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.
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 Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (“STARS Society”) and the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service Foundation (“STARS Foundation”), (each of which are non-profit and registered charitable organizations) as well as STARS Aviation Canada Inc (“STARS Aviation”) (which is a wholly owned subsidiary 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;
- 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.
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 PRIVACY
At 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 INFORMATION
It 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 POLICY
From 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 www.stars.ca, 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’ Volunteer Coordinator for information.
INTERPRETATION OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Any 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.