Privacy statement for the Ottawa Humane Society

Using personal information responsibly

At the Ottawa Humane Society, we understand the importance of individual privacy. We know that earning the trust of our clients and employees is a permanent and ongoing endeavor. With the growth of electronic media it is necessary to take further steps in protecting the privacy of the individual. We fully support the new Canadian legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, “the Privacy Act“, in its role to protect the privacy of the individual. Our role in protecting an individual’s privacy does not stop with this Act. We are continually looking for additional ways to ensure that the personal information we hold is secure accurate and used in a responsible and respectful manner.

As such, we have appointed a manager, who will be responsible for personal information and whose role is to ensure that the personal information entrusted with us is secure and will be used for the purpose intended and not be used for purposes other than what is necessary to offer the service our clients deserve. Our Chief Privacy Officer is Doug Steringa. He can be reached at 613-725-3166 ext. 246 or emailed at dougs@ottawahumane.ca.

Where and why we collect personal information

When you adopt an OHS animal at our shelter or at one of our PAL locations, if you lose or find an animal, participate in one of our microchip clinics, purchase a City of Ottawa licence from us or become an OHS volunteer, there is certain information that we require to serve you better. This information is necessary in order to identify you, contact you, or process your purchase. These pieces of information may include:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone number(s)
  • Email address
  • Animal and veterinary information
  • Credit card number and expiration date

To fulfil our animal welfare mandate and to make your experience with animal ownership more positive, we are developing a number of customized services and programs. To do this, we may need more information than you may consider usual.

Here are the main services we currently offer and a description of how the information collected will be used:

Adoption

  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to follow up on the adoption, if required
  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to confirm sterilization and vaccination of owned animals
  • To register licence information with the City of Ottawa
  • To register microchip information with EIDAP Canada
  • To send out a welcome package from the Science Diet company
  • Communication purposes; to send our OHS newsletters, special offers and programs and other printed or electronic updates
  • Future solicitations to support our activities and operations
  • Statistical analysis for planning and reporting

Animal Surrender

  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to follow up on the surrender and/or animal history, if required
  • Communication purposes; to send our OHS newsletters, special offers and programs and other printed or electronic updates
  • Future solicitations to support our activities and operations
  • Statistical analysis for planning and reporting

Licence Purchase

  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to follow up on the licence information, if required
  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to confirm sterilization and vaccination of owned animals
  • To register licence information with the City of Ottawa
  • To register microchip information with EIDAP Canada
  • Communication purposes: to send our OHS newsletters, special offers and programs and other printed or electronic updates
  • Future solicitations to support our activities and operations
  • Statistical analysis for planning and reporting

Lost and Found

  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to follow up on the lost or found report, if required
  • To register licence information with the City of Ottawa
  • Communication purposes: to send our OHS newsletters, special offers and programs and other printed or electronic updates
  • Future solicitations to support our activities and operations
  • Statistical analysis for planning and reporting

Microchip Clinics

  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to follow up on the owner information, if required
  • To register microchip information with EIDAP Canada
  • Communication purposes; to send our OHS newsletters, special offers and programs and other printed or electronic updates
  • Future solicitations to support our activities and operations
  • Statistical analysis for planning and reporting

Volunteer

  • For the Ottawa Humane Society to confirm sterilization and vaccination of owned animals (foster volunteers)
  • Communication purposes; to send our OHS newsletters, special offers and programs and other printed or electronic updates
  • Future solicitations to support our activities and operations
  • Statistical analysis for planning and reporting
  • All OHS volunteers are also required to provide references and a police record check

Ten Privacy Principles

Privacy Legislation and the Ottawa Humane Society support the following ten privacy principles:

1. Accountability
The Ottawa Humane Society’s Director: Central Services will serve as its Chief Privacy Officer.

2. Identifying Purposes
When personal information is collected by the OHS, the purpose for its collection will be made clear.

3. Consent
The knowledge and consent of customers and clients is required for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information.

4. Limiting Collection
Personal information will only be collected by the OHS for the purposes that were identified at the time of collection.

5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The personal information collected will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than what it was collected. Requests for disclosure of personal information to Third Parties must be accompanied by a completed, signed and dated Authorization to Release Information form.

6. Accuracy
The OHS will endeavor to ensure that the information it collects is accurate in all regards.

7. Safeguards
Personal information will be protected, by appropriate security safeguards, against loss, theft, unauthorized access, copying etc. including maintaining files in locked drawers and offices, the use of computer passwords, encryption etc.

8. Openness
A full set of policies and procedures relating to privacy and the management of personal information are to be readily available to individuals upon request.

9. Individual Access
Clients or customers of the OHS who wish to view the records pertaining to them at the OHS may do so by contacting the Society’s Chief Privacy Officer. Clients or customers may obtain a copy of their record. Clients or customers shall not have access to portions of their file or record that contains information regarding third parties.

A client or customer may provide a written request to the Chief Privacy Officer for correction related to any data contained in their own file or record. Response to an individual’s request should be made within 30 days.

10. Challenging Compliance
Complaints regarding this policy or any privacy issue should be directed in writing to the OHS Chief Privacy Officer at 245 West Hunt Club, Ottawa, ON, K2E 1A6 or dougs@ottawahumane.ca.

Upon receipt of a complaint, the Chief Privacy Officer will:

  • Acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 72 hours.
  • Collect the facts through reviewing the relevant record(s) and interviewing any staff members involved.
  • Within 30 days, respond to the complaint describing the action to be taken to correct the situation or the reasons why no action is to be taken. All responses to complaints shall include the following: “If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of this investigation, please contact the Chief Privacy Officer for further review.
  • Where a request for further review is received, respond within 30 days describing the steps taken in the further review and the steps taken to correct the situation or the reasons why no further action is to be taken. All responses to requests for further review shall include the following, “If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of this review, please contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Fundraising and Development

The OHS abides by the Association for Fundraising Professionals’ Donor Bill of Rights.

The OHS does not sell, rent or trade any donor names.

OHS customers, clients and donors have the right to be removed from all lists for mail, telephone and other types of solicitation. To have your name removed, please contact our Development Department at 613-725-3166 ext. 252, write us at 245 West Hunt Club, Ottawa, ON, K2E 1A6 or email us at development@ottawahumane.ca.

Complaints regarding this policy should be directed in writing to the OHS Chief Privacy Officer at 245 West Hunt Club, Ottawa, ON, K2E 1A6 or dougs@ottawahumane.ca.

HotJar

We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices. This includes a device’s IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf.

For further details, please see the ‘about Hotjar’ section of Hotjar’s support site.