The Canadian Superior Court Judges Association’s Commitment to Privacy

Protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is very important to us and fundamental to the way we do business at the Canadian Superior Court Judges Association (the Association).

This Privacy Policy confirms our commitment to our members and all users of our products or services as well as visitors to our website (our Customers) that we will collect, use and share personal information responsibly and safely and only for the purposes and in the manner set out in this Policy. The Association is committed to protecting your personal information and maintaining high standards of confidentiality through the implementation of appropriate administrative, technical and operational safeguards and security measures. We strive to be open and transparent with you as to our personal information practices.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy so that you can understand how we collect, use, share and protect your personal information and how you can manage your information in a way that best suits you. By providing your personal information to us, you are consenting to the collection, use and sharing of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted or required by law.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time without prior notice and we will post the revised Policy on our website. Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of posting to the website, as well as to existing information in our records.

How We Collect Your Personal Information

The Association collects personal information to provide our products and services to our Customers.

As a Customer and user of our products and services, most of your personal information is provided to us directly by you, or by another individual on your behalf (such as your employer). Depending on the service you use, we may also collect information about you from third parties.

The personal information we collect is gathered in a number of ways throughout your relationship and dealings with us as a Customer. We offer various methods for communication with us generally and also for registration for membership and our other products and services, including through mail, email, phone, fax and our website. Personal information collected through each of these methods will be protected from the point of collection by the Association through the administrative, technical and operation safeguards and security that we have implemented and described in this Policy.

We may also collect information on, and track behaviour of, visitors to the Association’s website. For further information on this collection, please see the “Collection of Information Through the Association’s Website” section below.

Consent

We will obtain your consent to collect, use and/or disclose personal information, except where we are authorized or required by law to do so without consent.

Depending on the situation and the sensitivity of the information, we may obtain your consent in different ways. Express consent may be provided orally, in writing, electronically, through action (such as when you click submit on an e-subscription form) or otherwise. Implied consent may be obtained through your use of a product or when you approach us to obtain information, inquire about or apply for products and services from us. By providing personal information to us, you agree that we may collect, use and share such personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted or required by law.

In certain circumstances, personal information can be collected, used or shared without knowledge and consent. For example, we may collect, use, and/or share personal information without your knowledge or consent where:

  • the personal information is publicly available from a prescribed source, such as a telephone directory, membership directory, etc.;
  • it is reasonable to expect that obtaining consent would compromise an investigation or proceeding;
  • we are collecting or paying a debt; or
  • we have your implied consent.

You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions, provided that reasonable notice of withdrawal of consent is given to the Association. Please see the “Your Privacy Choices” section below for further information on withdrawing consent.

Information We Collect

Personal information is any information about an “identifiable individual” that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. The personal information that we collect will depend on which of our products and services you request or use and how you use them. The personal information that we collect falls into the following categories:

  • Identity Information that allows us to identify and authenticate you (e.g., name, date of birth, occupation, employer and government-issued identification);
  • Contact Information that allows us to communicate with or contact you (e.g., address, telephone number, email or other electronic address); and
  • Financial Information that allows us to process your transactions with us (e.g., credit card details).

We limit the personal information we collect to only what is required to carry out the purposes set out in the “Use of Information” section below. Any additional information about you that we would like to collect to assist us in understanding your profile and needs and providing you with products and services will be clearly indicated as “optional”.

Use of Information

The main reason why we collect, use and share personal information is to maintain relationships with, and provide products and services to, our Customers. To facilitate that objective, we collect, use and share your personal information for the following purposes:

  1. To set up, manage, administer, maintain, record, determine your eligibility for, and better manage your products and services and relationship with us;
  2. To establish and maintain communications with you, and disseminate to you information of interest to payroll professionals;
  3. To help us to better understand your needs and what products and services may be of interest to you, including through surveys and review and analysis of your relationship, transactions and website visits with us;
  4. To compile statistical data and carry out research;
  5. To offer and market products and services to you of the Association or its partners that we have carefully selected and believe will be of interest to you;
  6. To detect and prevent fraud, identity theft and other illegal acts;
  7. To perform our everyday business operations, including recordkeeping and internal reporting; and
  8. To comply with applicable laws.

 By providing your personal information to us, you are consenting to the collection, use and sharing of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted or required by law.

Information Sharing

The Association does not sell, trade or rent Associate lists or personal information of Customers to third parties for their own use, unless you provide consent.

However, we may also release your personal information to parties outside of the Association in certain circumstances, without your consent, as set out below.

  1. Suppliers and Corporate Partners: In order to facilitate the provision of products and services to you, we may require the assistance of third-party suppliers and corporate partners and need to share your personal information with them from time to time. This would include for example third party suppliers that we engage to facilitate completion of an order (i.e., printing, shipping, etc.), hotels and other event venue providers who are hosting our conferences or symposiums, and corporate partners such as other educational institutions who are providing courses to you. Only the information that is required for that purpose will be disclosed. Such suppliers and corporate partners must follow our strict confidentiality standards to protect that information and are required to use it only for the purposes for which they have been engaged. These suppliers and corporate partners may be located in Canada or in other jurisdictions or countries which may provide for different data protection rules and may be subject to a demands or requests for information from legal or government authorities in those locations.
  2. Responding to Legal, Compliance or Regulatory Obligations: Sometimes it may be necessary for the Association to disclose personal information of our Customers to meet legal, compliance or regulatory obligations. This would include, for example, a request by a Government official for information. In such cases, we will release only the information that is required and only after confirming that the appropriate legal authority to require such information is in place.
  3. Prevention of Illegal Acts: Information may also be disclosed by us to third parties outside of the Association where we are of the view that it is necessary to do so in order to detect and prevent fraud, identity theft and other illegal acts. Such disclosure would be limited to what is required and subject to the third party having appropriate legal authority and providing a commitment to confidentiality and restricted use.
  4. Aggregated Non-Personal Information: We may provide third parties with aggregated, non-personal information, such as the total number of members by region. Such demographic information does not identify you personally.

By providing your personal information to us, you are consenting to the collection, use and sharing of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted or required by law.

Protecting Your Information

At the Association, we take the protection of your personal information seriously. We are committed to protecting your personal information and maintaining high standards of confidentiality through the implementation of appropriate administrative, technical and operational safeguards and security measures so as to prevent any unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification of your personal information.

We have security standards and safeguards to protect our systems and your information against unauthorized access and use. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was gathered. The Association will protect your personal information by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Safeguards will vary depending on the sensitivity, format, location and storage of the personal information, but may include limiting access to personal information to representatives of the Association on a need-to-know basis, storing personal information on computers, servers, files or sites with encryption protection and password entry, and utilizing locked filing cabinets with restricted physical access to the file storage location for physical documents containing personal information.

Our suppliers, as part of their contracts with the Association, commit to maintain the confidentiality of your information and not use it for any unauthorized purpose.

For all disclosures, we disclose only the information that is legally required.

All employees of the Association are familiar with the procedures that must be taken to safeguard Customer information.

The length of time we keep your information will vary depending on the product or service and the type of information we have. We retain your information only as long as we reasonably need to for customer service, legal or reasonable business purposes. That period may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us, but only for so long as it is necessary for us to be in a position to respond to an issue that may arise at a later date, or for legal or regulatory purposes.

When your personal information is no longer required for these purposes, we have procedures in place to destroy, delete, erase or convert it to an anonymous form.

Keeping Your Information Accurate

The Association takes reasonable efforts to ensure that any personal information in its possession is accurate, current and complete as is necessary for the purposes for which the information is to be used, as set out in this Policy. We count on you to keep your personal information current, and you should advise the Association of any changes to your personal information as and when they occur. Keeping your information accurate and up-to-date enables us to continue to offer you the highest quality service.

If you demonstrate the inaccuracy or incompleteness of personal information, we will amend the information as required. If appropriate, we will send the amended information to third parties to whom the information has been disclosed.

Information contained in files that have been closed is not actively updated or maintained.

Accessing Your Information

You have the right to access all personal information we hold about you. For members, most of your information is available to you through your member portal.

Upon written request and authentication of identity, we will provide you with your personal information under our control, information about the ways in which that information is being used, and a description of the individuals and organizations to whom that information has been disclosed.

We may charge a fee for providing information in response to an access request and will provide an estimate of any such fee upon receiving an access to information request. We may require a deposit for all or part of the fee.

We will make the information available within 30 days or provide written notice where additional time is required to fulfil the request.

In some situations, we may not be able to provide access to certain personal information. This may be the case where, for example, disclosure would reveal personal information about another individual, the personal information is protected by solicitor/client privilege, the information was collected for the purposes of an investigation, disclosure of the information would reveal confidential commercial information that, if disclosed, could harm the competitive position of the Association or where we exercise our solicitor’s lien against materials in our files in respect of outstanding accounts. The Association may also be prevented by law from providing access to certain personal information.

Where an access request is refused, we will notify you in writing, document the reasons for refusal and outline further steps available to you.

If you have questions about our personal Information practices, please reach out to us using the information in the “Contact Us” section below.

Collection of Information Through the Association’s Website

By accessing and browsing our website, you agree that we may collect, use and share any information we collect about you through our website as described in this Policy.

  1. Cookies and Other Web Tracking ToolsThe Association uses various web tools including cookies, web beacons, embedded script and tagging on our websites and advertisements, as well as various analytics and marketing services from third parties such as Google.The web tools may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to our website, to monitor how visitors navigate the website, to determine the date and time of your visit to our website, the documents that you downloaded and the searches you performed, to count how many emails that were sent were actually opened or how many particular articles or links were actually viewed. Web tools will not be used to collect personal information that is not expressly provided by a visitor (for example, the email address associated with an email message).These web tools help us to better serve visitors by managing our website, diagnosing any technical problems, remembering information about your visits (e.g., login credentials, preferences), improving the content of our website, and communicating with you regarding products and services that may be of interest.
  2. Links to Other WebsitesPlease note that our website may contain links to other sites and advertisements. Our Privacy Policy only applies to information collected by our website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices and policies of such third-party sites or advertisements.
  3. Withdrawing Your Consent to CookiesIf you wish to withdraw your consent to cookies, you should review the help documentation for your web browser software to decline or selectively decline cookies by adjusting the setting on your browser. Declining cookies may adversely impact website performance.

Customers from Outside Canada

The Association is a Canadian not-for-profit organization and our membership consists of Canadian citizens. We are subject to and comply with Canada’s Federal Privacy legislation, known as the Personal Information and Protection of Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Your Privacy Choices

You can withdraw your consent to various aspects of our collection, use or sharing of your personal information at any time upon giving us reasonable notice, subject to legal, business or contractual requirements.

Upon receipt of notice of withdrawal of consent, we will inform you of the likely consequences of the withdrawal of consent, which may include our inability to provide services for which that information is necessary.

Contact Us

We will promptly respond to questions and concerns relating to our personal information practices and this Policy, and do our utmost to resolve your concerns. If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about Association’s personal information practices, please contact us at:

Canadian Superior Court Judges Association
275 Slater Street, 14th Floor
Ottawa, ON  K1P 5H9

T: 613-744-6166
F: 613-563-7671
E: info@cscja.ca

If we are unable to resolve your concerns to your satisfaction, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada during business hours at 1-800-282-1376, https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/ or in writing to:

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, QC  K1A 1H3