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Objective & Scope of Policy
Consistent with our professional obligations, Simon Renouf Professional Corporation (‘SRPC’) is dedicated to maintaining high standards of confidentiality with respect to personal information provided to us. This policy statement has been prepared to affirm our commitment to maintaining the privacy of our clients and others and to inform you of our practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information collected by SRPC.
Our obligations as legal professionals are governed, in part, by the Code of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Alberta. SRPC is also governed by the Alberta Personal Information Protection Act, which imposes obligations regarding the way private sector organizations within Alberta collect, use and disclose personal information. These obligations apply to all professionals, employees, contractors and agents who provide services in connection with our delivery of legal and other services to our clients.
For the purposes of this Policy, “Personal Information” means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual, or information through which an individual's identity may be inferred or determined. This policy does not cover any information, recorded in any form, about more than one individual where the identity of the individuals is not known and cannot be inferred from the information (“Aggregated Information”). SRPC retains the right to use Aggregated Information in any way that it determines appropriate.
Using contractual or other arrangements, SRPC shall ensure that agents, contractors or third party service providers, who may receive Personal Information in the course of providing services to SRPC as part of our delivery of products and services, protect that Personal Information in a manner consistent with the principles articulated in this Policy Statement.
Professional Relationship
As a general rule, all information concerning the business and affairs of a person or organization acquired (1) for the purposes of determining whether SRPC will enter into a professional relationship or (2) in the course of a professional relationship shall be held in strict confidence and not revealed to anyone unless expressly or implicitly authorized by the person or organization concerned. A professional relationship develops when SRPC agrees to be retained to provide services to a particular individual or organization. In order to protect their own interests, individuals or organizations should not send confidential information to SRPC until they have had a direct discussion with a professional at the firm regarding the retention of SRPC to provide legal services.
The Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Information
Your provision of Personal Information to SRPC means that you agree and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with these terms, you are requested not to provide any Personal Information to SRPC. Unfortunately, certain services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to SRPC. Consequently, if you choose not to provide us with any required Personal Information, SRPC may not be able to offer you those services.
SRPC collects only such information from individuals or organizations as is required for the purposes of providing services or information to them.
SRPC does not sell, trade, barter or exchange for consideration any Personal Information it has obtained. Unless permitted by law, no Personal Information is collected about an individual without first obtaining the consent of the individual to the collection, use and dissemination of that information.
Personal Information will be collected, to the extent possible, directly from the individual concerned.
Unless in the context of providing legal or other services, SRPC does not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of 18, especially children under 13, and does not use such information if it discovers that it has been provided by a minor.
SRPC may disclose Personal Information to organizations that perform services on its behalf. Personal Information will only be provided to such organizations if they agree to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to SRPC and under the instruction of SRPC and, with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with the relevant principles articulated in this Policy.
Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where SRPC is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:
- Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other government tribunal;
- Where SRPC believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
- Where it is necessary to establish or collect money owing to SRPC;
- Where it is necessary to permit SRPC to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that SRPC may sustain; or
- Where the information is public.
Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, SRPC will not disclose more information than is required.
Accuracy
SRPC endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which SRPC uses that information.
Retention
SRPC keeps Personal Information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time we retain information varies, depending on the product or service and the nature of the information. This period may extend beyond the end of a person’s relationship with us but it will only be for so long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise at a later date. When your Personal Information is no longer required for SRPC’s purposes, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert it into anonymous form.
Security
SRPC endeavours to maintain adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure or modification of Personal Information.
SRPC further protects Personal Information by restricting access to it to those employees that the management of SRPC has determined need to know that information in order that SRPC may provide its services.
In terms of communicating Personal Information to SRPC, you may wish to note that there is no method of transmitting or storing data that is completely secure. While the physical characteristics of each are different, mail, telephone calls, faxes and transmissions over the Internet are all susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception and misuse of the information being communicated or transmitted.
As do many organizations, SRPC attempts to strike a reasonable balance between security and convenience. In communicating with clients and others, SRPC often requests the right to use a method of communication that is less secure than some of its less convenient alternatives. An example of this is email. At this time, when we use email, it may be sent as unencrypted plain text. We do this because SRPC believes that many of our clients and others cannot readily process encrypted email. This is done for the convenience of our clients but has the security concern that, if misrouted or intercepted, it could be read more easily than encrypted email.
SRPC Website
SRPC provides clients and others with general access to its website. During the course of an individual’s use of the Internet, he or she will learn of the common use of “cookies.” “Cookies” are files or pieces of information that may be stored in a computer’s hard drive when an individual visits a website. Most Internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can set yours to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. SRPC’s website does not presently use cookies, clear GIFs or any type of “web bug.”
Requests for Access to Personal Information
The law permits individuals to submit written requests to us to provide them with:- their Personal Information under our custody or control;
- information about the purposes for which their Personal Information under our custody or control has been and is being used by us; and
- the names of persons to whom, and the circumstances in which, their Personal Information has been and is being disclosed by us.
SRPC will respond to requests in the time allowed by the Personal Information Protection Act and will make reasonable efforts to assist applicants and to respond as accurately and completely as reasonably possible. All requests may be subject to any fees and disbursements the law permits us to charge.
An individual’s ability to access his or her Personal Information under our control is not absolute. The law provides that we must not disclose Personal Information where:
- the disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the safety or physical or mental health of an individual other than the individual who made the request;
- the disclosure would reveal personal information about another individual; or
- the disclosure would reveal the identity of an individual who has in confidence provided us with an opinion about another individual and the individual providing the opinion does not consent to the disclosure of his or her identity.
The law further provides that we may choose not to disclose Personal Information where:- the Personal Information is protected by any legal privilege;
- the disclosure of the information would reveal confidential commercial information and it is not unreasonable to withhold that information;
- the Personal Information was collected by us for an investigation or legal proceeding;
- the disclosure of the Personal Information might result in similar information no longer being provided to us when it is reasonable that it would be provided;
- the Personal Information was collected or created by a mediator or arbitrator in the conduct of a mediation or arbitration for which he or she was appointed to act
- the Personal Information relates to or may be used in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
The Personal Information Protection Act indicates that it is not to be applied so as to affect any legal privilege. We will not disclose information that is privileged where the applicant is not the client in whom the privilege is vested.
Requests for Correction of Personal Information
The law permits individuals to submit written requests to SRPC to correct errors or omissions in their Personal Information that is in our custody or control. We will:
- correct the Personal Information and, if reasonable to do so, send correction notifications to any other organizations to whom we disclosed the incorrect information;
- decide not to correct the Personal Information but annotate the Personal Information that a correction was requested but not made.
Contacting or Communicating With Us
If you have any questions with respect to our policies concerning the handling of your Personal Information, or if you wish to request access to, or correction of, your personal information under our care and control, please contact:
Simon Renouf Professional Corporation
1710 Phipps McKinnon Building
10020 – 101A Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5J 3G2
780-424-6750
780-424-7768 (fax) |
