Privacy policy

Last updated: July 24, 2026

Alignova Medical Inc., a corporation incorporated federally in Canada and carrying on business as Alignova Medical ("Alignova Medical", "we", "us" or "our"), operates this store and website at alignovamedical.ca (the "Website"), including all related information, content, features, tools, products and services, in order to provide you, the customer, with a curated shopping experience (together with the Website, the "Services"). Alignova Medical is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services to you. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information when you visit, use, or make a purchase or other transaction using the Services or otherwise communicate with us. If there is a conflict between our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, this Privacy Policy controls with respect to the collection, processing, and disclosure of your personal information.

We sell compression garments, braces and related medical devices. Some of what we do requires us to handle health information — most often a prescription or written order from your doctor or nurse practitioner. We treat that information as sensitive, and this Policy explains specifically how.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information We Collect or Process

When we use the term "personal information," we are referring to information that identifies or can reasonably be linked to you or another person. Personal information does not include information that is collected anonymously or that has been de-identified, so that it cannot identify or be reasonably linked to you. We may collect or process the following categories of personal information, including inferences drawn from this personal information, depending on how you interact with the Services, where you live, and as permitted or required by applicable law:

  • Contact details including your name, address, billing address, shipping address, phone number, and email address.
  • Health information including any prescription or written order from a physician, nurse practitioner or other authorized health professional that you upload or otherwise provide to us, together with the product, size and compression details associated with it. We collect this only where you choose to provide it.
  • Financial information including credit card, debit card, and financial account numbers, payment card information, financial account information, transaction details, form of payment, payment confirmation and other payment details.
  • Account information including your username, password, security questions, preferences and settings.
  • Transaction information including the items you view, put in your cart, add to your wishlist, or purchase, return, exchange or cancel and your past transactions.
  • Communications with us including the information you include in communications with us, for example, when sending a customer support inquiry or requesting an estimate.
  • Device information including information about your device, browser, or network connection, your IP address, and other unique identifiers.
  • Usage information including information regarding your interaction with the Services, including how and when you interact with or navigate the Services.

We collect only the personal and health information reasonably necessary to provide the products and services you request and to comply with applicable legal obligations.

Personal Information Sources

We may collect personal information from the following sources:

  • Directly from you including when you create an account, visit or use the Services, communicate with us, request an estimate, upload a prescription, or otherwise provide us with your personal information.
  • Automatically through the Services including from your device when you use our Services, through the use of cookies and similar technologies.
  • From our service providers including Shopify and other vendors who perform services on our behalf.
  • From our partners or other third parties, including, where you consent, a health professional or insurer acting on your behalf.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

Like most online stores, we and our service providers (including Shopify) use cookies and similar technologies on the Website. They fall into three groups:

  • Essential cookies, which are required for the Services to work — for example keeping you signed in, remembering your cart and completing checkout. These cannot be switched off through the Services.
  • Analytics cookies, which help us understand how the Services are used so we can improve them.
  • Advertising cookies, which are used to show you more relevant advertising, as described under "How We Disclose Personal Information". Health information is never used for this.

You can manage or delete cookies through your browser settings, and most browsers let you block them entirely — though blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the Services (such as the cart and checkout) from working. Where applicable law requires it, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies. Your prescription and other health information are never collected through cookies.

How We Use Your Personal Information

  • Providing products and services. To process payments, fulfill orders, send notifications related to your account, purchases, returns, exchanges or other transactions, create, maintain and otherwise manage your account, arrange for shipping, facilitate returns and exchanges, and enable you to post reviews.
  • Preparing estimates and quotations. To prepare an itemized estimate you can submit to an insurer, and to contact you about it.
  • Determining tax treatment. To determine whether a product qualifies to be supplied to you without GST/HST, and to retain the documentation that substantiates that treatment. Certain medical and assistive devices are zero-rated only when supplied on the written order of a specified health professional, so we may need your prescription for this purpose.
  • Supporting insurance claims. To provide you with documentation you can submit to an extended health benefits plan. We prepare and share this documentation only when you request it — nothing is sent to an insurer unless you ask us to.
  • Marketing and advertising. To send you promotional communications where permitted, and to show you advertisements for products or services. We do not use your health information for marketing or advertising.
  • Security and fraud prevention. To authenticate your account, provide a secure experience, and investigate or respond to suspected fraudulent or illegal activity.
  • Communicating with you. To provide customer support and respond to your enquiries.
  • Legal reasons. To comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process.

How We Disclose Personal Information

In certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for legitimate purposes subject to this Privacy Policy. Such circumstances may include:

  • With Shopify, vendors and other third parties who perform services on our behalf (e.g. IT management, payment processing, data analytics, customer support, cloud storage, fulfillment and shipping).
  • Address suggestions. The address information you enter into the address field on our site may be transmitted to Google, using the Google Maps Platform, in order to provide address suggestions. Google's handling of that information is governed by the Google Privacy Policy. Your prescription and other health information are never sent to Google. You can ignore the suggestions and enter your address manually.
  • Secure storage of prescriptions. Prescriptions you provide are stored using a cloud storage provider on encrypted servers located exclusively in Canada, under contract and solely for the purposes described in this Policy.
  • With business and marketing partners to provide marketing services and advertise to you. For example, we use Shopify to support personalized advertising with third-party services based on your online activity with different merchants and websites. Our business and marketing partners will use your information in accordance with their own privacy notices. Depending on where you reside, you may have a right to direct us not to share information about you to show you targeted advertisements. Health information is excluded from this.
  • When you direct, request us or otherwise consent to our disclosure of certain information to third parties, such as to ship you products, to submit a claim on your behalf, or through your use of social media widgets or login integrations.
  • With our affiliates or otherwise within our corporate group.
  • In connection with a business transaction such as a merger or bankruptcy, to comply with any applicable legal obligations (including to respond to subpoenas, search warrants and similar requests), to enforce any applicable terms of service or policies, and to protect or defend the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not sell or disclose health information for any commercial purpose unrelated to supplying you with the products you have asked for.

Your Consent

We collect, use and disclose your personal information with your knowledge and consent, except where the law permits or requires otherwise, in accordance with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and any applicable provincial privacy legislation.

Where you provide health information such as a prescription, we rely on your express consent, which you give at the point you submit it to us. We will not use that information for any purpose other than the ones described in this Policy without asking you first.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the details below. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer supply a product to you without tax, prepare an estimate, or support an insurance claim. We may also still be required to retain certain records for the period described under "Security and Retention of Your Information" below, in order to meet tax obligations that have already arisen.

Relationship with Shopify

The Services are hosted by Shopify, which collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of the Services in order to provide and improve the Services for you. Information you submit to the Services will be transmitted to and shared with Shopify as well as third parties that may be located in countries other than where you reside, in order to provide and improve the Services for you. In addition, to help protect, grow, and improve our business, we use certain Shopify enhanced features that incorporate data and information obtained from your interactions with our Store, along with other merchants and with Shopify. To provide these enhanced features, Shopify may make use of personal information collected about your interactions with our store, along with other merchants, and with Shopify. In these circumstances, Shopify is responsible for the processing of your personal information, including for responding to your requests to exercise your rights over use of your personal information for these purposes. To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information and any rights you may have, you can visit the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy. Depending on where you live, you may exercise certain rights with respect to your personal information at the Shopify Privacy Portal.

Prescriptions are handled entirely outside Shopify:

  • Prescription files are never stored in our Shopify store, and Shopify does not process or host them.
  • When you upload a prescription, your browser sends the file directly to our own secure storage — it does not pass through the store's servers.
  • Prescription files are stored only on encrypted servers located exclusively in Canada.
  • They are not transferred outside Canada in the ordinary course of business.

Third Party Websites and Links

Our Services may provide links to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties. If you follow links to sites not affiliated or controlled by us, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions. We do not guarantee and are not responsible for the privacy or security of such sites, including the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of information found on these sites. Information you provide on public or semi-public venues, including information you share on third-party social networking platforms, may also be viewable by other users of the Services and/or users of those third-party platforms without limitation as to its use by us or by a third party.

Children's Data

The Services are not intended to be used by children, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information about children. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information, you may contact us using the contact details set out below to request that it be deleted. As of the "Last updated" date of this Privacy Policy, we do not have actual knowledge that we "share" or "sell" (as those terms are defined in applicable law) personal information of individuals under 16 years of age.

Where a prescription is provided for a child by a parent or guardian, we handle it under the same terms as any other health information described in this Policy.

Security and Retention of Your Information

Please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee "perfect security." In addition, any information you send to us may not be secure while in transit. We recommend that you do not use unsecure channels to communicate sensitive or confidential information to us.

If a breach of security safeguards involving your personal information creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you and report the breach to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by law, and keep records of it as the law requires.

How long we retain your personal information depends on different factors, such as whether we need the information to maintain your account, to provide you with Services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes or enforce other applicable contracts and policies.

Prescriptions and other health information.

  • Prescriptions you upload are stored separately from our online store, on encrypted servers located exclusively in Canada.
  • We retain prescriptions and related documentation for the period required under applicable tax, accounting and record-retention laws, after which they are securely and automatically deleted.
  • We keep them for that period because a prescription is the document that substantiates a zero-rated (tax-free) sale of a medical or assistive device, and those laws require us to be able to produce it if asked.
  • Access is limited to staff who need it to prepare your estimate or to answer a tax or insurance enquiry. Access is granted only to authorized personnel with a legitimate business need.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the rights listed below in relation to your personal information. However, these rights are not absolute, may apply only in certain circumstances and, in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

  • Right to Access / Know. You may have a right to request access to personal information that we hold about you.
  • Right to Delete. You may have a right to request that we delete personal information we maintain about you.
  • Right to Correct. You may have a right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
  • Right of Portability. You may have a right to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to request that we transfer it to a third party, in certain circumstances and with certain exceptions.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent. You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. See "Your Consent" above.
  • Managing Communication Preferences. We may send you promotional emails, and you may opt out of receiving these at any time by using the unsubscribe option displayed in our emails to you. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account or orders that you have made.

You may exercise any of these rights where indicated on the Services or by contacting us using the contact details provided below. To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information and any rights you may have, including rights related to data processed by Shopify, you can visit https://privacy.shopify.com/en.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. We may need to verify your identity before we can process your requests, as permitted or required under applicable law. In accordance with applicable laws, you may designate an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf to exercise your rights. Before accepting such a request from an agent, we will require that the agent provide proof you have authorized them to act on your behalf, and we may need you to verify your identity directly with us. We will respond to your request in a timely manner as required under applicable law.

Complaints

If you have complaints about how we process your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided below. We will respond to you in a timely manner.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca), or with the privacy regulator in your province where one exists. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to appeal our decision by contacting us using the contact details set out below, or to lodge your complaint with your local data protection authority.

International Transfers

Information relating to your ordinary shopping activity — such as contact, account, transaction and payment information — may be transferred, stored and processed outside the country you live in by Shopify and the other service providers described in this Policy.

Prescriptions and other health information are different: they remain exclusively in Canada. They are stored only on encrypted servers located exclusively in Canada and are not transferred outside Canada in the ordinary course of business.

If we transfer your personal information out of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we will rely on recognized transfer mechanisms like the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, or any equivalent contracts issued by the relevant competent authority of the UK, as relevant, unless the data transfer is to a country that has been determined to provide an adequate level of protection.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised Privacy Policy on this website, update the "Last updated" date and take any other steps required by applicable law.

Contact

We have designated a Privacy Officer who is accountable for our personal information handling practices. Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you: