COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY. Angela Chaisson Law, its staff, and subcontractors (sometimes referred to herein as “we”) are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines how we handle your personal information to protect your privacy.
COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY. Angela Chaisson Law, its staff, and subcontractors (sometimes referred to herein as “we”) are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines how we handle your personal information to protect your privacy.
PRIVACY LEGISLATION AND OTHER OBLIGATIONS. Since January 1, 2004, all Canadian organizations engaged in commercial activities have been required to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information incorporated by reference into PIPEDA. Since July 1, 2014, virtually all organizations and individuals in Canada are required to abide by Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL). These obligations extend to Angela Chaisson Law. As a law firm, Angela Chaisson Law also has professional and ethical obligations to keep confidential the information we receive in the context of a lawyer-client relationship.
PERSONAL INFORMATION. Personal information is defined in PIPEDA as information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization. In other words, it does not include the information that one expects to find on a business card.
CONSENT TO OUR COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION UNDER PIPEDA. In most cases, we obtain your consent to collect, use, and disclose your personal information in ways contemplated by PIPEDA. If you retain our firm there is a clause in our retainer agreement that expressly covers this consent. Even if there is no formal retainer in place, if you are using the services of our firm, we assume that you have implicitly consented to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as necessary for us to represent you. Generally, we collect your personal information directly from you at the start of, or during the course of, your retainer with our firm. Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources such as a government registry or other professionals who serve you.
USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AT ANGELA CHAISSON LAW. We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to issue invoices, and to maintain our practice management database. In addition, we may use your contact information (name, e-mail, and postal address) to communicate with you about recent developments in the law, keep you abreast of Angela Chaisson Law’s news, and invite you to our firm events.
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION BY ANGELA CHAISSON LAW. Generally, we do not disclose your personal information to third parties without your express consent unless permitted or required by applicable laws or court orders. In certain situations, we may rely on your implied consent to disclose your personal information to third parties. The following are some examples where we may rely on your implied consent: such disclosure is necessary to collect fees or disbursements; we contract with a third party to provide us with certain services such as archival file storage or insurance; or we engage expert witnesses or other law firms on your behalf.
WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT UNDER PIPEDA. You may withdraw your consent under PIPEDA to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information at any time, subject to legal and/or contractual restrictions, and upon reasonable notice. Your withdrawal of consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information may impact our ability to represent you and provide you with legal advice.
CASL COMPLIANCE AND WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT TO RECEIVING COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC MESSAGES (“CEMs”). In accordance with Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), if any of our electronic messages to you constitute Commercial Electronic Messages (“CEM’s”), we will rely on either your express or implied consent to send you such messages. We will also provide you with the identifying information as required by CASL, and we will provide you with an option to withdraw your consent in each CEM (where practical). If it is not practical to include an unsubscribe function in an individual CEM, you may simply email us at angela@chaissonlaw.ca, with reference to the CEM you received, and indicate your wish to withdraw your consent from receiving further CEMs.
ACCURACY OF YOUR INFORMATION. It is important that the information that we have on file about you be accurate and up-to-date. If, during the course of the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes. We may also ask you from time to time whether your personal information is up-to-date.
SAFEGUARDING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. Angela Chaisson Law uses various safeguards to ensure that your personal information is protected against loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, or alteration. These include: security of our physical premises; password protection; and anti-virus and other security software. For services that we outsource to cloud-based providers, we ensure that they meet or exceed any physical or electronic security we could provide ourselves. We also ensure that any cloud based providers we use have adequate privacy policies and terms of service of their own in place and we supplement these with specific contractual agreements where necessary.
ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.You have a right to challenge the accuracy and completeness of your personal information and to have it amended, as appropriate. You also have a right to request access to your personal information and receive an accounting of how that information has been used and disclosed, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. For example, if the requested information would reveal personal information about another individual, your request for access may be limited or denied. If your request for access is denied, Angela Chaisson Law will notify you in writing of the reason for the denial. To request access or to amend your personal information, please contact Angela Chaisson at the contact information below, who will respond within 30 days of receipt of your written request.
CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE. Angela Chaisson Law will respond to inquiries about its policies and practices relating to its handling of your personal information. Inquiries should be directed to Angela Chaisson at the contact information below, who will investigate all complaints and will respond within 30 days of receipt of a written inquiry. If the complaint is found to be justified, Angela Chaisson Law will take appropriate measures to resolve it, including, if necessary, amending this Policy and its procedures.
WEBSITE PRIVACY. Like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, and related site information to optimize your visit to our website. We do not use cookies or any electronic means to collect personal information from you or your computer; however, our website server will automatically collect IP addresses. We may view the IP log from time to time, for example, to maintain the security of our website. We do not link the IP addresses to other personally identifiable information.
PRIVACY CONTACTS. If you have any questions or complaints about this policy or the handling of your personal information, if you wish to withdraw your consent under PIPEDA to our use, collection, or disclosure of your personal information, if you wish to withdraw your consent under CASL to receiving Commercial Electronic Messages, or to request access to or update any information we have on file, please contact:
Angela Chaisson, Barrister & Solicitor 197 Spadina Ave, Suite 402 Toronto, ON M5T 2C8 T: 647 567 3536 F: 647 977 9074 E: angela@chaissonlaw.ca
If any complaint or inquiry is not handled to your complete satisfaction, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner at: Privacy Commissioner of Canada 112 Kent Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3 Telephone: 613.995.8210 Toll free: 1.800.282.1376.
Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec 480 St. Laurent Suite 501 Montreal, Quebec H2Y 3Y7 Telephone: 514.873.4196 Toll Free: 1.888.528.7741
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY. We may change this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on our website at chaissonlaw.ca/privacy-policy and will be made available up on request through your contact at Angela Chaisson Law. Please check from time to time to ensure you are aware of our current policy.