Canadian Snowbird Association

PRIVACY POLICY

PRIVACY STATEMENT
The Canadian Snowbird Association values the relationship it has with its members and is therefore committed to respecting your privacy. The association's office is staffed by professionals, who strive to promote, advance, protect and represent the interests of association members while protecting this privacy by maintaining personal information in the strictest confidence and securing it using appropriate safeguards. The association does not share member's information with other organisations or companies without your consent. It is committed to protecting the privacy of its members as well as the privacy of visitors to the association's snowbirds.org website.

PROTECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
The association collects, uses and discloses personal information only for those purposes necessary to administer membership, promotional and advocacy efforts, in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) – the Act.

This information includes, but is not limited to: Name, Address, Telephone, E-Mail, Date of Birth, Language, Departure/Return Dates, Banking/Credit Card Information (if enrolled in the currency exchange program and/or enrolled to have your annual association membership dues directly deducted, if appropriate).

Collection of this information allows the association to establish and maintain communications with members, provide ongoing programs and services, and respond to inquiries.

As part of the association's purpose, it is within the discretion of the officers of the association to disseminate information to the public to express the viewpoint of the association and its members, and the explanation or promotion of goodwill towards Canadian travellers as a whole.

As part of the overall purpose of the association, information may be given to or provided to approved/endorsed independent third parties in furtherance of the association's purpose. Specific notice will be provided to members prior to the collecting and disseminating of any personal member information, particularly with respect to any details that may identify a member as an individual, such as a member's name and address. The association will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that each member is advised of the purpose for which the information will be collected and used. Members have the right to decline to have this information collected and/or transmitted for marketing purposes. Should your consent be provided, you have the right to withdraw consent at a later date, subject to legal or contractual restrictions, upon providing the association written notification of such withdrawal. Such withdrawal of consent will be effective on the 15th business day after receipt by the association of the notice of withdrawal.

Should a member consent, the association agrees that the collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by the organisation. Information shall be collected by fair and lawful means. The association does not use methods to obtain information without a member's knowledge.

Personal information collected from members prior to the implementation of the Act is subject to the Act. Since it has already been collected, the association assumes the right to continue to use and disclose such personal information, unless notified otherwise by individual members.

HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION
The association uses the information it collects in two ways: (1) some information is used internally and for CSA marketing and government advocacy purposes; and (2) some information is shared with our officially endorsed third party member benefit providers:

1. Information Used Internally and for CSA Marketing and Advocacy Purposes:
   Name, address, telephone, e-mail, travelling dates and other similar information is used by the association to understand its audiences and to provide general non-member specific data or statistics for promotional purposes and for government advocacy work.
2. Information Used Externally and for CSA Authorised Member Services Programs/Offers:
   The association never sells its mailing lists. Name, address, telephone, e-mail, travelling dates and other similar information collected from members and non-members is shared from time to time with its authorised and endorsed value-added member benefit providers for the purpose of disseminating information and promotional information that the association feels would be of interest and benefit to its members.

Prior to acquiring a mailing, contact or similar information, the requesting party must, for example, provide the association with its exact intended use of the address and a sample of the mailing that will be sent out. The association's decision on whether or not the material may be distributed or members/non-members are otherwise contacted is based on the nature of the mailing/information piece and whether it furthers the overall interests of the association or the interests of its members. The association and its agents use "dummy" addresses in lists to detect and prevent third party abuse or multiple use of contact information/lists.

SAFETY AND SECURITY MEASURES
The association has developed, implemented and reviews its security procedures to ensure that members' personal information is protected against loss, theft, and unauthorised access or disclosure.

These procedures include physical measures such as the use of locked cabinets; technological tools such as computer passwords and firewalls; and internal organisational controls such as restricted access.

ACCESSING PERSONAL INFORMATION
Association members have the right to access and amend personal information.

OPTING OUT – WITHDRAWING CONSENT
Association members have the right to limit the association's use of personal information, and that this decision may occur after information is originally provided. If desired, the association will mark a member's records in its central database to exclude that address being provided in mailing/contact lists. You may withdraw consent, at any time, to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, understanding that the association, upon request, will explain the implications of withdrawing such consent, as it may hamper or prevent the provision of service.

OUR WEBSITE – WWW.SNOWBIRDS.ORG
The snowbirds.org's operating system may automatically record some general information about an individual's visit to the website. This information is used for statistical analysis, to assist the association in making its website more useful and user friendly to visitors. This non-personal information may be disclosed to third parties such as existing or potential clients, sponsors, advertisers and/or auditing purposes.

The tracking system does not record any personal information about individuals, names or addresses or link this information to any personal data that may be collected.

In addition, the association may use "cookies" that will identify individuals as a return visitor to the association's website. A "cookie" is a piece of data that a website can send to your web-browser, which can then store the cookie on your hard drive. A "cookie" essentially records and recalls the preferences you have with respect to our website. When you visit our website again, we can customise information to suit your individual requirements. The purpose of this is to save a visitor time and provide visitors with a more meaningful visit to our site and to measure website activity.

This policy discloses the privacy practices for the association's website only. Please be aware that the association site contains links to other sites, which are not covered by the association's privacy practices. If a visitor links to another site, such visitor is subject to the privacy and security policies of that other particular website (if any). The association encourages visitors to read the privacy policies of all websites, especially if a visitor shares any personal information.

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
In accordance with the Act, the association has appointed a privacy officer who will ensure that the association complies with all aspects of the legislation and continues to uphold all of the principles for protecting members' personal information.

Individual members may contact the association to ask questions about, access or amend personal information, withdraw consent on having information used, or file a complaint on this use.

Questions and concerns should be directed to the association's privacy officer:

05/2004