PRIVACY

CareAlert Canada Inc. understands that privacy is important to you. CareAlert Canada is also required to comply with the requirements of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).

Please refer to the following privacy information:

Read CareAlert Canada Privacy Policy for information about how CareAlert Canada handles Personal Information consistent with our privacy obligations. The Policy includes information on why we collect information, how we use it, who we disclose it to and how we take steps to update and secure it.

Refer to our Privacy Safeguard Statement for information on privacy safeguards on our web site. This includes information as to how we collect, use and disclose information gathered on our web site, including the use of cookies.

Read the Privacy Collection Statement for specific information about why we may be collecting Personal Information from you and how we will be using it and disclosing it. This will provide you with the information you may need prior to providing us with your Personal Information. The collection statement also includes information as to how you can Opt Out of marketing contact from CareAlert Canada and how you can seek access to your Personal Information.

Back to Top

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out the approach which CareAlert Canada will take in relation to the treatment of Personal Information. It includes information on how CareAlert Canada collects, uses, discloses and keeps secure, individuals' Personal Information. It also covers how CareAlert Canada makes the Personal Information it holds available for access to and correction by the individual.
This policy has been drafted having regard to CareAlert Canada's obligations under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).

1. COLLECTION

1. CareAlert Canada will only collect Personal Information where the information is necessary for CareAlert Canada to perform one or more of its functions or activities. In this context, "collect" means gather, acquire or obtain by any means, information in circumstances where the individual is identifiable or identified.
2. CareAlert Canada collects Personal Information primarily to supply customers with the products and services ordered from it and its related companies. CareAlert Canada also collects and uses Personal Information for secondary purposes including:
   
   1. billing and account management
   2. business planning and product development; and
   3. to provide individuals with information about promotions, as well as the products and services of CareAlert Canada affiliated companies and other organizations.
   4. to enhance the online shopping experience by displaying products and/or services that match the personal preferences of individuals based on their previous website browsing history and/or buying activity.
3. CareAlert Canada will not collect Sensitive Information from individuals except with consent and only where it is necessary for CareAlert Canada to collect such information for an activity or function.
4. CareAlert Canada will not collect Personal Information secretly or in an underhanded way.
5. CareAlert Canada will take steps to ensure that individuals on purchased lists are or have been notified of the information as outlined at 1.3.

2. USE

1. CareAlert Canada will obtain an individual's consent for Use of non-sensitive Personal Information for Secondary Purposes at the time of collection, unless the Use is a related Secondary Purpose which would be within the relevant individual's Reasonable Expectations.
2. CareAlert Canada Uses Personal Information primarily for the purposes listed in 1.2 above.
3. If CareAlert Canada relies on the Direct Marketing exception to Direct Market to individuals it will ensure that:
   
   1. the individual is clearly notified of their right to Opt Out from further Direct Marketing;
   2. there is only one Use of the information before the Opt Out right is given and this Use applies across all CareAlert Canada Related Bodies Corporate (if the information is shared between those Related Bodies Corporate);
   3. the individual is given an Opt Out in all further instances of Direct Marketing if they have not previously chosen to Opt Out; and
   4. if the individual Opts Out of all Direct Marketing the Opt Out will be respected by CareAlert Canada and all its Related Bodies Corporate.
4. CareAlert Canada will not use Sensitive Information for Direct Marketing.
5. CareAlert Canada may use Personal Information to avoid an imminent threat to a person's life or to public safety. It may also use Personal Information for reasons related to law enforcement or internal investigations into unlawful activities.
6. CareAlert Canada will not use Personal Information without taking reasonable steps to ensure that the information is accurate, complete and up to date.

3. DISCLOSURE

1. CareAlert Canada may Disclose Personal Information to related or unrelated third parties if consent has been obtained from the individual. This will include obtaining the individual's consent for Disclosures made under the credit reporting requirements of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).
2. CareAlert Canada may Disclose Personal Information between Related Bodies Corporate. Where information is Disclosed to such a Related Body Corporate, that Related Body Corporate is bound by the original Primary Purpose for which the information was collected.
3. CareAlert Canada may Disclose Personal Information to unrelated third parties to enable outsourcing of functions (such as billing, customer relations management and order fulfillment), where that is Disclosure or Use for a related Secondary Purpose and has been notified to individuals or where such Disclosure is within the individual's Reasonable Expectations.
4. CareAlert Canada will take reasonable steps to ensure that its contracts with third parties include requirements for third parties to comply with the Use and Disclosure requirements of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).
5. CareAlert Canada may Disclose Personal Information to law enforcement agencies, government agencies, courts or external advisers where permitted or required by law.
6. CareAlert Canada may Disclose Personal Information to avoid an imminent threat to a person's life or to public safety.
7. If a Disclosure is not for a Primary Purpose; is not for a related Secondary Purpose; or upfront consent has not been obtained, CareAlert Canada will not Disclose Personal Information otherwise than in accordance with the exceptions set out at 3.1 to 3.6 above.
8. CareAlert Canada does not generally sell or share its customer lists on a commercial basis with third parties but if it did, it would only do so if we had the appropriate consent of the individual involved. If the consent provided is conditional, CareAlert Canada will take steps to ensure (by contract) that the use of its customer list by third parties does not exceed the scope of the consent. 

4. INFORMATION QUALITY

1. CareAlert Canada will review, on a regular and ongoing basis, its collection and storage practices to ascertain how improvements to accuracy can be achieved.
2. CareAlert Canada will take steps to destroy or de-identify Personal Information after as short a time as possible and after a maximum of seven years from the date of the last customer interaction, unless the law requires otherwise. 

5. INFORMATION SECURITY

1. CareAlert Canada requires employees and contractors to perform their duties in a manner that is consistent with CareAlert Canada' legal responsibilities in relation to privacy.
2. CareAlert Canada will take all reasonable steps to ensure that paper and electronic records containing Personal Information are stored in facilities that are only accessible by people within CareAlert Canada who have a genuine "need to know" as well as "right to know".
3. CareAlert Canada will review, on a regular and ongoing basis, its information security practices to ascertain how ongoing responsibilities can be achieved and maintained. 

6. ACCESS AND CORRECTION

1. CareAlert Canada will allow its records containing Personal Information to be accessed by the individual concerned in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).
2. CareAlert Canada will correct its records containing Personal Information as soon as practically possible, at the request of the individual concerned in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).
3. Individuals wishing to lodge a request to access and/or correct their Personal Information should do so by contacting CareAlert Canada Customer Service, as per the details on the website.
4. CareAlert Canada can charge a fee for processing an access request but will generally not do so unless the request is complex or is resource intensive. 

7. OPENNESS

1. CareAlert Canada Customer Service representatives will be the first point of contact for inquiries about privacy issues. Individuals wishing to make an inquiry or complaint regarding privacy, should do so by contacting CareAlert Canada Customer Service, as per the details on the CareAlert Canada website.
2. CareAlert Canada websites will contain a prominently displayed privacy statement and will include a copy of CareAlert Canada Privacy Policy.

8. ANONYMOUS TRANSACTIONS

1. CareAlert Canada will not make it mandatory for visitors to its web sites to provide Personal Information unless such Personal Information is required to answer an inquiry or provide a service. CareAlert Canada may however request visitors to provide Personal Information voluntarily to CareAlert Canada (for example, as part of a competition or questionnaire).

9. TRANSFERRING PERSONAL INFORMATION OVERSEAS

1. CareAlert Canada will take reasonable steps to limit the amount of Personal Information it sends to unrelated organizations overseas.
2. If Personal Information must be sent by CareAlert Canada overseas for sound business reasons, CareAlert Canada will require the overseas organization receiving the information to provide a binding undertaking that it will handle that information in accordance with the National Privacy Principles, preferably as part of the services contract.

10. GLOSSARY

1. Collection Information means the information outlined in 1.3 notified to individuals prior to, or as soon as practical after, the collection of their Personal Information.
2. Direct Marketing means the marketing of goods or services through means of communication including written, verbal or electronic means. The goods or services which are marketed may be those of CareAlert Canada or a Related Body Corporate or those of an independent third party organization.
3. Disclosure generally means the release of information outside CareAlert Canada , including under a contract to carry out an "outsourced function".
4. Opt Out means an individual's expressed request not to receive further Direct Marketing
5. Personal Information means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.
6. Primary Purpose is the dominant or fundamental reason for information being collected in a particular transaction.
7. Reasonable Expectation means a reasonable individual's expectation that their personal information might be Used or Disclosed for the particular purpose.
8. Related Body Corporate means that where a body corporate is:
   
   1. a holding company of another body corporate;
   2. a subsidiary of another body corporate; or
   3. a subsidiary of a holding company of another body corporate, the first mentioned body corporate and the other body corporate are deemed to be related to each other.
9. Sensitive Information means:
   
   1. information or an opinion about an individual's:
      
      1. racial or ethnic origin; or
      2. political opinions; or
      3. membership of a political association; or
      4. religious beliefs or affiliations; or
      5. philosophical beliefs; or
      6. membership of a professional or trade association; or
      7. membership of a trade union; or
      8. sexual preferences or practices; or
      9. criminal record;
   2. Health Information about an individual.
10. Use means the handling of Personal Information within CareAlert Canada.

Back to Top

Privacy Safeguard Statement

1. What Personal Information does CareAlert Canada collect?

The types of personal information that CareAlert Canada records will depend on your usage of our site. If you carry out a transaction online or send us an email, CareAlert Canada will record information that may differ from the information CareAlert Canada collects if you simply visit our site.

1. Purchasing products or services: If you purchase products or services CareAlert Canada requires you to provide certain details so that we can provide you with the product or service. This includes details such as your name and contact information, or in the case of businesses, information about the company, department or association making the purchase. CareAlert Canada requires this information to help us process and manage your account. If you purchase a product or service CareAlert Canada also requires your credit card details in order to process the purchase. CareAlert Canada may also request information about you in order to help you decide which product or service would best suit your needs.
2. Paying your account online: If you pay your account online, CareAlert Canada requires you to provide your account details and credit card details in order to process the payment. CareAlert Canada uses Beanstream Internet Commerce Inc. to process online credit card transactions. Please refer to Beanstream's privacy policy for further information.
3. Making other enquiries about your account: If you make an online query about your account you will be required to provide your contact details so that your inquiry can be resolved as soon as possible.
4. Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs): We employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs) in our HTML based emails. This lets us know which emails have been opened by recipients. This allows us to understand how well customers accept certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. If you would like to opt-out please refer to the opt-out section.
5. General requests: You can use the online forms for a number of other purposes such as to request further information about other products and services. In order to process your request, we will require you to provide us with certain personal information. This includes such details as your name and contact information. If you send us an email request, we will ask for similar information. We require this information to process your request and to improve the services we provide to you. When you are carrying out a transaction or simply making a query, CareAlert Canada may also ask for information such as details about yourself or your company in order that CareAlert Canada can better tailor its services or products to your needs and to provide you with information about a range of CareAlert Canada services or products you might be interested in. CareAlert Canada may also conduct voluntary surveys or request other voluntary information from time to time. These surveys provide CareAlert Canada with important information that enables improvement in the types and quality of services offered and the manner in which those services are offered. It will always be clear whether the information requested is mandatory or voluntary.
6. Navigation Information: Each time you visit CareAlert Canada's web site, anonymous navigation information is collected by our servers. This information includes:
   
   1. the type of browser and operating system you are using;
   2. the address of the referring site (ie the previous site you had visited) and the website you leave our site to visit;
   3. the date and time of your visit;
   4. your server's IP address (a number which is unique to the machine); and
   5. the address of the pages you accessed.
7. This provides CareAlert Canada with information about how the web site is used and navigated, including the number of hits, the frequency of visits and the duration of visits to each web page on the site. It does not personally identify individual users unless the user has previously elected to identify themselves by submitting personal information. In addition, CareAlert Canada's web site, like many others, uses cookies. A cookie is a piece of information that the website sends to your browser and which is stored on your hard disk. A cookie helps to identify your browser to the website when you return to visit the site and identifies the previous requests your browser has made. This allows the site to be tailored to you on your return visits. Cookies cannot identify you personally. If you do not wish to receive cookies it is likely that you can disable their use by altering the security settings on your web browser however this may impede your ability to use parts of the site (for example, the shopping cart). Your web browser might also contain a mechanism that warns you that a site you are visiting makes use of cookies.

2. What Happens with Your Personal Information?

• The personal information collected from you at this site is or may be used:
  
  • for credit verification purposes;
  • for billing purposes;
  • to maintain your account;
  • to notify you about other or new services or promotions from time to time;
  • to provide customer support;
  • in order to provide you with the products, services or information you have requested.
• Aspects of these functions may be outsourced to third parties who are only authorized by CareAlert Canada to use this information for these purposes. CareAlert Canada may also use its customer database, including information provided by you through this web site, to distribute information about other CareAlert Canada services and other organizations' services to you. If at any time you no longer wish to receive email or postal communications from CareAlert Canada or from third parties, you can contact CareAlert Canada customer service at any time and make an 'opt out' request, as per details at the end of this Statement.
• Information collected on this site may also be combined and de-identified to provide CareAlert Canada with anonymous demographic and usage information. CareAlert Canada can then use this aggregated information to develop new and/or more appropriate services and products to offer to customers and may also be provided to third parties.
• In addition, anonymous navigation information may be used for statistical analysis of the site, for marketing purposes and to tailor the content of the site to the needs of CareAlert Canada customers. Statistical information is not disclosed in connection with your personal information.

3. Will personal information be given to anyone else?

• Personal information collected at this site will only be disclosed to third parties in accordance with this Privacy Statement and with the terms and conditions of any relevant service. You should check the terms and conditions of individual products and services for information about disclosures.
• Information collected at this site may be disclosed to third parties where functions are being outsourced. CareAlert Canada may also disclose personal information to law enforcement agencies, government agencies, courts or external advisors where permitted or required by law.

4. Access and Correction

• You can lodge an access request with CareAlert Canada customer service at any time as per the details at the end of this Statement.

5. Are personal account details safe when being transmitted?

• CareAlert Canada strives to protect your personal information during its transmission. Customer account information provided through this site is held in a secure server environment behind CareAlert Canada firewalls.
• CareAlert Canada's secure server software (SSL) is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions. It encrypts all of your personal information, including your name and address, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet. However, while CareAlert Canada maintains high standards in protecting your security, no transmission over the Internet or storage of information on servers connected to the Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure.

6. Are personal account details stored safely?

• CareAlert Canada takes reasonable steps to ensure the security of personal information held by it from such risks as loss or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure of data. CareAlert Canada only permits your details to be accessed by authorised personnel.

Back to Top

Privacy Collection Statement

For what purpose does CareAlert Canada require your Personal Information?
CareAlert Canada collects and uses Personal Information about you primarily to supply you with the products and services you order from it and its related companies. CareAlert Canada also collects and uses Personal Information for related (or secondary) purposes including:

1. billing and account management;
2. business planning and product development; and
3. to provide you with information about promotions, as well as the products and services of CareAlert Canada and other organizations. 

How CareAlert Canada may use your Personal Information?
CareAlert Canada may disclose Personal Information about you (for the purposes set out in clause 1) to:

1. any of the CareAlert Canada related companies;
2. CareAlert Canada's agents, dealers, contractors and franchisees;
3. CareAlert Canada's suppliers who need access to the Personal Information to provide CareAlert Canada with services, enabling CareAlert Canada to supply you with the products and services you have ordered.

When and how can you opt out?
If you wish only to receive communications that are account-related or legally required, you may request not to receive other communications (ie you may "opt out"). If you wish to make a request to opt-out, you can do so at any time by letting CareAlert Canada know of your request. If you provide CareAlert Canada with an opt-out request, CareAlert Canada will activate your request as soon as reasonably possible after receiving it. CareAlert Canada will not charge you for processing a request to opt-out.

Your right to access your records
You may request access to Personal Information CareAlert Canada holds about you, and CareAlert Canada will grant you access unless it is required or permitted to refuse such a request. You may also request that information about you be corrected if you think that it is not accurate. You should contact us if you require more information.

CareAlert Canada rights to disclose your credit information
For the purpose of processing some orders and ongoing credit management of your account, CareAlert Canada may need to disclose to a credit reporting agency:

1. personal identifying details, including your name, current and previous addresses, driver's licence number, date of birth and employer;
2. the fact you have purchased a product or service from CareAlert Canada, and any credit limit on your account;
3. the amount of any payments which are overdue for at least sixty (60) days, when steps have been taken by CareAlert Canada to recover those overdue payments;
4. where an overdue payment has been previously reported, advice that the payment is no longer overdue;
5. cheques or credit card payments which have been dishonoured;
6. court judgments or bankruptcy orders made against you;
7. that, in the opinion of CareAlert Canada, you have committed a serious credit infringement; and
8. when CareAlert Canada ceases to provide products or services to you

You authorize CareAlert Canada to disclose the information described in clause 7 to a credit reporting agency. You also authorize CareAlert Canada to seek from or give to any credit providers authorized by you or named in a credit report or to other telecommunications providers (carriers or carriage service providers), and CareAlert Canada's franchisees, agents, contractors and outlets, the same information and any other information on this form and any other information on your credit worthiness, credit history or credit capacity that credit providers are allowed to give under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Ontario).

Back to Top