User Agreement

The Discussion Forum is a service of the Settlement.Org website where you can ask and answer questions related to living and settling in Ontario.

In order to use this Forum, users are required to provide a username, password and email address. Neither the Administrators of this service, nor the Moderators participating, are responsible for the privacy practices of any user. Remember that all information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to share any of your personal information.
Any user who finds material posted by another user objectionable is encouraged to contact us.
By accepting this agreement, we are authorized by you to remove or modify any data submitted by you to the Discussion Forum for any reason we feel constitutes a violation of our policies, whether stated, implied or not.
This site may contain links to other web sites and files. We have no control over the content and cannot ensure it will not be offensive or objectionable. We will, however, remove links to material that we feel is inappropriate as we become aware of them. Such links include web sites that exist to sell services or products related to immigration.
The Discussion Forum allows you to change and modify information that you provide in your profile.
Cookies must be turned on in your browser to participate as a user of these features. Cookies are used here to hold your username and password and viewing options, allowing you to login. They do not collect any other information.
Messages in the Settlement.Org Discussion Forum are moderated. This means that your questions or messages will not show up right away on the discussion forum as they are being reviewed by a moderator prior to posting.
Settlement.Org strives to be an effective and accurate service for Information and Referral.
The terms of this user agreement are subject to change. Please check back regularly by visiting http://settlement.org/discussion-terms/.

Discussion Forum - General Rules

In addition to the following Posting Guidelines below, any individual posting content to the Discussion Forum is responsible for observing the Settlement.Org Terms and Conditions. By clicking on the "Agree" button below, you agree to the Settlement.Org Terms and Conditions.
Please note that we will not answer questions about how to immigrate to Canada in the Discussion Forum. Our focus is on how to settle in Ontario. While we can give some information about the immigration process, we are not immigration consultants and will not be able to tell you how to successfully immigrate. We can help you find organizations in your city that offer these services. There are other web sites where you can ask these questions. Here is one: Immigration to Canada discussion group.

Discussion Forum - Posting Rules

All activities are transparent.
Activities that cause congestion or disruption of the system are not permitted. Such activities include posting large multimedia or software files, and spreading computer viruses.
Personal information about other users should not be posted without their prior approval.
Copyrighted material may only be posted with prior consent of the owner. Users who post material from another source must credit that source.
Do not post content that is obscene, otherwise objectionable, is for the purposes of promoting any commercial interest or for any illegal purposes.
Do not 'spam', transmit unauthorized solicitations or transmit content that is that infringes any third party's intellectual property rights.
Posting an advertisement may result in the termination of the offender's Discussion Forum account and posting privileges.
Although all posts are moderated, repeated attempts by a user to post incorrect, inaccurate or misleading information may result in the termination or the user's account and posting privileges.
Settlement.Org staff retain the right to terminate a user's posting privileges or Discussion Forum account at their sole discretion.
Reasons for termination may include, but are not limited to, violation of this user agreement, harassment of Settlement.Org staff or other users, or the general disruption of the discussion area.
All decisions regarding any of the rules above, interpretation of violations of this user agreement, and the termination of a user's account or posting privileges are at the sole discretion of Settlement.Org staff.

Discussion Forum - General Guidelines

This forum provides features which allow you to customize your experience of the website with bookmarks, topic subscriptions, discussion monitoring, and participation in the Discussion Forum.
We appreciate feedback on the usefulness of particular features and encourage input on what we can do to improve the user experience of these elements.
Questions posted in the Discussion Forum are generally responded to within 3 to 6 business days.

Discussion Forum - Posting Guidelines

Always act in a professional and courteous manner. Avoid gossip about others. Don't use objectionable language. Be patient with new users.
Stay on topic. Discussion groups have specific subject areas. Suggest new discussion groups if you feel that an important topic does not fit into any existing discussion group.
Learn and abide by the rules and etiquette of those groups. Rules and etiquette may vary among discussion groups. Users should be sensitive to different group dynamics.
"Lurking" is OK. Before becoming an active participant, take some time to observe the conventions and particular interests of the group.
Read the Discussion Forum Help section
Always identify yourself within messages.
Generally limit messages to one subject. Provide a clear indication of the topic of your message in the subject line.
Be brief and to the point whenever possible. Do not post long documents to discussion groups. If you are quoting from a web site, it is better to quote only a small part of the information and provide the web site link for others to read more.
Preview and read your messages before posting them. Postings can be read by hundreds of others. Each will interpret your message according to their point of view.
DON'T SHOUT. Using all capital letters in electronic communication translates as loud and perhaps aggressive.
Remember people can't see or hear you. Humour, for example, does not always translate well in electronic communications. Use visual cues such as smilies :-) or emotes <laugh>.

Communication with Moderators, Administrators and Other Staff

All communication with the moderators, administrators and other staff of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) will be conduced by email or through the discussion forum.

Grievance/Complaint procedure

If you are not satisfied with how something has been dealt with, first contact the Discussion Fourm moderator, using the email functionality of the Discussion Forum.
If you are not satisfied, contact the Content Coordinator through our feedback page.
If you are still not satisfied, contact the Project Manager – [email protected].
Please provide your grievance/complaint in writing, via email.