STARS’ Privacy Commitment to You
STARS is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information that you, as members, donors, patients, volunteers, employees, and stakeholders share with us. We value and respect the privacy and sensitivity of your personal information and wish to be transparent and accountable in how we manage and treat the personal information we hold. We take the issue of privacy very seriously.
Personal Information
Personal information includes any information that specifically identifies or distinguishes you as an individual and is provided to or collected by STARS. In distinguishing you as an individual, this can include your name, home address, age, gender, identification numbers, employment, volunteer or donor history. Business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and phone numbers published in a telephone directory are generally not considered personal information. Please note that a separate but consistent privacy policy addresses the particular issues of privacy of employee and volunteer information.
Privacy Practices
In 2001, STARS completed a privacy audit and developed privacy policies with the assistance of expertise in the area of privacy matters. We developed and follow a STARS Privacy Charter, which incorporates the ten basic fair information principles: accountability; identification of purpose; consent; limiting collection; limiting use, disclosure and retention; accuracy; appropriate safeguards and security; openness; individual access; and access to complaint process.
Safeguards for Personal Information
STARS endeavors to maintain physical, technical and procedural safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in question. These safeguards are designed to prevent your personal information from loss and unauthorized access, copying, use, modification or disclosure. On an ongoing basis, we educate our volunteers and employees about the safeguarding of personal information.
Together, our safeguards and policies help ensure that your personal information is used appropriately and responsibly in achieving the purpose for which it was shared and collected from you. Through contractual obligations, we also require our contractors and suppliers to comply with our privacy policies.
Collecting, Using and Disclosing Personal Information
Unless authorized or required by law, your personal information is only collected, used and disclosed with your consent. We understand that, depending on the sensitivity and nature of your personal information, your consent may be written or verbal, express or implied. Upon giving us notice, your consent for any collection, use or disclosure of your personal information can be withdrawn at any time. In all instances, STARS personnel only collect, use and disclose your personal information on a 'need-to-know' basis and only for such purposes that are reasonable.
We may collect personal information from you during the course of various activities, for example for the purposes of fundraising events, projects or campaigns, training sessions, tours and orientations, and processing your purchase of any STARS products. Your personal information may also be collected to process and determine eligibility for volunteer and associate membership with STARS, to process your gift and donation receipts, to forward information and communicate with you regarding ongoing fundraising activities, to conduct surveys for statistical and research purposes, and to contact you to verify the accuracy of your information.
We use personal information for the purposes of managing our volunteer, donor, and recognition programs and for developing new programs. Quality assurance is important to us and information statistics assist us in being effective, safe, and resourceful with the resources and gifts provided to STARS for carrying out the mission and vision of the organization. Where possible, we attempt to use aggregate (non-identifiable) information in the place of identifiable information. STARS may also need to engage a third-party, for example, to provide administrative or support services to us whereby the third party may need to use personal information. In these cases, the third-party is bound by our privacy policy and privacy practices.
In general, personal information is only disclosed for the purposes it was collected. We assure you that STARS does not sell our donor or volunteer lists with other organizations. Personal information can be disclosed without your consent if the information is publicly available. When processing your “In Memoriam” donation, it has been a reasonable expectation of you as the donor to have your name and address forwarded to the next of kin, or to the individual(s) you identify to us, to inform them of your thoughtful gift to STARS on behalf of their loved one. As part of our recognition program, we may publish donor names in STARS publications, such as our annual report, newsletter and recognition releases. In all of these cases, this implied consent can be withdrawn at any time.
Personal information may be used and disclosed between affiliated STARS entities as outlined in the Note to this Privacy Policy, taking into account sensitivity of the information and the regulatory and legislative requirements applying to each entity.
Personal Health Information
Patient health information is collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Health Information Act and other applicable privacy laws (collectively the "Privacy Laws"). Patient health information is highly sensitive and it is of utmost importance to us that this information is well safeguarded. Your health information is generally collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Privacy Laws to provide continuity of care to you. Unless an exception exists in the Privacy Laws, your written consent is generally required for a disclosure of your health information.
Your Wishes are Important to Us
We seek your confidence and trust on how we collect, use and disclose your personal information. We encourage you to express any wishes you may have on how we collect, use or disclose your personal information. For example, you may wish not to have your name included in a direct mailing list or recognition listing. We routinely provide individuals notice and opportunity of this choice through our correspondence, newsletters and recognition listings.
Depending on the type of information you may decide not to share with us, we might be limited in our ability to provide some ongoing information about STARS to you, for example regular mailings or volunteer program information.
We kindly request that you contact us to update your file if you have any change to your contact information or other personal information shared with us. This will assist us in maintaining accuracy of your information.
Access to Your Personal Information
You can access the personal information that we hold about you. You may send a written request to the attention of the STARS Privacy Officer at the contact information listed below. STARS will then advise you in writing whether we hold such personal information and the type and nature of this information. When requesting access to your personal information, please note that we may request specific information from you to enable us to confirm your identity and right to access, as well as to search for and provide you with the personal information that we hold about you. We may charge you a fee to access your personal information; however, we will advise you of any fee in advance. We may also require a deposit before your access request is processed. If you require assistance in preparing your request, please contact the office of our Privacy Officer.
Your right to access the personal information that we hold about you is not absolute. There are instances where applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse to provide some or all of the personal information that we hold about you. In addition, the personal information may have been destroyed, erased or made anonymous in accordance with our record retention obligations and practices.
In the event that we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will endeavour to inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.
Contact Information
If you have any questions or concerns relating to STARS’ privacy policies and practices for personal information, please feel free to contact us at privacy@stars.ca or in writing to the office of our Privacy Officer: STARS, 1441 Aviation Park, Box 570, Calgary, Alberta T2E 8M7. Attention: STARS Privacy Officer
Website and Email Communication
We use password protocols to protect personal and other information. We are regularly reviewing security, business recovery and information protection practices as technology and complexity increases to ensure that we maintain the security and privacy of your information. Our website may contain links to other sites which are not governed by our Privacy Policy. On our website, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information to optimize our ability to provide information about STARS to you.
Please note that email transmission is not always a secure method of communication and that any personal or confidential information sent to us or sent to you by email cannot be reliably protected.
Updating of Privacy Policy
We are regularly reviewing our privacy practices for our various activities, and will update our policies as required. This website can be reviewed on an ongoing basis for our most up-to-date information.
There are a number of privacy laws to which STARS must adhere and we are continually monitoring the development of federal and provincial legislation in reviewing our policy compliance and consistency with the legislation.
Note: The Alberta Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (“STARS Society”), the Alberta Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service Foundation (“STARS Foundation”) and the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (Canada) (“STARS Canada”) are non-profit and registered charitable organizations. The STARS Foundation is also designated as a public foundation. STARS Aviation Canada Inc. (“STARS Aviation”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the STARS Society and is a taxable Canadian Corporation. Collectively, this group is known in the community as STARS. Each entity may be subject to different privacy legislation, whether federal or provincial, depending on legal, legislative and/or contractual requirements. In addressing this complexity, the STARS Privacy Charter encompasses the ten basic principles of fair information practices and is committed to responsible and reasonable handling of your personal information.
If you have any questions, please contact STARS atprivacy@stars.ca.
Website Privacy Policy
STARS values your privacy and is committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality and security of your personal information.
We have developed this Website Privacy Policy (“Policy”) to describe our privacy policies and practices and how we collect, use and disclose the personal information of those individuals who visit our website. We have developed other documents that describe our privacy policies and practices with respect to our employees, volunteers and with respect to our customers, suppliers and other parties with whom we interact. Our External Privacy Policy is available at www.stars.ca.
Does this Policy Apply to Me?It is STARS' policy to comply with the privacy legislation within each jurisdiction in which we operate. Sometimes the privacy legislation and an individual's right to privacy are different from one jurisdiction to another. The provisions of the various federal and provincial privacy legislation generally only apply to the commercial activities undertaken by non-profit organizations.
This Policy has a limited scope and application and the rights and obligations contained in this Policy may not be available to all individuals or in all jurisdictions. This Policy covers only those of STARS activities that are subject to the provisions of Canada's federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable. If you are unsure if or how this Policy applies to you, please contact our Privacy Officer for more information.
Who Is STARS?In this Policy, STARS refers to the Alberta Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (“STARS Society”), the Alberta Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service Foundation (“STARS Foundation”) and the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (Canada) (“STARS Canada”) (each of which are non-profit and registered charitable organizations) as well as STARS Aviation Canada Inc (“STARS Aviation”) and 1188355 Alberta Ltd. (which are wholly owned subsidiaries of the STARS Society).
What is Personal Information?Throughout this Privacy Policy, we refer to “personal information” as any information about you as an identifiable individual, other than your business title or business contact information when used or disclosed for the purpose of business communications. Personal information does not include non-identifiable or non-personal information (i.e. information that cannot be associated with or tracked back to a specific individual).
What Personal Information does STARS collect? You can visit our website without telling us who you are or revealing any information about yourself, including your e-mail address. Our web server may collect information related to your visit to our website, including the IP address and domain used to access our website, the type and version of your browser, the website you came from to access our website, the page you entered and exited at, any website page that is viewed by that IP address and what country you are from. We use this information to monitor our website's performance (such as number of visits, average time spent, page views) and to manage and improve our operations such as working to continually upgrade our website.
In addition, we collect the personal information that you submit to our website, such as your name, address and any other contact or other information that you choose to provide by:
· using the "contact us" portion of this website;
· applying for a position with STARS through this website;
· by corresponding with a representative of STARS via e-mail using the hyperlinks created for that purpose;
Where you request information from us, we may use the e-mail address that you provide to send you information that we believe may be of interest to you. If you have asked us to put you on an e-mail mailing list to provide you with certain information on a regular basis, or if we send you information about our activities by e-mail, you may ask us to remove you from the list at any time (using the unsubscribe instructions provided with each e-mail and on the site where you signed up).
How Do We Use Cookies? When you visit the website, we may place a "cookie" on the hard drive of your computer to track your visit. A cookie is a small data file that is transferred to your hard drive through your web browser that can only be read by the website that placed the cookie on your hard drive. The cookie acts as an identification card and allows our website to identify you and to record your passwords and preferences. The cookie allows us to track your visit to the website so that we can better understand your use of our website so that we can customize and tailor the website to better meet your needs.
Most web browsers are set to accept cookies. However, on most web browsers you may change this setting to have your web browser either: (1) notify you prior to a website placing a cookie on your hard drive so that you can decide whether or not to accept the cookie; or (2) automatically prevent the placing of a cookie on your hard drive. It should be noted that if cookies are not accepted, you will not be able to access a number of web pages found on the website.
What about Links to other Websites?Our website may contain links to other websites that may be subject to less stringent privacy standards. We cannot assume any responsibility for the privacy practices, policies or actions of the third parties that operate these websites. STARS is not responsible for how such third parties collect, use or disclose your personal information. You should review the privacy policies of these websites before providing them with personal information.
Why Do We Collect, Use, and Disclose Personal Information? The personal information collected may be used and disclosed for those purposes, and in the manner explained, in this Policy and in our External Privacy Policy, STARS Commitment to Privacy available at www.stars.ca .
We may share your personal information with those of our employees, volunteers, contractors, consultants and other parties who require such information to assist us with managing our relationship with you, including: third parties that provide services to us or on our behalf; third parties that collaborate with STARS in the provision of services to you; and, third parties whose services we use to perform our services.
Rest assured, we are not in the business of selling, renting or giving away your personal information to third parties for the purpose of allowing others to market their wares or services to you.
Our Commitment to PrivacyAt STARS, we take your privacy seriously. As non-profit organizations, we believe it is important to point out that Canada's private sector privacy legislation generally only applies to our commercial activities, such as the sale of our merchandise, and not to our other activities such as the services that we provide on behalf of certain public bodies or our fundraising activities. That being said, we believe it is important to confirm to you that we endeavour to undertake our activities in a manner that respects your privacy.
Typically, where your consent is required by law, we will seek your consent at the time that we collect your personal information. In certain circumstances, your consent may be obtained after collection but prior to our use or disclosure of your personal information. If we plan to use or disclose your personal information for a purpose not previously identified (either in this privacy statement or separately), we will endeavor to advise you of that purpose before such use or disclosure.
To the extent that your consent is required, we will assume, unless you advise us otherwise, that you have consented to STARS collecting, using and disclosing your personal information for the purposes stated above (including any other purposes stated or reasonably implied at the time such personal information was provided to us).
Where your consent was required for our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, you may, at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice, withdraw your consent. All communications with respect to such withdrawal or variation of consent should be in writing and addressed to our Privacy Officer.
In certain circumstances, we may collect, use or disclose your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required to do so by applicable law or regulatory requirements.
How is Your Personal Information Protected?STARS endeavors to maintain physical, technical and procedural safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in question. These safeguards are designed to prevent your personal information from loss and unauthorized access, copying, use, modification or disclosure.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while this website strives to protect your personal information, we cannot warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.
Updating Your Personal InformationIt is important that the information contained in our records is both accurate and current. If your personal information happens to change during the course of your relationship with STARS, please keep us informed of such changes.
In some circumstances, we may not agree with your request to change your personal information and may instead append an alternative text to the record in question.
Access to Your Personal Information
You can ask to see the personal information that we hold about you. If you want to review, verify or correct your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information set out below. Please note that any such communication must be in writing. For information on accessing your information, please see our External Privacy Policy, STARS Commitment to Privacy, which is posted at www.stars.ca.
In the event that we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will endeavour to inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.
Inquiries or Concerns? If you have any questions about this External Privacy Policy or concerns about how we manage your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@stars.ca.
We will endeavor to answer your questions and advise you of any steps taken to address the issues raised by you. If you are unsatisfied with our response, you may be entitled to make a written submission to the Privacy Commissioner applicable for your jurisdiction.
Revisions to this Privacy PolicyFrom time to time, we may make changes to this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our legal or regulatory obligations or in the manner in which we deal with your personal information. We will post any revised version of the Privacy Policy on the STARS website, and we encourage you to refer back to it on a regular basis. Volunteers without regular access to the Intranet are encouraged to check bulletin boards for updates to the Policy, or to call STARS’ Resource Development Coordinator for information. This Privacy Policy was last updated on November 8, 2006.
Interpretation of this Privacy PolicyAny interpretation associated with this Privacy Policy will be made by the Privacy Officer. This Privacy Policy includes examples but is not intended to be restricted in its application to such examples, therefore where the word 'including' is used, it shall mean “including without limitation”.
This Privacy Policy does not create or confer upon any individual any rights, or impose upon STARS any obligations outside of, or in addition to, any rights or obligations imposed by Canada's federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable. Should there be, in a specific case, any inconsistency between this Privacy Policy and Canada's federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable, this Privacy Policy shall be interpreted, in respect of that case, to give effect to, and comply with, such privacy laws.