Effective Date: [May 17, 2024]
1. Introduction
The Canadian Housecleaning Association (CHCA) is a federally incorporated non-profit organization based in British Columbia, Canada. We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy outlines our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of your information when you visit our website or use our services.
2. Information We Collect
We collect various types of information to provide and improve our services to you. The types of information we collect include:
a. Personal Information
When you sign up for membership, register for courses, or interact with our services, we may collect personal information such as:
- Name: First and last names.
- Email Address: To communicate with you.
- Phone Number: For contact purposes.
- Mailing Address: For sending physical correspondence and verifying location.
- Business Information: For accreditation purposes, including business name, address, and industry specifics.
- Payment Information: Including credit card details, billing address, and transaction history for processing membership fees and course payments.
- Employment Information: For business accreditation, including proof of insurance, workers compensation, and payroll submissions.
b. Non-Personal Information
We may also collect non-personal information that your browser sends whenever you visit our website, such as:
- IP Address: To identify and prevent fraud.
- Browser Type and Version: To ensure compatibility with our services.
- Operating System: To optimize your user experience.
- Pages Visited: To analyze usage patterns and improve our content.
- Time and Date of Visit: To understand peak usage times.
- Referring Website: To understand how you arrived at our site.
3. How We Use Your Information
CHCA uses the collected information for various purposes, including but not limited to:
a. Providing and Improving Our Services
- Service Delivery: To process your membership, course enrollments, and accreditation applications.
- Personalization: To tailor our services to your preferences and needs.
- Customer Support: To respond to your inquiries and provide assistance.
b. Communication
- Transactional Emails: To send you confirmations, invoices, and updates related to your transactions.
- Promotional Emails: To inform you about new courses, events, and updates from CHCA. You can opt-out of these communications at any time.
- Surveys and Feedback: To gather your opinions and improve our services.
c. Legal and Compliance
- Compliance: To comply with legal obligations, such as tax and accounting requirements.
- Security: To detect, prevent, and address fraud and security issues.
4. Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose your personal information in the following situations:
a. With Your Consent
We may disclose your personal information for any other purpose with your consent.
b. Service Providers
We may share your information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, and hosting services. These providers are obligated to protect your information and only use it for the services they provide to us.
c. Business Transactions
If CHCA is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, your personal information may be transferred. We will provide notice before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
d. Legal Requirements
We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or government agency).
5. Security of Your Information
The security of your personal information is important to us. We implement and maintain reasonable, commercially acceptable security procedures and practices to protect the personal information we collect from unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure. Our security measures include:
- Encryption: Data transmitted to and from our website is encrypted using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
- Access Controls: Only authorized personnel have access to your personal information.
- Regular Audits: We conduct regular security audits to ensure the integrity of our systems.
6. Your Rights
You have the following rights regarding your personal information:
a. Access and Correction
You have the right to access and update your personal information. If you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you may request us to correct it.
b. Deletion
You may request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions provided by law. For example, we may need to retain your information to comply with legal obligations or resolve disputes.
c. Data Portability
You have the right to request a copy of your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
d. Withdraw Consent
If we are processing your personal information based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
7. Retention of Your Information
CHCA will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies. Specifically:
- Membership Information: Retained for the duration of your membership and a period thereafter as required by law.
- Financial Information: Retained for accounting and tax purposes for a period mandated by Canadian law.
- Course and Accreditation Records: Retained indefinitely to verify credentials and facilitate future services.
8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our website and hold certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data that may include an anonymous unique identifier. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our website.
. Types of Cookies We Use (Continued)
- Performance Cookies: These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
- Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced, more personalized features.
- Targeting Cookies: These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests.
b. Managing Cookies
You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see aboutcookies.org. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. However, if you do this, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.
9. Third-Party Links
Our website may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.
10. Children’s Privacy
Our services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.
11. International Data Transfers
Your information, including personal information, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction. If you are located outside Canada and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including personal information, to Canada and process it there.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Effective Date” at the top. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.
13. Governing Law
This Privacy Policy and any disputes related thereto shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to its conflict of law principles.
14. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:
- Email: [email protected]
15. Additional Privacy Information for Canadian Residents
As a Canadian non-profit organization, CHCA complies with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the BC Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). Under these laws, you have the right to:
- Know what personal information we collect and how it is used and disclosed.
- Request access to your personal information and ask for corrections if necessary.
- Withdraw consent to the use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal and contractual restrictions.
For more detailed information on your rights under PIPEDA and PIPA, you can visit the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s website at www.priv.gc.ca and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia’s website at www.oipc.bc.ca.
16. Data Breach Notification
In the unlikely event of a data breach, we will notify affected individuals and relevant authorities as required by law. Our notification process includes:
- Assessing the breach: Determining the scope and impact of the breach.
- Containing the breach: Taking steps to prevent further unauthorized access.
- Notification: Informing affected individuals about the breach, including what happened, what information was involved, and what steps they can take to protect themselves.
- Remediation: Implementing measures to prevent future breaches.
17. Transparency and Accountability
CHCA is committed to transparency and accountability in our privacy practices. We will:
- Publish this Privacy Policy on our website and make it available to anyone upon request.
- Provide training to our employees on privacy policies and procedures.
- Conduct regular audits to ensure compliance with our privacy policies and applicable laws.
18. Consent
By using our services and providing us with your personal information, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our services.