The Personal Information Protection Act regulates the manner in which FPSE collects, uses, retains, secures and discloses personal information. FPSE recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information received in the course of activities. The organization is committed to protecting the confidentiality of  members’ personal information and to inform members about procedures regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information provided to FPSE. For the purposes of this policy, members mean individual members of local associations or unions who are members of the Federation through membership in their local associations or unions.

Contacting the FPSE Privacy Officer

Requests for access to or correction of personal information should be made in writing and addressed to the FPSE Privacy Officer. Any questions, concerns or complaints about this policy should also be directed to the Privacy Officer.

The contact information for the Privacy Officer is:

Zoe Towle
400 – 550 West 6th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1A1 
Tel: 604-873-8988 | Fax: 604-873-8865 
Email: ztowle@fpse.ca

Personal Information

“Personal information” means any information about an identifiable individual and includes:

  • home address and telephone number;
  • age, marital status, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, religion;
  • medical information;
  • income;
  • education;
  • employment information.

Personal information does not include “contact information”, that is, the name, job title, business address, business telephone number, business email or business fax number of an individual.

FPSE Collection of Personal Information

The mandate of FPSE involves:

  • communicating with and determining the needs of our members;
  • providing services and information to our members; and
  • managing the business of the Federation.

In order to fulfill its mandate and objectives, the Federation may collect information that is relevant to the representation of our members’ professional and employment interests. This information may, of necessity, include personal information about members and other individuals.

For example, FPSE may collect personal information about members who participate on committees, request contract administration services, register for conferences and conventions, or subscribe to FPSE publications, or to conduct research and surveys.

Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

FPSE will only collect, use and disclose personal information for purposes that would be considered reasonable in the circumstances and only such information as is required for the purposes of fulfilling the mandate and objectives of the Federation.

Wherever possible, FPSE will collect personal information directly from the person to whom the information pertains. Sometimes it may be necessary to collect personal information from other sources, such as your local association or your employer.

If personal information is provided to an organization that performs services on FPSE's behalf, that organization will be required to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to FPSE or the individual(s) concerned, and to have adequate safeguards for the protection of personal information.

FPSE will not sell personal information to any organization.

Consent

Unless the purpose is obvious or consent is not required, before or at the time of collection, members will be informed of the intended purposes for the use or disclosure of personal information and will obtain consent. In most cases FPSE will obtain a member's express consent but in some cases that consent may be implied through the member's conduct.

Members may withdraw their consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, but withdrawing consent may limit FPSE's ability to represent members' interests.

Accuracy, Security and Retention of Personal Information

FPSE will make reasonable efforts to ensure that any personal information that is collected, used or disclosed is accurate and complete.

FPSE recognizes its obligation to protect the personal information in its custody and has implemented procedures to safeguard personal information against unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

FPSE will keep personal information only as long as it is required. When personal information is no longer required, it will be destroyed in a secure manner.

FPSE Website

Members do not have to provide personal information to visit FPSE's website. If members browse through the website, read pages or download information, the following information is automatically collected and stored:

  • the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer from which the site is accessed;
  • the date and time of the visit; and
  • the pages visited.

This information is used for statistical purposes to help make the site more useful to visitors. This information does not identify individuals and is not correlated with any personal information.

From time to time FPSE may use non-persistent cookies within multiple page online forms to remember a visitor from page to page. These cookies do not store any personal information and are deleted at the end of the visit.

FPSE employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the site. This software receives and records the IP address of the computer that has contacted FPSE's network, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. No attempt is made to connect these IP addresses to the identity of individuals visiting the site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

If personal information is provided through an e-mail message or form, the information will be retained only as long as needed to respond to questions or to fulfill the purpose of the communication.

The FPSE website contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this policy.