Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Personal Information Protection Privacy Policy

Our Commitment to Privacy
At Volunteer Cowichan we respect your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. We are committed to keeping the personal information you share with us, whether in person, via email, or on the telephone, confidential. The use of such information will only be for the purpose for which it was collected. This Privacy Policy explains how Volunteer Cowichan collects, uses, discloses and protects the personal information we obtain. References to Volunteer Cowichan are to the charitable society V.C. Volunteer Cowichan and include its affiliate centers if any, depending on the context.

What is Personal Information?
Personal information is any information that identifies you as an individual. This includes such information as your name, address, email address, age, gender, transaction records, and your credit card number.

Standards of Privacy for Your Protection
Our Privacy Policy applies to all participants in Volunteer Cowichan programs. The following is an explanation of our standards for collecting your personal information:

Why We Ask for Your Personal Information
In order to establish you as a volunteer, client or donor, there is some personal information that we request.
Personal information obtained from you will be used by Volunteer Cowichan to register you in any of our programs as a volunteer or participant. The information we ask for depends on the program you select. Your gender, for example is required to identify an appropriate match in the Friendly Visitor Program. Your birth date is required to calculate your age for eligibility in various programs.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Information
We obtain most of our information over the phone and through registration forms. With your consent, we may obtain personal information about you from third parties. This may include parents, guardian, or whoever is registering you in a program.

Upon collection of your personal information, we will explain how we intend to use it. We will only collect the information that we need for your particular program, and we will use it only for the purposes that are outlined. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your personal information for any other purpose or before collecting personal information from, or providing personal information to, parties not affiliated with Volunteer Cowichan.

Please note that we will not share health information that may have been provided in connection with a program such as handyDART. With your consent, we may use certain information to provide you with information about Volunteer Cowichan. This consent is optional and you can decide to withdraw it at any time.

Under no circumstances do we sell participant or personal information to others. We release your personal information to parties outside of Volunteer Cowichan only under the following circumstances:

(a) When you give consent – we will disclose your personal information when you have given consent.

(b) When required or permitted by law – in certain circumstances, the law may require or permit Volunteer Cowichan to disclose your personal information without your knowledge or specific consent. For example, such information may be disclosed if required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order or if requested by a government institution, which has the lawful authority to obtain the information.

In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary that we disclose your personally identifiable information if we believe, in good faith, that disclosure is otherwise necessary or advisable to protect Volunteer Cowichan’s interests. We will seek to ensure that any proposed disclosure is required in the circumstances and then ensure that we disclose only the information that is required.

Accuracy of and Access to Your Personal Information
We will make every reasonable effort to keep your personal information accurate and up-to-date. Having accurate information about you enables us to provide you with the best possible service. You can help by keeping us informed of any changes such as if you move or change telephone numbers. If you find any errors in our information about you, let us know and we will make the corrections as soon as reasonably possible and make sure they are conveyed to anyone we may have misinformed. For information that remains in dispute, we will note your opinion in the file. You are able to access, adjust, or withdraw your information at any time.

Protection of Your Personal Information
We will protect the personal information we obtain about you with appropriate safeguards and security measures. We will retain your personal information only for the time it is required for the purposes we explain or as otherwise required by law.

Accountability and Openness to Your Privacy Concern
If, at any time, you wish to review, adjust, or withdraw your personal information, we will record and respect your choices.

Privacy on the Internet
We recognize that you may have special privacy concerns regarding our communications with you over the Internet. Your email address will be used strictly for the purposes of Volunteer Cowichan as outlined above. We may email you documents relevant to your registration, including invoices, receipts, or program confirmation. Any sensitive or confidential material will be removed from the document prior to sending them over the Internet. With your consent, we may use your email address to provide you with information about Volunteer Cowichan and programming. In particular, we will want to ensure that your personal information is secure and that you are aware of and can control our use of your personal information in the Internet environment.

Remember that email over the Internet is generally unencrypted. We recommend that you do not send us sensitive or confidential information by ordinary email, as unencrypted email is generally not secure. We are equally concerned about your privacy on the Internet and this Privacy Policy applies in its entirety to anything you might do while visiting our web site, including messages sent to the email addresses provided.

How We Protect Your Information
Volunteer Cowichan stores and processes your personal information in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada.

We will protect your personal information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. We have security standards to protect our systems and your personal information against unauthorized access and use. When we provide information in response to a legal inquiry or order, we ensure that the order is valid and we disclose only the information that is legally required.

All employees of Volunteer Cowichan are familiar with the procedures that must be taken to safeguard client information, and to us, protecting the confidentiality of your personal information is part of our job. We audit our procedures and security measures regularly to ensure that they are being properly administered and that they remain effective and appropriate.

We retain your personal information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected or as required by law. The length of time we retain information varies depending on the program and the nature of the information. This period may extend beyond the end of your participation with us but only for so long as it is legally necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issue that may arise at a later date. When your personal information is no longer needed or required, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase, or convert it to an anonymous form.

Your Right to Access Your Information
We will give you access to the information we have about you. Most of this information is in the form of your transaction records which can be obtained by contacting the Privacy Officer in writing at Volunteer Cowichan, 1 Kenneth Place, Duncan BC, V9L 5G3. If you require other information, simply contact our office. We will ask you for specific details such as the name of program, date of registration and the date payment was processed if any according to your records. We will advise you in advance if a charge will be required for conducting the search, and we will respond to your request promptly, but in any case, within 30 days.

Please note that we may not be able to provide information about you from our records if it contains references to other persons, is subject to legal privilege, contains information proprietary to Volunteer Cowichan, or cannot be disclosed for other legal reasons. If you have any questions regarding decisions made, we will tell you the reasons for those decisions. Also, we do not ordinarily maintain disclosure records for regular or routine actions, updating of credit information, if required, or account deficiencies.

Your Concerns Are Important to Us
Your comments and concerns are important to Volunteer Cowichan. If you have any concerns or questions about privacy and confidentiality, or any concerns about the way a request for information was handled, you can take the following actions:

Contact the Privacy Officer. In most cases she/he will be able to resolve the matter but will, in any case, ensure that your concerns are addressed so that further action, if necessary, is taken to resolve the matter.

If your concern remains unresolved, you can contact the President of Volunteer Cowichan directly in writing to:

1 Kenneth Place
Duncan BC
V9L 5G3
Phone:  250 748-2133

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