Privacy Policy
Warren Sinclair LLP
The Personal
Information Protection Act (“the Act”) regulates the way private sector
organizations within
We recognize our professional obligation to maintain the
confidentiality of our clients’ information, and also our obligations
concerning all individuals’ personal information which we collect, use or
disclose in our practice. This policy
has been developed with those obligations in mind.
Our need for Personal
Information
To be able to give legal advice to our clients, we need to
collect all relevant facts and information that relate to our retainer and to
the representation of our clients. We
may also need business and credit information so we can ensure that we will be
compensated for our services. This
information will necessarily include personal information about our clients and
about individuals other than our clients.
Collection, Use and
Disclosure or Personal Information
Where practical, we will try to collect personal information
directly from the person to whom the information pertains. Where necessary, we will collect personal
information from other sources. We will
collect only the personal information necessary for the purposes stated in the
previous paragraph.
The Act provides that an individual is deemed to consent to
the collection, use or disclosure of personal information about that individual
for a particular purpose if the individual voluntarily provides the information
for that purpose, and it is reasonable that a person would voluntarily provide
that information.
By retaining this firm for legal advice or representation,
we consider that an individual consents to our collection, use or disclosure of
the individual’s personal information as necessary to properly advise ad
represent the individual.
It is our policy to collect personal information about
individuals other than our clients in accordance with the provisions of the
Act.
When we collect personal information about individuals directly
from them, except when their consent to the collection is deemed, we will tell
them the purpose for which the information is collected, and the name of a
person who can answer questions about the collection.
The Act also permits us to collect, use or disclose personal information about an individual in some
circumstances without the individual’s consent.
Such circumstances include (but are not limited) to where:
● the
collection, use or disclosure is clearly in the interests of the individual and
consent cannot be obtained in a timely way;
● collection,
use or disclosure is reasonable for the purposes of an investigation or
proceeding;
● the personal
information is available to the public from a prescribed source; or
● the
collection, use, or disclosure is required or authorized by a statute or
regulation of
When we collect, use or disclose personal information, we
will make reasonable efforts to ensure that it is accurate and complete. The Act also allows us, for legal or business
purposes, to retain personal information for as long as is reasonable.
Security of Personal
Information
We recognize our professional and legal obligations to
protect the confidential information of our clients. We recognize as well our legal obligations to
protect the personal information we have gathered about our clients and about
other individuals during the course of our practice of law.
We have therefore made arrangements to secure against the
unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification,
disposal or destruction of personal information.
Requests for Access to
Personal Information
The law permits individuals to submit written requests to
use to provide them with:
● their
personal information under our custody or control;
● information
about the purposes for which their personal information under our custody or
control has been and is being used by us; and
● The names of
persons to whom and the circumstances in which their personal information has
been and is being disclosed by us.
We will respond to requests in the time allowed by the Act
and will make a reasonable effort to assist applicants and to respond as
accurately and completely a possible.
All requests may be subject to any fees and disbursements the law
permits us to charge.
An individual’s ability to access his or her personal information
under our control is not absolute. The
law provides that we must not
disclose personal information where:
● the
disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the safety or physical or
mental health of an individual other than the individual who made the request;
● the disclosure would reveal
personal information about another individual; or
● the disclosure
would reveal the identity of an individual who has in confidence provided us
with an opinion about another individual and the individual providing the
opinion does not consent to the disclosure of his or her identity.
The law further provides that we may choose not to disclosure personal information where:
● the personal
information is protected by any legal privilege;
● the
disclosure of the information would reveal confidential commercial information
and it is not unreasonable to withhold that information;
● the personal information
was collected by us for an investigation or legal proceeding;
● the
disclosure of the personal information might result in similar information no
longer being provided to us when it is unreasonable that it would be provided;
● the personal
information was collected or created or created by a mediator or arbitrator in
the conduct of a mediation or arbitration for which he or she was appointed to
act:
■ under an agreement,
■ under an
enactment; or
■ by a court;
or
● the personal
information relates to or may be used in the exercise of prosecutorial
discretion.
The Act indicates that it is not to be applied so as to
affect any legal privilege. We will not
disclose information that is privileged where the applicant is not the client
in whom the privilege is vested.
Request for Correction
of Personal Information
The law permits individuals to submit written requests to us
to correct errors or omissions in their personal information that is in our
custody or control. We will:
● correct the personal information and,
if reasonable to do so, send correction notifications to any other
organizations to whom we disclosed the incorrect information; or
● decide not to correct the personal information
but annotate the personal information that a correction was requested but not
made.
Contacting or
Communicating With Us
If you
have any questions with respect to our policies concerning the
handling of your personal information, or if you wish to request access to, or
correction of, your personal information under our care and control, please
contact our Privacy Officer at:
Sisson
Warren Sinclair
Barristers
and Solicitors
#600, 4911
– 51 Street
Attention: Privacy Officer
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your personal information,
we invite you to contact our Privacy Officer in writing, setting out the
reasons for your concern. If you remain
dissatisfied after our Privacy Officer has reviewed and responded to your
concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Information and Privacy
Commissioner at:
410, 9925 –
109 Street
Telephone: (780) 422-6860
Fax: (780) 422-5682