Personal Information Protection Policy

The Tourism Industry Association of Canada (the “Association”) is a not-for-profit association representing and promoting the interests of the tourism business community in Canada.

Commitment to Privacy of Personal Information

The Association is committed to protecting the privacy of our members and others who use our services. This Personal Information Protection Policy (the “Policy”) describes the policies and practices of the Association with respect to the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information. The Policy may be updated from time to time, with updates approved by the Association to reflect developments in our practices, new technology or the law. Updates will be made available in the same ways as the Policy. Our collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information will be governed by the version of this Policy in effect at the time.

Personal Information

Personal Information is any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. This Policy applies to Personal Information of members and prospective members, as well as others who have expressed an interest in the Association or have participated in an event sponsored or organized by the Association. The Personal Information that the Association generally collects and uses includes: name, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, preferred method and language of contact, banking or credit card information (card number, type and expiry date).

From members, the Association also collects information related to the member’s involvement in the Association, such as the events the members attend that are hosted by the Association, the type of tourism organization they represent, their relationship with other industry associations, their relationship with parent companies, which category of membership fees they are required to pay which may be determined by their budget, annual sales or scope of business, and which industry awards they have submitted nominations for.

Refund Policy

All sales are final. No refunds unless specifically stated for individual event ticket purchases.
For Events related refunds please refer to ‘Fees & Policies’.

Please direct any questions regarding Events related refunds to:

Tourism Congress Project Office
Congress@tiac-aitc.ca

For refunds outside of Events, prior specific consent is required by:

Jennifer Taylor
Vice-President, Business Development & Member Relations
902-698-0984
jtaylor@tiac-aitc.ca

Accountability

The Association is responsible for all Personal Information under its custody or control, including information which it may transfer to a third party for processing. The Director of Finance of the Association has been appointed as Privacy Officer for the Association. The Privacy Officer may delegate day-to-day responsibility for administration of this Policy to other employees but the Privacy Officer remains accountable for the Association’s handling of Personal Information.

The Privacy Officer may be contacted at:

1300-180 rue Elgin Street
Ottawa, ON
K2P 2K3
613-238-7887

The Association is responsible for Personal Information sent to third party service providers who provide services to the Association. The Association requires any such third parties to use the Personal Information only for the purposes for which it is provided to them, and to protect the privacy of the Personal Information in accordance with privacy laws and in a manner that is consistent with this Policy.
The Association stores and processes Personal Information in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Information Received From Other Sources

The Association sometimes uses mailing lists from other organizations with whom the Association participates in organizing or sponsoring programs, publications, seminars, conferences or other events. When it does so, a request is made to the other organization to provide only names of individuals who have consented to the sharing of their information. If the Association is contacting someone based on one of these lists, it will ask whether the individual wishes to receive further communications from the Association and will respect the individual’s wishes.

Purposes for Collecting, Using and Disclosing Personal Information

Membership Information

The Association collects and uses Personal Information from members and individuals who are applying to become members of the Association for the following purposes:

to process a membership application or renewal;
to collect and process membership dues;
to keep members informed about the activities of the Association by sending them the regular electronic newsletter and the annual business plan, advocacy toolkit and other information;
to keep members informed about information, activities and events of other organizations on topics related to the aims of the Association;
to respond to members’ questions and communications;
to advise members about meetings, conferences, workshops and seminars made available by other reputable organizations that may be of interest to members;
to analyze the demographics of the membership for future planning purposes;
to make available the name, organization name, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and preferred method and language of contact to other members by way of a directory and member partners offering membership benefits on our website;
to make available the organization website address of our members on our publicly available website;
to make mention of new members in our electronic newsletter;
to conduct research and analysis of the participants in the member benefit programs;
to share information with founding partners, sponsors and other members of the Association regarding the member benefits program;
to process participants’ applications or renewals in member benefits programs;
to contact members with respect to requesting their participation in the affairs of the Association; and
to gather information regarding the member’s satisfaction with their membership with the Association.

Participants in Conferences and Events

The Association collects and uses Personal Information of participants in conferences and other events for the following purposes:

to process registration before the event;
to facilitate the delivery of schedules, accommodation reservations (including personal preferences in accommodation), personal requirements and preferences regarding catered or provided meals and to advise you of goods or services provided or offered relating to the event and other event details regarding the event;
to carry out the organization and administration of the event;
to provide a list of participants (company name, first and last name of delegate, title) for any event to be made available to attending sponsor companies and exhibitors and made available to delegates whose company is a TIAC Member;
to invite participants to future events that are likely to be of interest to them;
to notify participants about the benefits of joining the Association; and
to gather information regarding the participant’s satisfaction with the event.

Website

The Association provides information and some member services via its website (the “Site”). By using the Site, users agree that information may be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with this Policy.

Cookies

The Site uses cookies which are small amounts of data that are transferred to a user’s browser. Cookies are used to customize the site to an individual’s interests or to retain Personal Information, such as a password, for the next visit. A user can set his or her browser not to accept cookies and still access the Site, although, as a result, certain areas of the Site may be unavailable or difficult to use.

Non-Personal Information

As is typical with many websites, the Site automatically collects certain non-personal information regarding website users, such as the date and time you linked to the site, your general geographical location (city and province) and how you were directed to our website (i.e. the name of the internet search engine or website that referred or directed you to the Association’s website, if applicable). The non-personal data collected by the Site is used by the Association’s webmaster for system administration purposes and to analyze website visitation for the purpose of updating and optimizing the Site.

Links

The Site contains links to other third party websites. These links are provided for the convenience of users. The Association has no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those websites or their collection, use and/or disclosure of any Personal Information.

Disclosure of Personal Information

The Association does not sell or rent membership lists.

Other than as outlined here, and as permitted or required by law, the Association does not disclose Personal Information without proper consent.

Limiting Retention of Personal Information

The Association retains Personal Information as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected and in order to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Safeguards

The Association protects Personal Information against such risks as loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, modification and destruction by using appropriate security measures.

The Association’s employees with access to Personal Information are required to respect the confidentiality of that information pursuant to their employment agreement the Association. Employees also participate in privacy training. The Association implements methods of protecting Personal Information that include limiting access to the information, restricting access to offices where information is held and technological measures such as passwords.

Nevertheless, due to the nature of the Internet and Internet technologies, security and privacy risk cannot be eliminated and the Association cannot guarantee that Personal Information will not be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this Policy.

Access, Accuracy and Removal of Personal Information

An individual may request access to the Personal Information held about him or her at any time by contacting the Privacy Officer at 1300-180 Rue Elgin Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 2K3, (613) 238-7887. The Association will endeavour to respond to any such request as quickly as possible and, in any event, within the legally required time periods. Subject to certain exceptions and limitations prescribed by law, an individual will be given access to any Personal Information the Association holds about the individual.

The Association seeks to ensure that the Personal Information it uses is accurate and current. Please assist us by advising us of any inaccuracies you notice and keeping us informed of changes to your Personal Information so that we may make appropriate corrections. The Association will correct or amend Personal Information that is shown to be incomplete or inaccurate.

In some circumstances an individual can withdraw consent to the collection, use or disclosure of Personal Information. However, the withdrawal of consent may impact the Association’s ability to serve and maintain a relationship with the individual. If an individual wishes to review, verify, correct or withdraw their Personal Information, they should contact the VP, Marketing and Member Relations at

Questions and Complaints

For further information about this Policy or the practices of the Association related to Personal Information, or to make a complaint, please contact the Privacy Officer at 1300-180 rue Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2K3, 613-238-7887. The Association will investigate all complaints and take appropriate action as a result of such investigation.