Privacy Policy

The Fédération des clubs de motoneigistes du Québec (hereinafter the “FCMQ”) undertakes to follow this privacy policy in order to protect the privacy, security and accuracy of the personal information it collects, holds, uses or communicates in accordance with applicable legislation. This policy explains the FCMQ’s practices regarding the personal information it collects when a snowmobile club joins as a member, when a person purchases a product and/or service, such as a subscription to Motoneige Québec magazine, when a person becomes a volunteer for the FCMQ, when a person participates in an event or promotional contest organized by the FCMQ and its partners, when a person registers on the Internet site https://www.portesouvertessurlessentiersdemotoneiges.ca, for the Open House event, when visiting the website (https://www.fcmq.qc.ca/en) (hereinafter collectively the “websites”), when using the iMotoneige mobile application or when subscribing to the newsletter.

Scope of the policy

This policy takes into account the requirements of the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, L.R.Q., c. P-39.1 (hereinafter the “Act”) and any other applicable law.

Personal information

Personal information is defined as any information relating to a natural person that enables that person to be identified, directly or indirectly.

For the purposes of applying this policy, personal information does not include a natural person’s professional information, such as name, position, title, postal address, email address or workplace telephone number. Personal information also does not include any information that has been duly anonymized or aggregated, in accordance with the Act, and that can no longer be used to identify a natural person.

What personal information does the FCMQ collect and why?

The FCMQ collects, holds, uses or communicates personal information only with your consent and for the purposes identified below, unless otherwise required or authorised by law. For any other use of your personal information, your consent will be requested.

The personal information collected is only that which is required to provide the activities and services of the FCMQ and for the purposes identified in this policy, in particular:

  • A snowmobile club’s membership in the FCMQ: the first name, last name, mailing address, email address and telephone number of each member of the snowmobile club’s board of directors, the first name, last name, mailing address, email address and telephone number of the landowners with whom the snowmobile club has signed a land-use permission;
  • Creating an account on the iMotoneige application: email address;
  • When volunteering with the FCMQ: name, home address, email address, telephone number and date of birth;
  • When you take part in any event organised by the FCMQ: last name, first name, email address, telephone number;
  • When creating a profile on the platform for selling trail permits (accessible via the FCMQ website): last name, first name, home address, email address, telephone number, gender, language of communication;
  • The purchase of trail permits on the FCMQ’s trail permit sales platform: name, residential address, email address, telephone number, year of birth, proof of civil liability insurance and relevant information about your snowmobile, i.e. make, model, year, serial number and registration number;
  • Your communications with the FCMQ: first name, last name, email address, telephone number;
  • When subscribing to Motoneige Québec magazine: last name, first name and postal address;
  • Newsletter subscription: email address;
  • For participation in promotional contests organised by the FCMQ: last name, first name, telephone number, postal address and email address;
  • When browsing the websites: certain information is automatically collected. We invite you to consult the section on cookies below.

The FCMQ takes reasonable steps to protect all personal information collected by adopting appropriate security measures.

Security measures

All data collected by the FCMQ, including personal information, is saved in secure locations and on controlled servers located, as much as possible, in Quebec. However, the FCMQ’s suppliers may store personal information on servers located outside Canada and be subject to the law in force in that country. The FCMQ takes reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is adequately protected in compliance with this policy.

In addition, all personal information transmitted at the time of acquiring a trail permit or when registering for the Open House event is encrypted, meaning that it has been encrypted to guarantee its confidentiality as much as possible. It is therefore difficult for anyone to intercept, alter or decode them, and they remain confidential. A small locked padlock appearing at the bottom of the browser window and the URL address beginning with “https://” rather than “http://” indicates that the page on which you are transmitting information is protected by the SSL (Secure sockets layers) protocol.

When a payment is required for one of the purposes indicated above, the payment is redirected to your financial institution’s payment gateway through Global Payments. Your credit card number is not accessible to the FCMQ or anyone else at the time of the transaction, other than the online payment service.

The FCMQ limits access to personal information to authorised members of its staff whose duties make such access necessary. Authorised personnel are adequately trained to ensure the protection of personal information and respect for privacy.

Third parties who may have access to your personal information

In addition to FCMQ staff members whose duties require access to the personal information collected, the following persons may have access to your personal information:

  • Volunteers whose duties require such access as part of activities organised by the FCMQ;
  • Certain service providers (for example, programming firms or external consultants) may have occasional access to your personal information in order to provide the required service, but they are strictly prohibited from using this information for any other purpose. The FCMQ has signed a service agreement with each of these suppliers to ensure the protection of any personal information they may receive;
  • The insurer for insurance coverage purposes;
  • Snowmobile clubs, when required (e.g. trail wardens);
  • The FCMQ may be required to communicate your personal information under applicable laws, for example, to a legal advisor or a government agency with the authority to obtain such personal information.

The FCMQ may also use and communicate your personal information when it believes that such use or communication is authorised, necessary or appropriate in the following cases:

  • In application of the applicable laws;
  • To comply with legal proceedings;
  • In response to requests from public and government authorities;
  • To enforce contractual agreements;
  • To protect its rights, security or property, yours or those of others; or
  • To enable it to exercise available remedies or limit the damage it may suffer.

The FCMQ never communicates your personal information to third parties, with the exception of the persons mentioned above and unless it has obtained your consent.

The FCMQ does not sell its customer list to any organisation or company, nor does it exchange it with anyone else.

Retention period for your personal information

The personal information that you have provided or that the FCMQ has collected in accordance with this policy and the Act may be used by the FCMQ as long as your consent is valid.

However, from the moment you withdraw your consent or if your consent expires, the FCMQ may retain your personal information, without using it, according to a retention schedule established in compliance with the law and its needs.

Finally, the FCMQ ensures that personal information is destroyed or made anonymous when it is no longer necessary and when the purposes for which it was collected have been fulfilled, i.e. when the personal information can no longer be used to identify you, directly or indirectly.

Links to external sites

The websites administered by the FCMQ may contain links to external sites (of third parties or partners), in particular the sites of FCMQ member snowmobile clubs. External sites are not covered by this confidentiality policy. The personal information you provide on these sites is subject to the privacy policy of the external site, if one exists.

The FCMQ is not responsible for the privacy policies adopted by third parties or any other partner, in particular the snowmobile clubs that are members of the FCMQ, given that each must comply with the legislation in force in its country of residence. The FCMQ therefore suggests that you study the confidentiality policies posted on each of these sites to find out how personal information may be collected, held, used or communicated.

“Cookies” on the websites and the iMotoneige mobile application

You may visit the websites anonymously at any time, without revealing any personal information about yourself to the FCMQ. When you connect to the websites, the FCMQ’s server uses cookies to identify the IP address of your computer, tablet or mobile device (“device”) so that data can be exchanged, enabling the FCMQ to compile statistics on visits to its websites. No personal information is linked to your IP address.

Cookies are pieces of information that are sent to you by a website when you visit it. They are stored temporarily or permanently on your device to keep track of your visit. The FCMQ may use cookies to facilitate your browsing or to personalize your use of its websites, the advertising content appearing on them or its iMotoneige mobile application, such as memorizing your connection information when you select the “Automatic connection” option. Cookies may also be used to retrieve your search history, your shopping basket and generally to facilitate your browsing experience on our websites. Cookies are harmless in that they cannot extract personal information from your device. You can consult and destroy them if you wish. You therefore have full control over them. The FCMQ advises you to refer to your browser settings to make the appropriate changes.

The websites currently use the following cookies:

  • Analytics cookies from Google Analytics and Hotjar. These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use the websites. The information compiled is used to create reports and to help the FCMQ improve its websites. Cookies collect information in anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the websites, where they came from before visiting the websites and the pages they visited;
  • Facebook Pixel and Google Ads Remarketing advertising cookies. These cookies are used to provide you with personalised advertising based on your browsing history and to analyse the effectiveness of the FCMQ’s advertising campaigns.

With the exception of the cookies required for the proper operation of the websites, which may be permanently activated, all other cookies used by the FCMQ on its websites are deactivated.

The use of cookies by the FCMQ websites can be customized at any time. It will be possible to activate or refuse so-called “analytical” cookies as well as those related to “advertising” during your first visit to the websites, by means of a banner on cookies. You will also be able to save your cookie preferences for all subsequent visits to the websites. Should you wish to modify your preferences, a “cookies” button will appear on the websites, allowing you to do so.

By refusing the collection of data via cookies, you may not be able to access certain functionalities of the websites or the iMotoneige application.

Access to your personal information

The FCMQ allows any person concerned by personal information collected and held by it to rectify any personal information concerning him or her that is inaccurate or incomplete. For all requests, please contact in writing the person responsible as identified below. The FCMQ will respond to any request for access or rectification within thirty (30) days of receipt of the request. If the request is refused, the person responsible will provide the reasons for the refusal to the person who made the request.

Withdrawal of consent

You may suspend or withdraw your consent to the collection, use and communication of your personal information. However, depending on the circumstances, withdrawing your consent could prevent the FCMQ from continuing to provide you with the products and services you have requested or from adequately evaluating and processing your requests.

Complaint

In order to maintain and improve the quality of its services, the FCMQ offers anyone the opportunity to express dissatisfaction with the protection of personal information that it collects, holds, uses or communicates. Any person wishing to file a complaint must communicate in writing with the person in charge identified below. The complaint must include the following information:

  • Last name and first name;
  • Telephone number;
  • Mailing address or email address;
  • Grounds for the complaint.

All complaints will be treated confidentially. The FCMQ will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within five (5) working days of the date of its receipt. The FCMQ will respond to any complaint within thirty (30) days of the date of receipt of the complaint.

Contact details of the person responsible for the protection of personal information

Mrs. Mélyssa Bédard
Events and Management Support Manager
Fédération des clubs de motoneigistes du Québec
Mailing address:
101-1027 boul. des Entreprises
Terrebonne (Québec) J6Y 1V2
Telephone: (514) 252-3076
Email: [email protected]

Changes to the Policy

This policy may be amended by the FCMQ at any time. Amendments to this policy will come into effect within fifteen (15) days of their posting on the FCMQ website.

Initial publication: February 5th, 2024
Last updated: August 8th, 2025