Privacy Policy

Introduction

Protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of personal information—over the Internet, on the telephone, or through our offices—has always been fundamental to the way the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (the “Canadian Chamber”) conducts its affairs. The Canadian Chamber operates on the basis of a Privacy Policy and related procedures that guide the handling of the personal information collected. This privacy statement has been created to demonstrate the Canadian Chamber’s firm commitment to protecting the privacy of its members, clients, partners and potential Website visitors. This policy and related procedures are consistent with the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information (herein “CSA Model Code) and applicable privacy legislation.

Privacy Statement

This policy deals only with personal information handled by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Personal information is information about an identifiable individual, excluding business contact information. The following explains how the Canadian Chamber handles personal information. The Canadian Chamber reserves the right to change this policy and it may be updated periodically. These changes may affect the use of personal information. Accordingly, please check for changes regularly.

Accountability

The Canadian Chamber is accountable for all personal information under its control. The Canadian Chamber’s Privacy Officer is the Chief Financial Officer who is designated as responsible for the Canadian Chamber privacy policy. The Privacy Officer can be reached by:

Email: privacy@chamber.ca
Telephone: 613.238.4000 (2242)
Fax: 613.238.7643 or
Mail: Canadian Chamber of Commerce, 1700-275 Slater Street, Ottawa ON, K1P 5H9

Any questions about the Canadian Chamber’s handling of personal information should be directed to the Privacy Officer. In cases where the question concerns an access request, individuals must follow the request process described under Accuracy of and Access to Personal Information Collected.

Purposes for Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

The purpose for which the Canadian Chamber collects personal information will be identified at or before the time the information is collected. Personal information may be collected for such purposes as:

administering SME Institute accounts and providing client services;
registering for SME Institute networking events;
purchasing various products or services including, but not limited to training programs; and
processing and administering the above or other purposes as necessary.

The Canadian Chamber will not use personal information for any other purpose than identified at or before the time of collection.

SME Institute Client Services

The Canadian Chamber may collect contact information from its clients in order to:

send out newsletters and other relevant information
inform clients of upcoming programs, services and networking events
send out invoices and otherwise administer SME Institute accounts

This contact information is voluntarily provided by SME Institute clients. Clients may, at any time, be taken off of mailing lists at their request.

Through external merchants, the Canadian Chamber offers various products and services to its SME Institute clients. Clients who chose to participate in these products and services should refer directly to the privacy policies of those companies. The Canadian Chamber does not collect, use or retain any personal information from these programs.

Consent

The Canadian Chamber seeks consent for all personal information it collects, uses and discloses through information provided to individuals prior to collection, or at the time of collection.

If information is voluntarily provided, this is interpreted as consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information as described in this Privacy Policy. As required by the CSA Model Code, the Canadian Chamber will not use personal information for any purpose other than that for which consent has been provided. Should the Canadian Chamber require use of personal information for a new purpose, consent will be sought for that new use.

Limits for Collecting, Using, Disclosing and Keeping Personal Information

The Canadian Chamber does not collect, use or disclose personal information of individuals except when individuals give consent and provide the information on a voluntary basis. There may be occasions where more specific personal information is necessary for the Canadian Chamber to proceed with a request for information, or provide a product or service; for example in cases of program registrations or feedback forms. In such cases, the Canadian Chamber will describe the information required. In all such cases, the Canadian Chamber limits the amount and type of information collected to only the personal information that is required to provide the individual with the requested information, product, or service. The Canadian Chamber collects only information that is voluntarily provided by the individual and undertakes that such information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Canadian Chamber may disclose personal information collected by it without the knowledge or consent of the individual, for example to its lawyers; for purposes relating to an investigation under, the enforcement of or the administration of a law or where required by law to disclose the information. The Canadian Chamber will not use or disclose personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual except as authorized by applicable law.

The Canadian Chamber retains personal information only as long as is necessary to provide the individual with the requested product, service or information. For example, if personal information is given to register for an event, the personal information will only be used for this event and will then be deleted or destroyed. In some cases, however, legal reporting or retention requirements necessitate that the Canadian Chamber retains information for a specific amount of time. In general, the Canadian Chamber retains personal information for a period not longer than seven years, in secure storage.

The Canadian Chamber does not sell or trade any personal information with third parties. Information may be transferred to third parties where information processing is outsourced by the Canadian Chamber in the course of its activities or administrative procedures in specific cases. Some personal information collected by the Canadian Chamber is transferred to our service providers for processing and storage. Some of our service providers are located outside of Canada and accordingly your data may be processed and stored outside of Canada, and may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is processed or stored. The Canadian Chamber requires service providers to respect this Privacy Policy. Service providers are restricted from using or disclosing personal information transferred to them for any purpose other than the provision of services to the Canadian Chamber.

Any personal information that the Canadian Chamber retains is kept in such a manner as to ensure its security and confidentiality at all times.

Safeguarding Personal Information

The Canadian Chamber respects the privacy of its clients, members, partners, potential website visitors and internet users and will protect that privacy as vigorously as possible. Personal information is stored in electronic and physical files that are secure. Security measures include secure locks on filing cabinets, and using industry standard techniques such as firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection and restricted access to computers. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while the Canadian Chamber strives to protect personal information, it cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to it or received from it electronically. This is especially true for information transmitted via e-mail. The Canadian Chamber has no way of protecting that information until it reaches it. Once a transmission is received, the Canadian Chamber makes its best efforts to ensure its security on its servers. Internally, access to personal information is restricted to employees who need access to the information in order to do their jobs. These employees are limited in number, and are knowledgeable about and committed to our privacy policies.

Accuracy of and Access to Personal Information Collected

The Canadian Chamber makes every effort to keep personal information as accurate, complete, current and relevant as necessary for the identified purposes. The Canadian Chamber does not routinely update personal information.

The Canadian Chamber makes readily available to individuals its Privacy Policy and related procedures for managing personal information. Customer access to the Privacy Policy and related procedures is provided on the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s website and in written form. Any questions about the handling of personal information by the Canadian Chamber can be raised with the Privacy Officer.

At the written request of an individual, he or she may view or edit their personal information as collected by the Canadian Chamber. The Canadian Chamber will inform them of what personal information it has about the individual, what it is being used for and, in cases where it has been disclosed, to whom it has been disclosed. There may be exceptional circumstances as provided by the CSA Model Code under which the Canadian Chamber may not be able to give an individual access to personal information held about them by the Canadian Chamber. In this case the Canadian Chamber will explain the reason for this lack of access, as provided by the CSA Model Code.

To make a request, please send a letter, email or fax addressed to our Privacy Officer at the address indicated above. In any written request, please include the following information:

Name
Contact details
Membership number (where applicable)
Nature of the request, for example:
view and/or edit information;
inquire regarding use and/or disclosure

If an inquiry concerns a specific transaction, please indicate the date of the transaction, and provide a receipt number if applicable.

The Canadian Chamber will reply to requests in no later than thirty days after receipt of the request, or if it is not able to respond within this time period, a notice of extension will be sent.

Questions

Any questions or comments about the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s handling of personal information should be directed to the Privacy Officer.

Use of the SME Institute by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Website

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce (the “Canadian Chamber”) believes that online privacy is important to the success of the Internet and electronic commerce in general and is strongly committed to each visitor’s right to privacy. This statement sets forth Canadian Chamber’s Privacy Policy for its website located at smeinstitute.ca and describes the practices that the Canadian Chamber follows in respect to the privacy of the users of this site. By accessing and using materials from this Website or sending or posting materials to it, you (the “user”) agrees to the terms of this privacy commitment and to our practices to collect, use or disclose personal information.

This Privacy Statement may be updated periodically to reflect enhancements to the Website that may affect the use of personal information. Accordingly, please check back periodically.

Information on This Website

Information which includes all facts, data and other information, collectively the “Information” in the pages of this website is of a general nature, is intended only for informational purposes, is subject to change without notice, and is not intended to be relied on by visitors as binding legal advice on any particular matter.

Individual information provided to the Canadian Chamber to gain access to any feature of this website will not be sold or made available to any third party, except where information processing is outsourced by the Canadian Chamber in the course of its regular administrative procedures.

The Canadian Chamber reserves the right to perform statistical analyses of aggregated user behavior and characteristics, in order to measure interest in and use of the various sections of its site so as to improve design and navigation and to gather information for marketing purposes. Only aggregated data from these analyses, not individual data, will be used for this purpose.

“Cookies” are not attached to the Canadian Chamber website. A “cookie” is a piece of data that is stored on the hard drive of a computer that contains information about use of the website. Other Websites may contain “cookies” that accumulate information about website use, for example a record of the websites that an individual has visited.

Accuracy of the Information on This Website

The information is believed to be accurate, complete and current when posted, but the Canadian Chamber cannot guarantee that it will remain accurate or complete or that it will be current at all times.

The Canadian Chamber is not responsible for direct, indirect, special or consequential damages, regardless of the cause, arising out the use of this website.

Accuracy of Information on Linked Websites

Through the links to other sites found on this website, the user may enter domains that are beyond the boundaries of the Canadian Chamber and, once there, the Canadian Chamber is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these websites. The Canadian Chamber has no control over the accuracy, completeness or relevance of the information on these sites and provides links to these sites solely for the information and convenience of visitors to our website.

Copying Information from This Website

The information on the SME Institute by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Website may be used or copied provided that it is used or copied accurately, or is used in its entirety and/or that the source of the information is clearly identified. The Canadian Chamber is not responsible for the way in which the information may be used or copied. The Canadian Chamber reserves the right to change, delete or add information at any time.