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PRIVACY POLICY

Protecting your privacy

The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) applies to organizations that collect, use and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activity. Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) also governs how businesses and organizations send commercial electronic messages. As a federation of nurses’ unions, the CFNU does not participate in commercial activity and therefore is not covered by either of these legislations.

Nevertheless, the CFNU follows the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mission, and therefore, protecting individuals’ privacy is very important to us. We value the trust of those we deal with and recognize that maintaining this trust requires that we be transparent and accountable in how we treat the information that is shared with us.

The CFNU has developed, therefore, the following privacy policy, using the guidelines set out in the PIPEDA, as we are strongly committed to protecting personal information in our possession. 

What kind of personal information do we collect?

During the course of our various programs and activities, we sometimes gather and use personal information such as name, address, telephone/fax numbers, email addresses and employment information. Anyone from whom we collect such information should expect that it will be carefully protected, and that any use of this information is subject to consent. Our privacy practices are designed to achieve this. 

Who is responsible for protecting personal information?

CFNU’s Director of Operations will assume the position of CFNU’s Privacy Officer. The Privacy Officer will assume general responsibility for the personal information under CFNU’s control and will be generally accountable for CFNU’s compliance with this privacy policy. The Privacy Officer is entitled to delegate day-to-day responsibility for administration of this policy to other employees. 

Why does the CFNU collect, use or disclose personal information?

The CFNU may collect, use and disclose personal information, when applicable, for the following purposes:

  • Registering people for CFNU events;
  • Undertaking research for trending purposes;
  • Facilitating advocacy – for example, a postcard campaign, or online letter writing to a politician;
  • Communications and information sharing – for example, distribution of online newsletters;
  • Permitting and assisting CFNU members to communicate with each other and participate in the CFNU events and campaigns;
  • Communications and information sharing about CFNU events, programs, services and other opportunities;
  • Evaluating and processing applications or nominations for awards, or for support such as through the International Solidarity Fund;
  • Managing social media audiences. If personal information is used to manage an audience, the data is shared only in an encrypted form.

From time to time the CFNU engages with polling firms and external researchers, who may ask members to complete surveys for the purpose of generating important data. The identifying personal information is not kept – these surveys are anonymized and would be subject to the strict privacy controls of the polling firms and/or the relevant research ethics boards. The CFNU will always review these protocol to ensure that they meet or exceed our standards. 

With whom does the CFNU share information?

The CFNU may share personal information with service providers such as those who conduct membership research, or with outside mailing houses. These parties cannot use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services. Confidentiality agreements will be signed with all service providers.

Under no circumstances would the CFNU ever sell, lease, trade or donate personal information.

Occasionally, the CFNU and its Member Organizations will share limited personal information with each other (names and email addresses). 

How do individuals provide the CFNU with consent for collection of their personal information?

The knowledge and consent of an individual is generally required for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information. Your consent to the use and/or disclosure of your personal information will be implied when personal information is provided to obtain a specified service or to register for a specific event. Explicit consent may also be sought in writing or electronically, when needed.

When it comes to electronic communications, a clear method to unsubscribe will always be offered. 

How is personal information collected, used or disclosed via CFNU’s website?

When you visit our website without entering any information, your personal information and email address are not recorded. However, in order to fulfill some of our functions, you may be asked to enter personal information into a form. For example, in order to subscribe to CFNU’s electronic newsletter, you will have to fill in a form, and similarly if participating in our advocacy activities or signing on to a campaign. This information is collected securely by the CFNU and used in accordance with this privacy policy.

Any personal information that is collected will be stored securely, using password-protected and reputable services.

In addition, website users should be aware that certain non-personal information and data may be automatically collected by the CFNU through the website. This data generates usage behaviour and analytics that will allow for content improvements. 

Updating, requesting or relaying concerns about personal information held by the CFNU

The CFNU makes every reasonable effort to keep information accurate and current. Questions, concerns and updates to the information, such as address changes, legal name changes or corrections, can be forwarded to:

Privacy Officer, CFNU
2841 Riverside Drive
Ottawa, Ontario  K1V 8X7
613-526-4661
cfnu@nursesunions.ca