The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), as a professional voluntary organization, is committed to enhancing the interests of its diverse membership and to protecting the independence of the judiciary and the Bar. Consistent with these objectives and its mandate, the CBA is dedicated to maintaining high standards of confidentiality with respect to the information that has been provided to us. This Policy Statement has been prepared to affirm our commitment to maintaining the privacy of our Members and others and to inform you of our practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information provided to the CBA. For the purposes of this policy, “Member” means an individual who has been accepted for membership in the CBA or who seeks to become a member of the CBA.

Our obligations apply to all officers, employees, contractors and agents who provide services to or on behalf of the CBA in connection with our delivery of products, services and information to our Members.

In the event of questions about: (i) access to your Personal Information; (ii) our collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information; or (iii) this Policy; please contact, the Director of Marketing/Membership at info@cba.org, 500-865 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1S 5S8 Tel: (613) 237-2925 or 1-800-267-8860, Fax: (613) 237-0185.

What is Personal Information?

We consider "Personal Information" to mean any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information, other than business contact information (e.g. name, title, business address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address). 

Why the CBA May Collect Personal Information

The CBA collects information provided in writing (including via electronic media) or verbally about Members, and does so to fulfil the objectives and mandate of the Association, which involves:

• Communicating with and determining the needs of its membership;
• Providing products, services and information to its Members; 
• Permitting affiliated organizations and Preferred Suppliers to provide products, services and information to Members;
• Managing our relationship with Members;
• Meeting any legal or regulatory requirement; and
• Such other purposes consistent with the foregoing purposes.

How The CBA Uses Personal Information

The CBA only collects, uses and discloses Personal Information for purposes that would be considered reasonable in the circumstances and only such information as is required for the purposes of providing products, services or information to our Members. We use only fair and lawful methods to collect Personal Information.

Our use of Personal Information is limited to the purposes described in this Policy

When the CBA May Disclose Your Personal Information

As a general rule, all information concerning a Member is held in strict confidence and, except in limited circumstances, is not revealed to anyone unless expressly or implicitly authorized by the Member. The CBA does lease the name, address, telephone number and e-mail address of Members (“CBA membership information”) to affiliated organizations, preferred suppliers and other reputable organizations when:

• In the opinion of the CBA, such usage constitutes a service and information pertinent to the members of the CBA, and
• The CBA has the written agreement of such organizations to adhere to specific requirements with respect to their use of such information.

Where the CBA discloses Personal Information to organizations that perform services on its behalf, we will require those service providers to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to the person concerned or the CBA and to have appropriate safeguards for the protection of that Personal Information.

Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where the CBA is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental tribunal;
• Where the CBA believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
• Where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
• Where it is necessary to permit the CBA to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that the CBA may sustain; or
• Where the information is public.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, the CBA will not disclose more information than is required.

Consent

Unless permitted by law, no Personal Information is collected, without first obtaining the consent of the individual concerned to the collection, use and dissemination of that information. However, we may seek consent to use and disclose Personal Information after it has been collected in those cases where the CBA wishes to use the information for a purpose not identified in this Policy or not previously identified or for which the individual concerned has not previously consented.

If a Member consents, his/her personal information shall be used for the purposes indicated in this policy statement. If a member does not consent, then his/her personal information shall be used by the CBA for purposes of communicating with the Member only and shall not be provided to anyone else (e.g. Preferred Suppliers). In the event a Member does not indicate his/her consent, the submission of the information constitutes the consent of an applicant to the use of his or her personal information for these purposes.

If a Member wishes to withdraw his/her consent to have his/her CBA membership information disclosed to affiliated organizations, preferred suppliers and other reputable organizations, the Member should contact the CBA.

The Accuracy and Retention of Personal Information

The CBA endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided by its Members and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which the CBA uses that information. If we become aware that Personal Information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, the CBA will revise the Personal Information and, if necessary, use its best efforts to inform third parties which were provided with inaccurate information so that those third parties may also correct their records. Information about a former member is not actively maintained and, for so long as it is held by the CBA, the CBA cannot assure the accuracy of such information.

We keep your Personal Information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. This period may extend beyond the end of a Member’s relationship with the CBA but it will be only for so long as it is necessary for us to communicate with you or to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise at a later date. When your Personal Information is no longer required by the CBA, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert it into an anonymous form.

Currently, the principal place in which the CBA holds Personal Information is the City of Ottawa.

Protection of Personal Information

The CBA endeavours to maintain appropriate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information. This also applies to our disposal or destruction of Personal Information.

The CBA further protects Personal Information by restricting access to it to those employees that the management of the CBA has determined need to know that information in order that we may provide our products, services or information. 

If any employee of the CBA misuses Personal Information, this will be considered as a serious offence for which disciplinary action may be taken, up to and including termination of employment. If any individual or organization misuses Personal Information - provided for the purpose of providing services to or for CBA - this will be considered a serious issue for which action may be taken, up to and including termination of any agreement between the CBA and that individual or organization.

We audit our procedures and security measures from time to time to ensure that they remain effective and appropriate.

Access To Your Personal Information

The CBA permits the reasonable right of access and review of Personal Information held by us about a Member and will endeavor to provide the information in question within a reasonable time and no later than 30 days following the request. Where information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with the reasons for non-disclosure.

Further information concerning the CBA’s access policy and procedures may be obtained by contacting our Privacy Officer.

The CBA will not charge a Member for verifying or correcting his/her Personal Information. 

Visiting the CBA’s Web site

A visitor to the CBA’s web site (www.cba.org) is not required to reveal any individually identifiable information, such as name, address, or telephone number. Nor is such information collected passively by electronic means. In order to access and use the Members-only portions of the site, members will need to provide certain Personal Information. Such personal information will only be used for providing services and information to Members.

Information is collected when an individual voluntarily completes an on-line membership application form or completes an online survey. This information is collected, used or disclosed in a manner consistent with this policy statement. E-mail addresses are also collected during the on-line membership application process but applicants may indicate that they do not wish to receive any unsolicited electronic communication.

Our web server does not collect visitor information in the form of the visitor’s domain or Internet Protocol (IP) address but does collect information regarding which pages are being accessed. This information is used internally, only in aggregate form, to better serve visitors by helping us to

• Manage our sites;
• Diagnose any technical problems; and
• Improve the content of our web site.

Following its use, the information collected is not retained but, rather, is discarded in a secure manner. 

Individuals who wish to purchase documents are requested to supply one or more items of data within the following classes of information:

• Corporate Identification Information;
• Personal Identification Information;
• Financial Information (e.g. credit card information; purchase order numbers or any other payment information for billing purposes); and
• Delivery Information

This information is collected for billing and delivery purposes as well as to permit us to contact the individual with respect to actions taken by us to complete the order.

If you purchase documents through the CBA’s web site using a credit card, your credit card information is used only for credit card processing purposes and is not stored or retained by the CBA.

For the transfer and receipt of certain types of sensitive information such as financial information, visitors will be re-directed to a secure server and will be notified through a pop-up screen on the site.

In browsing the Internet, you will encounter a technology called "cookies" which can be used to provide you with specific information from a Web site as well as provide the operator of a web site with information about you. "Session" cookies are temporary bits of information that are erased once you exit your Web browser window or otherwise turn your computer off. Session cookies are used to improve navigation on Web sites and to collect aggregate statistical information. This site uses session cookies to only record session information.

Most Internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can set yours to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent.

The CBA does have a relationship with an ad server company but does not permit any ad server company to collect information about users such as domain type, IP address, and clickstream information.

A user of the CBA’s web site may access the information held by CBA about them in connection with their visits to this Site as well as their account information. Users may request the correction of any inaccuracies in such information. Access to and, if required, correction of such information may be arranged by sending an e-mail message to the Webmaster at info@cba.org; telephoning or writing the CBA at the contact indicated at the beginning of this Policy.

Evolving Practices

This statement is in effect as of March 26, 2004. The CBA will from time to time review and revise its privacy practices and this Policy. In the event of any amendment, a notice will be posted on www.cba.org and published in appropriate CBA publications. Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of posting to the CBA’s web site as well as to existing information held by the CBA.