Wings Over the Rockies Nature Festival Society Privacy Policy
SCOPE and ACCOUNTABILITY
This Privacy Policy applies to the Wings Over the Rockies Nature Festival Society, located in Invermere, BC.
At Wings Over the Rockies Nature Festival Society (“WOTR”), we are committed to providing our ticket buyers, attendees, donors, volunteers, presenters and event leaders and email subscribers with exceptional service. As this service includes the collection, use and disclosure of some personal information; protecting their personal information is one of our highest priorities.
While we have always respected the privacy of the personal information provided to us, we have strengthened our commitment to protecting personal information as a result of British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). BC’s PIPA, which came into effect on January 1, 2004, sets out rules for how BC not-for-profit organizations may collect, use and disclose personal information.
We will inform our ticket buyers, attendees, donors, sponsors, volunteers, presenters and event leaders and email subscribers of why and how we collect and disclose their personal information, obtain their consent where required, and only handle their personal information in a manner that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.
This Privacy Policy, in compliance with PIPA, outlines the principles and practices we will follow in protecting personal information. Our privacy commitment includes ensuring the accuracy, confidentiality and security of the personal information provided to us, and allowing those who provide this information to us to request to see the information we have for them, and correction of, their personal information.
DEFINITIONS
Personal Information is information about an identifiable individual e.g. including name, home address, email address, and phone number(s), photographs or images of individuals, biographies. Personal information does not include contact information (described below).
Contact Information is information that would enable an individual to be contacted at a place of business and includes name, position name or title, business address, business telephone number, business email or business fax number. Contact information is not covered by this policy or PIPA.
COLLECTION and USES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect personal information only from:
- Ticket buyers
- Attendees
- Donors
- Sponsors
- Volunteers
- Presenters and event leaders
- Email subscribers
- Others who have shown an interest in Wings
Unless the purposes for collecting personal information are obvious and the individual voluntarily provides his or her personal information for those purposes, we will communicate the purposes for which personal information is being collected, either orally or in writing, before or at the time of collection.
WOTR uses the personal information you have provided to respond to you regarding the reason you contacted us, or to provide you with the service, good or information that you have requested. Some examples of how WOTR uses personal information are, to:
- Provide newsletters and information about WOTR for e-marketing purposes;
- Sell tickets for Festival events and provide registration confirmation to buyers;
- Conduct financial transactions such as payment for Festival events or auction items;
- Respond to inquiries;
- Inform you of important changes at WOTR;
- Register volunteers and provide communications to them as required;
- Inform you about Festival presenters and event leaders;
- Collect Festival waivers for attendees;
- Provide recognition in print materials;
- Administer contests and promotions;
- Invite volunteers, donors, sponsors and subscribers to special events and functions;
- Solicit donations, thank donors and issue tax receipts;
- Complete incident reports;
- Meet regulatory requirements
We will only use or disclose personal information where necessary to fulfill the purposes identified at the time of collection.
We will not use or disclose personal information for any additional purpose unless we obtain consent to do so. We will not share, rent or sell personal information to other parties.
CONSENT
We will obtain consent orally, in writing or electronically to collect, use or disclose personal information except where, as noted below, we are authorized to do so without consent.
Consent can be provided or it can be implied where the purpose for collecting, using or disclosing the personal information would be considered obvious and the personal information is voluntarily provided for that purpose.
Consent is also implied where an individual is given notice and a reasonable opportunity to opt-out of his or her personal information being used for mail-outs and the individual does not opt-out.
Subject to certain exceptions (e.g., the personal information is necessary to provide the service or product, or the withdrawal of consent would frustrate the performance of a legal obligation), individuals can withhold or withdraw their consent for WOTR to use their personal information in certain circumstances. An individual’s decision to withhold or withdraw their consent to certain uses of personal information may restrict our ability to provide a particular service or product. If so, we will explain the situation to assist the individual in making the decision.
We may collect, use or disclose personal information without the individual’s consent in the following limited circumstances:
- When the collection is clearly in the interests of the individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way;
- When personal information is collected by observation at an event at which the individual voluntarily appears and that is open to the public;
- When personal information is available from a public source (e.g. , a telephone directory);
- When the personal information is necessary to facilitate collection of a payment or debt owed to WOTR, or a payment of a debt owed by WOTR.
STORAGE and RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information is stored in our database(s) on a secure server and/or in secured hardcopy files. Only authorized WOTR Society personnel have access to this information.
Personal information collected for the above purposes is retained for at least one year, and no longer than three years, so that an individual has a reasonable opportunity to request access to it. This period may be extended, as appropriate, for individuals who elect to continue their relationship with WOTR on an ongoing basis.
We will retain personal information only as long as is reasonable to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected or for legal or business purposes.
Email subscribers are provided an opt-out (unsubscribe) ability through our email marketing software (Mailchimp). Any individual may opt-out by contacting the WOTR Festival Event Planner in writing at wingsovertherockies@gmail.com.
SECURITY and THIRD PARTIES
We are committed to ensuring the security of individual personal information in order to protect it from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or similar risks.
We use appropriate physical and/or electronic means to secure access to personal information records.
We use appropriate security measures when destroying or deleting individual’s personal information such as shredding documents, deleting electronically stored information.
Following each Festival, we anonymize ticket buyers home address information in our electronic database(s) to generate Festival statistics about the geographic home locations of our ticket buyers. These statistics are for WOTR internal use only and are not disclosed to third parties.
The WOTR website contains links to other third party websites, including those of our sponsors, supporters and event leaders. WOTR is not responsible for the content and privacy policies of other websites. We encourage you to review each third party website privacy policy and disclaimers to make your own judgement as to its accuracy, safety and reliability and specifically before accessing any link on the WOTR website.
We use external services and suppliers to assist with some functions, an example being the processing of financial payments for event ticket transactions. Such third party suppliers are not allowed to use personally identifiable information except for the purposes of providing these services. WOTR does not retain your financial payment information in any of our electronic or hardcopy records.
ACCURACY OF and ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
We make reasonable efforts to ensure that personal information is accurate and complete. We rely on individuals to notify us if there is a change to their personal information that may affect their relationship with WOTR. If you are aware of an error in our information about you, please let us know in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information and the correction being sought. Such notifications may be sent in writing to the Festival Event Planner at wingsovertherockies@gmail.com.
Individuals have a right to access their own personal information, subject to limited exceptions.
A request to access personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information being sought. Upon request, we will tell individuals how we use their personal information and to whom it has been disclosed, if applicable.
We will require individuals to prove their identity before we provide them with access to their personal information.
We will make the requested information available within 30 business days, or provide written notice of an extension where additional time is required to fulfill the request.
If we are authorized or required by PIPA to refuse access, we will notify the individual in writing, state the reasons for refusal and outlining further steps that are available to the individual.
QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS: THE ROLE OF THE PRIVACY OFFICER OR DESIGNATED INDIVIDUAL
The Privacy Officer is responsible for ensuring WOTR’s compliance with this policy and the Personal Information Protection Act. The Festival Event Planner is delegated certain responsibilities as laid out in this policy.
If you have a question or concern about any collection, use or disclosure of personal information by WOTR, or a request for access to your own personal information, please contact the Privacy Officer or Festival Event Planner in writing by emailing Wingsovertherockies@gmail.com.
In the event the Privacy Officer or Festival Event Planner is unable to resolve the question or concern, individuals may write to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia.
