Privacy Policy

Statement and Purpose

The Positive Living Society of BC (POSITIVE LIVING BC) respects and upholds an individual’s right to privacy and to protection of his or her personal information. It is committed to ensuring compliance with applicable privacy legislation. For the purposes of this policy, the term “Membership” means Voting Members, Associate Members and Group Members. Implementation:

Accountability

POSITIVE LIVING BC is accountable for personal employee, volunteer, member, and donor information under its control. POSITIVE LIVING BC has appointed a Privacy Officer who is responsible for the Society’s compliance under this Policy.

Purposes for Collection, Use and Disclosure

POSITIVE LIVING BC collects and uses personal information about:

Society Members for the following purposes:

  • For the administration and management of all matters relating to the Membership of the Society, including eligibility to attend and vote at, or be represented by proxy at, General Meetings, and to seek election to the Board of Directors, and to sit as a member of Standing Committees of the Board of Directors
  • For the administration and management of the Complementary Health Fund (CHF)
  • For the administration and management of Society programs
  • For the administration and management of individual advocacy case files
  • For the collection of aggregated statistics used for analysis of funding and service provision
  • For the mailing of the Society’s Magazine - Positive Living

Volunteers for the following purposes:

  • For the administration and management of matters relating to volunteers
  • For the administration of the Community Volunteer Program (CVP)
  • For the administration of the Training Initiatives Supplement Program (TIS)

Donors giving to the Society for the following purposes:

  • For maintaining the privacy of donors’ financial information
  • For fundraising activities, including the administration of tax receipts
  • For the administration of subscriptions to and mailing of the Society’s magazine, Positive LIving

Employees for the following purposes:

  • For the administration and management of matters relating to paid employees and the administration of the collective agreement
  • For the administration of payroll and benefits
  • To meet statutory Provincial and Federal requirements

Consent

POSITIVE LIVING BC will make reasonable efforts to ensure that nominal paid and unpaid staff personal information is not divulged to any third party without the express prior written consent of the individual named. POSITIVE LIVING BC may disclose staff and volunteer personal information in exceptional circumstances: for example, when personal information is used for an emergency that could threaten an individual’s life, health, or personal security. POSITIVE LIVING BC will not disclose members’ personal information without receiving written consent from the member.

Limit For Collecting Personal Information

POSITIVE LIVING BC will only collect personal information for the purposes identified. POSITIVE LIVING BC will use methods that are lawful and will not collect information indiscriminately.

Limits for Use, Disclosure and Keeping of Personal Information

Personal information will only be used or disclosed for the purposes for which it is collected. POSITIVE LIVING BC will not use personal information for additional purposes without securing consent to do so from the person(s) to whom the information pertains or as required by law. POSITIVE LIVING BC may give non-nominal personal information to third parties to conduct surveys in order to enhance our services or to send mail to our members. If an outside body is employed for this purpose, POSITIVE LIVING BC will ensure that appropriate security undertakings, such as confidentiality clauses in contractual arrangements, are employed to protect the transfer and use of personal information. POSITIVE LIVING BC will retain information only as long as it is necessary for the identified purposes, or as required by law.

Accuracy

POSITIVE LIVING BC will make reasonable efforts to ensure that personal information is accurate, complete and current as required for the purpose for which the information was collected. In some cases POSITIVE LIVING BC relies on its members to ensure that information such as addresses or telephone numbers is current, complete and accurate.

Safeguards

POSITIVE LIVING BC is committed to the safekeeping of personal information in order to prevent its loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, duplication, use or modification. POSITIVE LIVING BC protects personal information with appropriate security safeguards. Safeguards include physical, administrative and electronic security measures.

Availability of Policies and Procedures

POSITIVE LIVING BC is open about the policies and procedures used to protect personal information. Information is made available on request.

Providing Access to Personal Information

You have the right to access your personal information which is held under the control of POSITIVE LIVING BC with some exceptions. The Privacy Officer will assist you with your access requests. In certain exceptional situations, POSITIVE LIVING BC may opt not to provide access to certain information it holds about you. If access to certain information cannot be provided, POSITIVE LIVING BC will notify you, in writing, of the reasons for the denial of access.

Concerns or Questions

You may direct your questions or concerns regarding POSITIVE LIVING BC’s compliance with this policy to a Privacy Officer at: