This policy is made pursuant to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. It is a complex Act and provides some additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too detailed to set out here. There are some rare exceptions to the commitments set out below
As a law firm, privacy of personal information has always been an important principle at Burgar Rowe Professional Corporation. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services that we provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes our privacy policies.
WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual.
It includes information that relates to personal characteristics,
health, history, activities and views. Personal information does
not include business information (business address and phone number),
which is not protected by privacy legislation.
COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION
As a firm, our primary purpose for the collection, use and disclosure
of personal information is to serve our clients. We collect information
about various individuals for this primary purpose, as well as several
secondary purposes. For more details on the purposes for which we
collect, use and disclose personal information, see our Privacy
Policy Schedule.
PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION
The essence of the solicitor/client relationship is based upon trust
and confidence. It has always been of the utmost importance to us,
as a law firm, to endeavor at all times to protect the personal
information that we collect. We are bound by the rules of our profession
dictated by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Our practices with
respect to the protection of personal information can be obtained
by reviewing our Privacy Schedule.
RETENTION & DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that
we can answer any questions that you might have about the services
that we have provided and for our own accountability to external
regulatory bodies. It is our practice to destroy any unnecessary
documents by shredding them. We destroy unnecessary electronic information
by deleting it. Alternatively, we may send all or some of a client
file to the client once a matter is completed.
REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION
As required by the privacy legislation, we are obligated to make
available to you, at a reasonable cost, the personal information
that we have about you, subject to overriding considerations of
solicitor/client privilege. For further details about making a request
for information, please contact our Information Officer, who would
be pleased to assist you.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
You can email our Information Officer at privacy@burgarrowe.com
or send correspondence by mail or fax to:
Information Officer,
Burgar Rowe Professional Corporation
90 Mulcaster Street
P.O. Box 758
Barrie, ON
L4M 4Y5
Fax: (705) 721-4025
For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversees the administration of the Act in the private sector. The Commissioner also acts as an ombudsman for privacy disputes.
