Terms and conditions

Last updated November 4, 2026

These terms apply when you read The Telltale, in print or at thetelltale.ca, use the website, or send us anything. The Telltale is run by rec-safe, with a local publisher for each edition ("we" and "us"). By using the website, you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the website.

The paper and the website

The Telltale is free, in print and online. It's light reading: local news and events, a quiz, a recipe, a knot to learn, old weather lore, jokes, and ads from local businesses. We try to get everything right, but we can't promise that everything in it is complete, accurate, or up to date. If you spot a mistake, please tell us and we'll fix it online where we can.

Events listed in the paper and its calendar are run by others. Dates, times, and places can change or be cancelled, so check with the organizer before you go.

We may change, pause, or stop any part of the paper or the website, or an edition, at any time.

Not advice for the water

Nothing in The Telltale is navigation, weather, safety, legal, medical, or professional advice. Weather lore is folklore, sunrise and sunset times are approximate, and knots, tips, and stories are for interest. Before you head out, check official charts, forecasts, notices to mariners, and the rules where you boat, wear a life jacket, and file a float plan. You're responsible for your own safety and your boat's.

Ads and other websites

Ads are from local businesses, who are responsible for their ads and for what they sell. An ad isn't our endorsement, and any dealings you have with an advertiser are between you and them.

QR codes and links in the paper and on the website pass through thetelltale.ca, so we can count them, and then go to other websites. We don't control those websites and aren't responsible for them, their content, or their privacy practices.

If you advertise with us, the ad terms on our advertising page also apply.

Spot the Burgee

Our monthly contest has its own rules, which apply when you enter.

What you send us

When you send us a story, news, an event, a photo, a joke, a recipe, a tip, a quiz question, or an ad:

• You confirm that you wrote it, took it, or made it, or that you have permission from whoever did, and that it doesn't break anyone's rights or the law.
• You keep your copyright. You give The Telltale and its editions permission, free of charge and without time limit, to edit it (for length, clarity, and style), print it, publish it online, and keep it in our past issues, with the credit you ask for. You can ask us not to use something before it's printed.
• We decide what goes in the paper, and we may edit, hold, or decline anything, without having to say why.
• For a photo of people, you confirm that they're happy for it to be published, and for anyone under 18, that a parent or guardian is.

Please don't send anything that's false or misleading, hateful, harassing, sexual, or unlawful, that shares someone's private information without their permission, or that's spam.

Our content

The Telltale's design, name, logo, and contents are owned by The Telltale or by the people who made them. You're welcome to read it, print a copy for yourself, pass the paper along, and share links to the website. Please don't copy, republish, or sell its contents, or use its name or logo, without our written permission.

Using the website

Please don't:

• try to get into parts of the website you aren't allowed in, or interfere with how it works;
• send forms in bulk, or with a computer program, including contest entries;
• copy the website in bulk with automated tools, except search engines indexing it in the usual way; or
• use the website for anything unlawful, or to pretend to be someone else.

We may block anyone who does.

Editors and publishers

Editors sign in with a link sent to their email address or with a passkey. Keep your sign-in links and devices to yourself, and tell us right away if you think someone else has used them. Editors use readers' information only to run their edition, as our privacy policy describes. An edition's publisher is also bound by their agreement with The Telltale; where it differs from these terms, the agreement applies.

Our responsibility

We provide The Telltale and the website as they are and as available, without promises of any kind beyond those the law requires. As far as the law allows, The Telltale, rec-safe, and each edition's publisher and editors aren't responsible for any loss or damage that comes from using or relying on the paper or the website, from an advertiser's goods or services, from other websites, or from the website being unavailable.

Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have that can't be given up under the consumer protection laws where you live.

Changes

We may update these terms. We'll post the new version here with a new date, and it applies from then on. If you keep using the website after that, you accept the new terms.

The law that applies

These terms are governed by the laws that apply where your edition is published: for a Canadian edition, the laws of its province and the federal laws of Canada; for a US edition, the laws of its state and the federal laws of the United States. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.

Questions

Email us at info@thetelltale.ca. You can also write through the "Contact the editor" form on your edition's page at thetelltale.ca, or send us a note and choose "Something else".