Privacy policy - Calgary Co-op

External privacy policy

Updated September 25, 2023.

EXTERNAL PRIVACY POLICY

At Calgary Co-operative Association Limited, we are committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality, and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes the personal information that Calgary Co-op collects from or about you (unless the personal information is related to an individual who seeks to be, is or was employed by Calgary Co-op), how we use and to whom we disclose that information.

What is Personal Information?
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, other than the person’s business title or business contact information when used or disclosed for the purpose of business communications.

What Personal Information do we Collect?
We collect and maintain different types of personal information in respect of the individuals with whom we interact, including our members and customers. This includes:

membership information, such as your name, membership, membership interest and eligible co-operative spending activities, annual member refund information, birthday (if applicable) and social insurance number (if applicable).
contact and identification information of the sole or joint member, such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address;
your name and e-mail address if you are a designated household user invited by the sole or joint member
product and service-related information concerning the products and services that we provide to, or receive from you; and
business relationship information, including information related to your agreements, preferences, advisors, and decision-makers, feed-back and information requested by or provided to you.

We may also collect market-related information, which may include personal information concerning market trends and activities impacting our business. This information may include contract terms, financial information, and other information for the purpose of market analysis and strategic planning. We may also collect information related to our media, member and public relations activities and information related to our interactions with our advisors.

As a general rule, Calgary Co-op collects personal information directly from you. In most circumstances where the personal information that we collect about you is held by a third party, we will obtain your permission before we seek out this information from such sources (such permission may be given directly by you or implied from your actions).

From time to time, we may utilize the services of third parties in our business and may also receive personal information collected by those third parties in the course of the performance of their services for us or otherwise. Where this is the case, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such third parties have represented to us that they have the right to disclose your personal information to us.

Where permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements, we may collect information about you without your knowledge or consent.

Why Do We Collect Personal Information?
Calgary Co-op collects personal information to enable us to manage, maintain, and develop our business and operations, including:

to establish, maintain and manage your membership in Calgary Co-op.
to establish, maintain and manage our other relationships with you so that we may provide you with, or receive from you, the products and services that have been requested
to be able to review the products and services that we provide to you so that we may understand your requirements for our products and services and so that we may work to improve our products and services.
to be able to review the products and services that we obtain from you so that we may work with you and so that you may understand our requirements for such products and services.
to be able to comply with your requests (for example, if you prefer to be contacted at a business or residential telephone number and advise us of your preference, we will use this information to contact you at that number).
to issue T4A forms, as required by Canada Revenue Agency,
to protect us against error, fraud, theft and damage to our goods and property.
to enable us to comply with applicable law or regulatory requirements; and
any other reasonable purpose to which you consent.

How Do We Use and Disclose Your Personal Information?
We may use and disclose your personal information:

for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy; or
for any additional purposes for which we have obtained your consent to the use or disclosure of your personal information.

We may use or disclose your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements to do so.

When do we Disclose Your Personal Information?
We may share your personal information with our employees, 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 assist Calgary Co-op in the provision of services to you; and third parties whose services we use to conduct our business.

For example, our information technology service providers may provide certain information technology and data processing services to us from time to time so that we may operate our business, and as result, your personal information may be collected, used, processed, stored, or disclosed in Canada, the United States of America, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Generally, as part of our commitment to your privacy, your personal information will not be sold, leased, rented, or given to any third party other than companies contracted to provide services to Calgary Co-op such as for data collection and data analysis. However, personal information may be disclosed or transferred to another party during the course of, or completion of, a change in ownership of or the grant of a security interest in, all or a part of Calgary Co-op through, for example, an asset sale, or some other form of business combination, merger or joint venture, provided that such party is bound by appropriate agreements or obligations and required to use or disclose your personal information in a manner consistent with the use and disclosure provisions of this Privacy Policy, unless you consent otherwise.

Additionally, where you participate in any contests offered by third party contest providers (Contest Providers) in Calgary Co-op stores, your personal information (including name, Calgary Co-op membership number and contact information) may be shared with those Contest Providers for the purpose of allowing them to administer the contest and contact you regarding the particular contest. Your personal information will only be used by the Contest Providers for these limited purposes. Your personal information will be deleted by the Contest Provider immediately upon the completion of the contest.

Our websites may use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). The information generated by the Google Analytics cookie about your use of our website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Further information about Google’s privacy policy may be obtained from http://www.google.com/privacy.html. Further, your personal information may be disclosed:

as permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements.
to comply with valid legal processes such as search warrants, subpoenas, or court orders.
to protect the rights and property of Calgary Co-op.
during emergency situations or where necessary to protect the safety of a person or group of persons.
where the personal information is publicly available; or
with your consent.

Your Consent is Important to Us
It is important to us that we collect, use or disclose your personal information where we have your consent to do so. Depending on the sensitivity of the personal information, your consent may be implied, deemed (using an opt-out mechanism) or expressed. Express consent can be given orally, electronically or in writing. Implied consent is consent that can reasonably be inferred from your action or inaction. For example, when you enter into an agreement with us, we will assume your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for purposes related to the performance of that agreement and for any other purposes identified to you at the relevant time.

Typically, 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 Policy or separately), we will endeavour to advise you of that purpose before such use or disclosure.

As we have described above, 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.

Choice/Opt-Out
You may change or withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations and reasonable notice, by contacting our Privacy Officer using the contact information set out below. All communications with respect to such withdrawal or variation of consent should be in writing and addressed to our Privacy Officer.

We assume that, unless you advise us otherwise, that you have consented to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as explained in this Privacy Policy.

How is Your Personal Information Protected?
Calgary Co-op endeavours to maintain physical, technical, and procedural safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in question. These safeguards are designed to protect your personal information from loss and unauthorized access, copying, use, modification, or disclosure.

The security of your personal information is important to us, please advise our Privacy Officer immediately of any incident involving the loss of or unauthorized access to or disclosure of personal information that is in our custody or control.

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 our relationship, please keep us informed of such changes.

In some circumstances we may not agree with your request to change your personal information and will instead append an alternative text to the record in question.

Access to Your Personal Information
You can ask to see your personal information. If you want to review, verify, or correct your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer. Please note that any such communication must be in writing.

When requesting access to your personal information, please note that we may request specific information from you to enable us to confirm your identity and right to access, as well as to search for and provide you with the personal information that we hold about you. We may charge you a fee to access your personal information; however, we will advise you of any fee in advance. If you require assistance in preparing your request, please contact the office of our Privacy Officer.

Your right to access the personal information that we hold about you is not absolute. There are instances where applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse to provide some or all the personal information that we hold about you. In addition, the personal information may have been destroyed, erased, or made anonymous in accordance with our record retention obligations and practices.

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 Privacy Policy or concerns about how we manage your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer by telephone at 403-219-6025, in writing or by We will endeavour to answer your questions and advise you of any steps taken to address the issues raised by you. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may be entitled to make a written submission to the Privacy Commissioner in your jurisdiction.

Privacy Officer
We have appointed a Privacy Officer to oversee compliance with this Privacy Policy. The contact information for our Privacy Officer is as follows:

Calgary Co-op Privacy Officer
Calgary Co-operative Association Limited
Finance Division
#110, 151 – 86 Avenue S.E.
Calgary, AB T2H 3A5

Revisions to this Privacy Policy
From time to time, we may make changes to this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in its legal or regulatory obligations or in the manner in which we deal with your personal information. We will post any revised version of this Privacy Policy on our website https://www.calgarycoop.com/privacy-policy/ and we encourage you to refer back to it on a regular basis. This Privacy Policy was last updated on September 25^th, 2023.

Interpretation of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy has a limited scope and application. Consequently, the rights and obligations contained in this Privacy Policy may not be available to all individuals or in all jurisdictions. If you are unsure if or how this Privacy Policy applies to you, please contact our Privacy Officer for more information.

Any interpretation associated with this Privacy Policy will be made by our 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 Calgary Co-op 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.