type of browser you are using, the date and time when you access our website, the Internet address of the website or advertisement, if any, from which you linked directly to our website, the operating system or other system characteristics of the device you are using, the portions of or content on the website that you visit, read or view, your searches, and the content you download from the website. Some of the cookies and tracking technologies used on our website are optional, although certain features and functions of our website may not work as effectively or at all if you refuse certain cookies and tracking technologies. To adjust your preferences about cookies and tracking technologies, you can visit here.

 

  1. Use of Personal Information

We may collect and use your personal information to:

  • authenticate your identity;
  • contact and communicate with you to provide support, assist you with and respond to your questions, complaints and requests for information;
  • send you our news releases, publications, newsletters or similar materials, if you sign up to receive them;
  • consider and contact you with respect to your application to act as a carrier or receive funding, if you fill out these forms;
  • conduct surveys and public engagement processes and analyze the responses in order to understand and act on your feedback, and to create aggregated feedback to share with government or other public stakeholders;
  • administer our contests and promotions, including determining your eligibility to participate, selecting and contacting a winner, providing the prize, complying with any relevant laws, and otherwise administering the terms and conditions of the contest or promotion;
  • generate aggregated information for statistical, analytics and research purposes;
  • administer and operate the website and related systems;
  • monitor, measure and improve the effectiveness of our website and our marketing efforts;
  • detect and protect against fraud and error;
  • allow certain of our affiliates and third party service providers to help us provide our services to you and fulfill the purposes described above; and
  • for other purposes which are described in this Policy, to which you consent, or which are otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirement.

 

  1. Opting Out of Marketing Communications

If you receive our news releases, publications, newsletters or similar materials, you can "opt out" or unsubscribe using the option in each of our marketing communications.

 

  1. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
  • Cookies—The website uses “cookies”, a technology that installs information on a user’s device to permit the website to recognize future visits using that device and to track your use of our website. Information collected through cookies is used to recognize you as a previous user of the website, to offer you personalized content and information, to respond to your needs, and to otherwise track and facilitate your experience on the website. You may decline non-essential cookies from the website if your browser permits, but doing so may affect your use of the website and your ability to access or use certain features of the website. To adjust your cookie preferences, you can visit here.
  • Beacons & Pixels—Our website may also use web beacons or pixel tags to compile tracking information reports regarding user demographics, and traffic patterns. We may use a third party to conduct these functions (such as the “Google Analytics” offering). Once gathered, we use such aggregated information internally for statistical, analytics and research purposes, but may also share it with contractors to assist us with these purposes. For our own research purposes, we may link tracking information with personal information voluntarily provided by website users. Beacons and pixels that collect personal information and allow you to be located or profiled are activated when you agree to the placement of such tracking technologies in the cookie banner or cookie preference centre. To adjust your preferences about tracking technologies, you can visit here.

 

  1. Storage of Your Personal Information

WF, our affiliates and our service providers may process and store your personal information in Canada, the United States and elsewhere, and therefore Canadian, United States or foreign governments, national security authorities, courts, or law enforcement or regulatory agencies may be able to obtain access to or disclosure of your personal information. If you are located in Quebec, please note that your personal information could be communicated outside Quebec.

If you are in Alberta, you may contact our Privacy Officer at the contact information listed below to obtain written information about our policies and practices with respect to service providers (including affiliates) outside Canada, or to ask questions about the collection, use, disclosure or storage of your personal information by service providers and affiliates outside Canada.

The website necessarily involves the use of the Internet and other public and private networks, all of which are outside of WF’s control. Transmissions over the Internet or such networks may be intercepted by other parties or stored, cached, routed, transmitted or received outside of Canada or the United States. Information sent over the Internet or such networks may not be completely private, and your anonymity on the Internet is never guaranteed. Please be careful with the personal information you provide through our website (for example, by limiting the personal information you provide to us).

 

  1. Disclosure and Sharing of Your Information

Your personal information will be accessible to our employees who need to access or use it to perform their jobs, including members of our Communications, Marketing, Information Technology, Investor Relations, Sales and Woodlands teams.

We may also share some of your personal information with our affiliates and with third parties acting on our behalf, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

  • Service Providers—We may use third party service providers to manage aspects of our business operations, including the processing of personal information. Our service providers may include:
    • third parties that host certain forms on our website, including the Carrier Application Form, who may collect, have access to and share with us any personal information you submit in these forms so that we can consider and respond to your submission;
    • providers of marketing, automation and email platforms, who may have access to and use the email addresses of those who sign up to receive our news, for the purpose of sending our releases, publications, newsletters or similar materials; and
    • providers of video hosting platforms, who may collect or have access to aggregated information for statistical, analytics and research purposes for the purposes of hosting videos embedded on our website and assembling and providing us with statistics about the number of users who watch our videos.
  • Affiliates, Subsidiaries and Divisions—We may share your personal information with our corporate subsidiaries, affiliates or divisions, who may use it for the same purposes as described in Section 3 of this Policy.
  • Business Transfers—As we continue to grow, we might sell or buy certain subsidiaries and/or business units. In connection with such transactions, your personal information may be transferred or disclosed to a potential or actual party to the transaction. Also, in the unlikely event that we (or our assets) are acquired by another party, your personal information may be transferred or disclosed to other parties to that transaction.
  • Legal Disclosure—We may disclose your personal information as permitted or required by law. For example, we may be compelled to release personal information by a court of law or other person or entity with jurisdiction to compel production of such information. If we have reasonable grounds to believe that personal information could be useful in the investigation of improper or unlawful activity, we may disclose that information to law enforcement agencies or other appropriate investigative bodies.
  • Protection of Us or Others—We may disclose your personal information if there is a violation of any agreement between us and you (such as, without limitation, the Terms of Use); if we have a good faith belief that the law requires or authorizes it; or if needed to protect the rights, property or safety of us, our customers or others. This includes disclosing personal information to entities for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

 

  1. Security of Personal Information
  • Security Safeguards—We maintain safeguards designed to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse, including firewalls, written information security policies, staff awareness training, and a dedicated security team. We also train our employees about the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of personal information.
  • Roles and Responsibilities—Our Privacy Officer has overall responsibility for our compliance with privacy laws and the day-to-day implementation and improvement of our privacy program, including providing training to employees, publishing policies and procedures, responding to complaints and potential violations of this Policy or laws, and responding to data subjects’ requests. Our Privacy Officer, in coordination with our security team, is responsible for oversight of the preparation and implementation of a written information security program and controls. All personnel are responsible for protecting the confidentiality of personal information they handle, following our security measures and policies and procedures for handling personal information, avoiding unauthorized access, use or disclosure of personal information, helping answer data subject requests, and reporting security incidents.
  • Links to Other Websites—Our website may contain links to other websites (including social media platforms), products, services, offerings or Internet resources which we do not own or operate. These links are provided solely for your convenience and not as an endorsement. We have no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other resources or their collection, use, disclosure, protection or other handling of your personal information. Before using the resources or providing your personal information to the third parties that operate them, we encourage you to read their privacy policies, statements, notices and terms of use to learn how they handle your personal information.
  • Limitations—Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please do not send us sensitive information through email or through the forms on our website. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, you must immediately notify us of the problem by contacting our Privacy Officer at the contact information listed below. If you choose to notify us by physical mail, this will delay the time it takes for us to respond to the problem.

 

  1. Retention of Your Personal Information

We keep your personal information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and to meet any legal requirements. Where required by applicable law, personal information used to make a decision that directly affects an individual will be kept for at least one year after such a decision.

We destroy or anonymize personal information when it is no longer needed or required to be kept. Personal information printed on paper is destroyed by shredding, and personal information stored by electronic means is deleted using a technical method that cannot be reproduced.

 

  1. Contact Us

You may contact our Privacy Officer at the contact information list below in order to:

  • request access to and/or correction of your personal information that we hold, subject to such conditions and limitations as are required or permitted by applicable law;
  • withdraw your consent to our collection, use, disclosure or communication of your personal information, subject to legal and contractual restrictions; or
  • ask a question or make a complaint about our collection, use, disclosure or other handling of your personal information, our compliance with applicable privacy laws or this Policy.

 

Attention: Privacy Officer

885 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6C 3E8
Tel: 604-895-2700
E: privacy@westfraser.com

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