Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Lost.ca, you agree to these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the site.

2. About Lost.ca

Lost.ca is a community-driven Canadian platform for posting and searching lost and found pets. We provide a platform. We are not a shelter, veterinary clinic, pet rescue, pet-recovery service, or professional broker of any kind.

Lost.ca may, at any time and in our sole discretion, introduce paid features, subscriptions, sponsored content, partnerships, advertising, data products, or other revenue-generating services, and may add, remove, change, restrict, or discontinue any feature, service, or part of the site. Current free access does not guarantee future free access to all features.

3. Your Account

• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.
• You may have only one account.
• Keep your password confidential. You are solely responsible for activity under your account.
• Provide accurate information. We may suspend accounts with fake, impersonated, or misleading details.
• You must be the pet's owner or have the owner's explicit permission before posting a lost-pet listing.

4. Your Content

You retain ownership of the content you post. By posting on Lost.ca, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, non-exclusive license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, modify (including for formatting, moderation, translation, and promotion), create derivative works of, license, sell, and otherwise use, exploit, monetize, and commercialize your content in connection with operating, improving, marketing, promoting, monetizing, or commercializing Lost.ca, any successor service, or any related, affiliated, or future product, including licensing or sale of content, data, or derivative works to third parties for any purpose. We may retain copies of removed content for legal, audit, anti-abuse, and operational purposes for as long as we consider necessary. Content shared, copied, or republished by other users or third parties may continue to exist outside our control after you remove it.

You also grant us, on the same terms, a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, non-exclusive license over any de-identified, anonymized, aggregated, statistical, or derivative data created from your content or your use of the service, which we may use, license, sell, or commercialize for any purpose, including research, analytics, marketing, advertising, and commercial data products.

You represent and warrant that:

• You have all rights needed to post everything you submit and to grant the license above.
• Your content does not infringe any copyright, trademark, or privacy right.
• Photos depict pets you own or that you have permission to photograph.
• All factual claims in your listings are true to the best of your knowledge.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Post fake, misleading, or fraudulent listings or sightings.
• Impersonate another person, organization, or shelter.
• Harass, threaten, defame, or abuse other users.
• Post illegal, obscene, hateful, violent, or discriminatory content.
• Use Lost.ca to sell pets, breed pets, or conduct commercial transactions unrelated to reuniting lost pets.
• Scrape, copy, or redistribute Lost.ca content at scale.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to accounts, servers, or user data.
• Overwhelm the service with automated traffic or spam.
• Post photos or contact information of people without their consent.

Violations may result in content removal, account suspension, or permanent banning, at our sole discretion.

6. Moderation and Removal

We may remove, edit, hide, restrict, or suspend any content or account at any time, in our sole discretion, with or without notice and with or without cause. We are under no obligation to monitor, pre-review, or moderate user content, but we reserve the right to do so at any time. We are not required to provide reasons for, or to reinstate, any content or account we choose to remove or suspend. Decisions regarding moderation and reinstatement are final.

7. Safety and In-Person Meetups

Lost.ca helps users find each other. Lost.ca does not arrange, oversee, or participate in in-person meetings. When you arrange to meet someone to return a pet, pick one up, or investigate a sighting, you do so at your own risk.

We strongly recommend meeting in public places, bringing a friend, asking to verify microchip information, and contacting a local shelter if you are unsure.

You assume all risk of meeting anyone you meet through Lost.ca. Lost.ca is not liable for any injury, loss, theft, fraud, scam, or other harm arising from user-to-user interactions, whether online or in person.

8. Disclaimers

Lost.ca is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and availability.

We do not guarantee:

• That lost pets will be found.
• That sightings posted by users are accurate.
• That information provided by other users is true.
• That the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of malicious code.
• That shelter directories, microchip registries, or other third-party information shown on the site is current or correct.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Lost.ca and its team, contributors, affiliates, and service providers are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, punitive, or exemplary damages, including lost profits, lost data, lost pets, emotional distress, reputational harm, or personal injury, arising out of or related to your use of Lost.ca, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising from or related to Lost.ca, regardless of the basis of the claim, is limited to the greater of one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD $100) or the total amount you have paid to Lost.ca in the twelve months before the claim.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability. In those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the minimum amount permitted by applicable law.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Lost.ca and its officers, directors, employees, contractors, contributors, affiliates, agents, licensors, successors, assigns, and service providers (the "Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, proceedings, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees and disbursements on a full-indemnity basis) arising out of or related to:

• Your content (including any allegation that it infringes a third party's rights).
• Your use or misuse of the site.
• Your violation of these terms or any representation or warranty made by you.
• Your violation of any law, regulation, or third-party right.
• Any dispute, interaction, or transaction between you and any other user, online or in person.
• Any regulatory inquiry, investigation, or proceeding arising from your conduct or content.

We reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defence.

11. Arbitration and Class Action Waiver

Subject to applicable consumer-protection law that you cannot waive by agreement, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these terms, our Privacy Policy, or your use of Lost.ca, whether based in contract, tort, statute, or otherwise (a "Dispute"), will be resolved exclusively by final and binding individual arbitration administered by the ADR Institute of Canada (ADRIC) under its then-current Arbitration Rules, before a single arbitrator, seated in Toronto, Ontario, and conducted in English (or in French if you so elect under the ADRIC Rules). Judgment on the arbitral award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Class action and representative action waiver. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you and Lost.ca each agree that any Dispute will be brought only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, mass, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate or join more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding. If a court of competent jurisdiction determines that this waiver is unenforceable as to a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy (and only that claim or remedy) will be severed and may proceed in court, while all other Disputes remain subject to individual arbitration.

Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court (or its equivalent) for any Dispute within its monetary and subject-matter jurisdiction in lieu of arbitration. Either party may also seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court to protect intellectual-property rights, account security, or the integrity of the service. Nothing in this section limits any right or remedy that you cannot waive under Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2002, Quebec's Consumer Protection Act, or other consumer-protection legislation applicable to you; any such non-waivable rights and remedies are preserved.

Opt-out. You may opt out of this Section 11 (Arbitration and Class Action Waiver) by emailing support@lost.ca with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" within 30 days of first accepting these terms. For users who first accepted these terms before this section was added, the 30-day opt-out window runs from the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your message must include the email address associated with your account. Opting out affects only this section; the rest of these terms continue to apply.

This Section 11 survives termination of your account or of these terms.

12. Termination

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your account or access to all or any part of the service at any time, in our sole discretion, with or without notice and with or without cause, including without limitation if we believe you have violated these terms, present a risk to the service or to other users, or for any other reason we consider appropriate. We may also discontinue the service in whole or in part at any time without liability.

You may close your account at any time. Closing your account does not relieve you of obligations incurred before closure. Sections 4 (Your Content license), 8 (Disclaimers), 9 (Limitation of Liability), 10 (Indemnification), 11 (Arbitration and Class Action Waiver), 14 (Governing Law), and any other provisions that by their nature should survive will survive termination.

13. Third-Party Services and Links

Lost.ca links to third-party sites (shelter directories, social networks, etc.) and relies on third-party services (hosting, analytics, email). We are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of third parties.

14. Governing Law and Venue

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable in Ontario, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Subject to Section 11, any dispute arising from these terms or your use of Lost.ca will be resolved exclusively in the courts located in Ontario, Canada, and you consent to their jurisdiction.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may change these terms. The "Last updated" date will change when we do. For material changes, we will post a notice on the site. Continued use after changes means you accept the updated terms. If you disagree, stop using the service.

16. Entire Agreement

These terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the complete agreement between you and Lost.ca regarding your use of the site. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder stays in effect.

17. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email support@lost.ca.