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Privacy Policy

Introduction:

YWCA BC respects the privacy of our program participants and clients (including H&F members, Hotel Willo guests and child care parents), donors and volunteers. We also recognize our obligation to protect all personal information. This is our Privacy Policy. It documents our ongoing commitment to ‎you.‎ 

Scope of Policy: 

This Policy applies to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information, including on or through our website at https://ywcabc.org. This Policy does not ‎impose any limits on the collection, use, or disclosure of business contact information, work product information, or certain publicly-available information, as set out in the B.C. Personal Information Protection Act. 

Updates to Policy: 

YWCA BC may update this Policy from time to time to ensure ongoing compliance with applicable laws and for any other purpose that we deem reasonably necessary. Any changes will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised policy at https://ywcabc.org/policies. Customers can tell if the Policy has changed by checking the revision date that appears at the top of this Policy. 

Where required by applicable law, YWCA BC may need to ask customers to confirm consent to the ‎processing of personal information. Otherwise, YWCA BC will use personal information in a manner consistent with the policy in effect at the time it collected the information, and customers’ continued access to or use of YWCA BC’s services constitutes acknowledgment and acceptance of the ‎changes.  

Accountability: 

YWCA BC is responsible for all personal information under its control and its Privacy Officer is accountable for its compliance with this Privacy Policy. The Privacy Officer can be contacted at: 

YWCA BC 
535 Hornby Street 
Vancouver, BC, V6C 2E8 
Fax: 604 684 9171 
privacy@ywcabc.org 

Personal Information Collected: 

The personal information that YWCA BC may collect includes: 

  • Name, sex, age, weight, height 
  • Contact information 
  • Race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation 
  • Medical information 
  • Marital or family status 
  • Education 
  • Employment information 
Purposes: 

The purposes for which personal information is collected will be identified and documented by YWCA BC at or before the time we collect the information. 

YWCA BC collects, uses, and discloses personal information for the following purposes: 

  • To establish and maintain responsible relations with customers, donors and volunteers and to provide ongoing service; 
  • To determine eligibility for services; 
  • To provide programs and support; 
  • To communicate with individuals who participate in our programs or receive our services; 
  • To understand customer, client, participant, and tenant needs; 
  • To develop, market or provide programs and services that help us to achieve our Mission; 
  • To evaluate program outcomes and service quality; 
  • To recognize donors and volunteers  
  • To track statistical information; 
  • To maintain accurate records;  
  • To meet legal, regulatory, contractual, reporting, audit, accreditation, and funding requirements;  
  • To transfer to third-party suppliers of products and services (as discussed in more ‎detail below);‎ and 
  • To distribute to third parties including financial institutions, payment processors, lawyers, ‎financial institutions, and government licensing bodies for any of the above purposes. 

Upon request, staff collecting personal information will explain these identified purposes or refer the individual to a designated person within the YWCA BC who will explain the purposes. 

When your personal information is to be used for a purpose not previously identified, we will disclose that ‎the new purpose to you before that use, and we will seek your consent unless the use is authorized or ‎required by law. 

Disclosure and Transfer of Personal Information: 

YWCA BC will not share personal information with third parties except as indicated in this Policy or as permitted or required by law. 

Important Exceptions – YWCA BC may disclose personal information to a third party without consent if permitted or required by applicable law. YWCA BC may also disclose personal information, in accordance with applicable law, in connection with ‎an organizational re-organization, or a merger or amalgamation with another entity provided that the disclosed information continues to be used for ‎the purposes permitted by this Policy by the entity acquiring the information.‎ 

Service Providers – YWCA BC may retain agents, subcontractors, or service providers from time to time in relation to its business, products, or services. If we require a service provider to deal with personal ‎information, we will take reasonable steps designed to ensure that the service provider adheres to privacy ‎procedures and will keep the personal information confidential. Service providers may be located outside of Canada, and you acknowledge that personal information ‎may be processed and stored in foreign jurisdictions with different (and perhaps weaker) privacy laws, and ‎that the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies in those jurisdictions may be able ‎to obtain disclosure of that personal information through the laws of the foreign jurisdiction.‎ 

Consent: 

YWCA BC will obtain consent to collect, use or disclose personal information except where we are ‎authorized or required by law to do so without consent. 

Consent can be express, implied or given through an authorized representative such as a lawyer, ‎agent or broker.‎ In determining the appropriate form of consent, YWCA BC will take into account the sensitivity of the personal information and the reasonable expectations of its customers, clients, participants, tenants, and donors. 

In general, the use of services by a customer, client, participant, tenant or donor constitutes implied consent for YWCA BC to collect, use and disclose personal information for all identified purposes.  For sensitive information, YWCA BC will obtain express consent at or before the time of collection, unless we are ‎authorized or required by law to collect, use, or disclose that information without consent. 

Individuals may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.  Individuals wishing to withdraw consent should allow for 15 working days for this to be processed.  The withdrawal of consent may mean that we are unable to ‎provide certain services for which that information is necessary. Customers, clients, participants, tenants, and donors may contact YWCA BC for more information regarding the implications of withdrawing consent. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any collection, use, or disclosure of personal information that happened before that withdrawal. 

Limit Collection: 

YWCA BC will restrict its collection of personal information to that information which is necessary and reasonable for the identified purposes.   YWCA BC will also collect personal information as authorized by law.‎ 

Limit use, disclosure and retention: 

YWCA BC will not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required or permitted by law.  We will retain personal information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes, or as otherwise necessary for legal or business purposes. We will keep personal information used to make a decision affecting you for at least one year after using it ‎to make the decision.‎ 

Personal information that is no longer necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or required to be retained by law will be destroyed, erased, or made anonymous. 

Accuracy: 

YWCA BC will make reasonable efforts to keep personal information as accurate, complete and up-to-date as necessary for its purposes.  If an individual demonstrates the inaccuracy or incompleteness of their personal information, YWCA BC will amend the ‎information as required, and if appropriate will send the amended information to third parties to whom ‎the information has been disclosed.  ‎ 

When a challenge regarding the accuracy of personal information is not resolved to the individual’s satisfaction, YWCA ‎BC will annotate the personal information under its control with a note that the correction was requested ‎but not made.‎ 

Safeguarding Personal Information: 

YWCA BC uses reasonable physical, ‎organizational and electronic security arrangements designed to prevent unauthorized access, collection, use, ‎disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or similar risks with respect to personal information in its custody or control.   

However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is completely ‎secure; as such, despite YWCA BC’s safeguards and protocols, YWCA BC cannot fully guarantee the security of ‎personal information, and customers should always exercise caution when disclosing personal information ‎over the Internet.‎ 

Access to Personal Information: 

Customers, clients, participants, tenants, and donors have a right to access their personal information held by YWCA BC. Upon request in writing and authentication of identity, YWCA BC will provide the requesting customer with their personal information under ‎ YWCA BC’s control. YWCA BC will also provide information about the ways in which that information is being used and ‎a description of the individuals and organizations to whom that information has been disclosed. YWCA BC may ‎charge a reasonable fee for doing so.‎   

In some situations, YWCA BC may not be able to provide access to certain personal information (e.g., if ‎disclosure would reveal personal information about another individual, the personal information is ‎protected by solicitor/client privilege, the information was collected for the purposes of an investigation ‎or where disclosure of the information would reveal confidential commercial information that could harm ‎our competitive position).  YWCA BC may also be prevented by law from providing access to certain personal ‎information. 

If YWCA BC refuses an access request, YWCA BC will notify the individual in writing, document the reasons for refusal and ‎outline further steps that are available to the individual.‎ 

Challenging Compliance: 

Any inquiries, complaints or questions regarding this Policy or YWCA BC’s compliance with this Policy or applicable privacy laws should be directed in writing to the YWCA’s privacy officer (contact information above).  

YWCA BC will, on request, provide information regarding our complaint procedure.