Global Child Care Services (GCCS) is committed to the protection
of the personal information of its clients and independent
contractors. Our Privacy Policy ensures our agency's compliance with the federal
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Defining Personal Information
Personal information is defined as any information, recorded
or not, that is about an identifiable individual. It can
be objective information (e.g. your child’s age or
your home telephone number), or it can be subjective information
(e.g. the progress of your child in day care).
We Are Accountable
The Executive Director of Global Child Care Services is
the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) for the agency, and is responsible
for ensuring compliance with this Privacy Policy by all
the programs and services operated by GCCS. The CPO may,
from time to time, delegate another individual in the agency
to act on her behalf as Privacy Officer. Contact information
for the Executive Director can be found at the end of this
document.
We Collect Your Personal Information to Serve You
Better
(and because we must!)
We collect, generate, use and disclose personal information
for the following purposes only:
Disclosure of Your Personal Information
Other than for the purposes indicated above or unless required
to do so by law, GCCS does not disclose the personal information
under its control to any other parties. We do not trade,
sell, barter or give away client information to anyone.
We Obtain Your Consent
We will only collect, use or disclose information for the
above identified purposes and we will only do so with your
consent. For the most part, your consent will be obtained
expressly (either orally or in writing) particularly when
the personal information in question is of a sensitive or
confidential nature such as a child’s medical history
or a client’s bank account number. GCCS will only
rely on your implied consent in rare circumstances where
your consent can reasonably be inferred from your actions
or inactions. For example, we ask the age and birth date
of a child in order to process the application for care.
We would rely on the parent’s implied consent to also
use the child’s birth date to celebrate the child’s
birthday.
You are free to withdraw specific consent at any time regarding
a particular piece of personal information, but GCCS reserves
the right to withdraw service from you, if having that information
is critical, necessary or a legislated requirement in the
provision of quality care for your child.
We are Careful to Limit the Collection of Your
Personal Information
We will only collect, use and disclose your personal information
in order to meet the purposes identified above. If we need
to collect further information for a new purpose, rest assured
we will seek your fresh consent for that specific collection
(for example, if we wish to use a photograph of your child
in an agency brochure, your specific written consent will
be required).
Retention of Your Personal Information
We only retain your personal information for as long as
we have a purpose to do so and/or as is required by all
the applicable legislation that governs our operations.
For example, the provincial legislation upon which our license
is based, the Day Nurseries Act, requires that we retain
child files for two years beyond the date of discharge from
any of our child care programs. Once personal information
is no longer required to fulfill the identified purposes
or to comply with legal requirements regarding retention,
it will be destroyed or rendered anonymous.
Accuracy of Your Personal Information
We will make every effort to keep your personal information
accurate and up to date. We rely on you to keep us updated
of any changes in a timely manner, so that the personal
information we have is accurate at all times. This is particularly
important with respect to the health and safety of your
child. In the event of an emergency, for example, having
quick access to current telephone numbers and alternate
emergency contact persons is essential.
We Stand on Guard
The security of the information you provide is our number
one priority. We limit access to your personal information
only to those who require it to provide you with service.
Information stored on our computer information system is
protected by firewalls and is password protected. All hard
files are kept under lock and key. GCCS employees are fully
aware of their obligations to maintain the confidentiality
and security of your personal information. All GCCS employees
and independent contractors are subject to the agency’s
policies and procedures with respect to confidentiality
of client information.
You Have the Right to Access Your Personal Information
Individuals have the right to access their own personal
information, or the personal information about their children,
which is in the possession and control of GCCS. You also
have the right to know if your personal information has
been disclosed to any third parties.
Requests for access to personal information must be made
in writing to the Chief Privacy Officer: Arlene Ross, Executive
Director, Global Child Care Services, 1714 Montreal Road,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1J 6N5.
The Chief Privacy Officer then has 30 days in which to
respond to your request. GCCS does have the right to deny
your request under certain circumstances. Those circumstances
include but are not limited to: information which is protected
by solicitor-client privilege; information which reveals
personal information about another individual; personal
information which was collected for an investigation or
legal proceeding that has not yet concluded; if providing
access to particular personal information could jeopardize
an individual’s
life or security; or if access to
the personal information could reasonably be expected to
threaten the safety or physical or mental health of another
individual.
Acceptable proof of identification is required before access
to personal information is granted.
GCCS has the right to charge a reasonable fee should you
request copies of your personal information.
If You Have Any Concerns
Should you have any questions or concerns related to the
collection, use or disclosure of your personal information
at Global Child Care Services, please contact our Chief
Privacy Officer in writing (marked confidential) at the
following address:
Arlene Ross
Executive Director
Global Child Care Services
1714 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Ontario
K1J 6N5