This privacy policy is designed to outline the Canadian Society of Forensic Science’s (CSFS) practices regarding collection, use and disclosure of information that you may provide via this site.  Please be sure to read the entire Privacy Policy before using or submitting information to the site.

The CSFS understands the importance of privacy and strives to comply to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Revised June 2019.  This policy also complies in spirit with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1990 (as the main office is found in Ottawa, Ontario).

This privacy policy governs personal information collected by the CSFS from or about individuals.

What information do we collect?

Personal Information is any information about an identified individual or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information.  Personal Information is collected through various means including:

  1. When applying for membership.

Note:  While the CSFS membership is largely based in Canada, we welcome members from around the world.  Each member application is subject to approval by the CSFS Board of Directors.  The CSFS is an inclusive organization.  CSFS reserves the right to decline applicants without proper documentation and/or experience, those who are not ‘active in forensic science’ or those making false claims.  Please see the following website for more information: https://www.csfs.ca/become-a-member/csfs-journal-cost-etc/.

  1. Information about your computer and your preferences (i.e. language) when you visit our website. This information is collected via cookies.

Note:   Cookies are text files stored on your computer, and are accessible only to the websites which create them.  Any information gathered by our use of cookies is not shared.  Most web browers automatically accept cookies, however if you wish to delete or disable cookies, please follow the instructions found here:

http://www.alolaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies.

If you disable cookies, you may diminish the accessibility and enjoyment of our website.

  1. Additional personal information may be requested when you volunteer to participate in a Board of Director position.

Personal Information is kept for as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected.    The length of time we retain information may vary depending on approval of membership application, category of application, time on Board of Directors, etc.  When your Personal Information is no longer required for our purposes, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert it into an anonymous form.

How is this information used?

The following reasons indicate how and when information is collected:

  1. Processing of payment for membership or conferences or regional events. We use a third party secure payment gateways to process payments.  Currently, this is TD Merchant Solutions, their privacy policy can be found here:
https://www.td.com/privacy-and-security/index.jsp

Membership dues payment is captured on the website via a Payment History and shows when dues have been processed. This is an electronic record which assists in showing transparency on payment history for each member. CSFS does not keep, copy or store credit card details.

Information collected during membership (i.e. name, address, contact preference) is stored and updated as needed.

  1. Internal record keeping and administrative purposes – Maintaining user accounts. Users/Members of the CSFS website are assigned a User ID and password which are used to log into the Members only portion of the site.  This personal information is used to authenticate access and manage accounts of the CSFS website.
  2. To communicate newsletters (i.e. Forum) and upcoming activities or regional events to the membership.
  3. If subscribing to the CSFS Journal, personal information is shared with the academic publishing company, Taylor & Francis, to ensure the CSFS Journal is forwarded to the appropriate location either in hardcopy or electronic format. Taylor and Francis’ privacy policy can be found here:  https://taylorandfrancis.com/privacy/

Note:   Issues regarding the CSFS Journal subscription can be resolved by contacting the CSFS at csfs@bellnet.ca.

The use of personal information is limited to the above noted purposes.  The CSFS does not sell, exchange, barter, disclose or trade any Personal Information to any third party.

We may disclose personal information without consent under the following circumstances:

  1. For lawful and regulatory means (i.e. annual filing of non-profit charitable status);
  2. When it may be necessary to establish or collect monies owing to the CSFS;
  3. When the information is public.

Security

The CSFS take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent, loss, misuse and alteration of your personal information.  This also applies to our destruction and disposal of personal information.

Our Membership page is not accessible to the general public and has restricted access to specific employees/Board of Directors that manage the CSFS.

Various security procedures are set out in this policy and are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary.  Only authorized personnel have access to user information.  We use secure server software (SSL) to encrypt financial information that you input before it is sent to us, and our database is hosted in a secure data centre.  Whilst we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alternation of data will not occur, we use our best efforts to prevent this.

Changes to the policy

Changes to privacy policy may occur from time to time.  If the privacy policy is changed, a notice will be made to the CSFS website.  If the change to the privacy policy affects the use of the memberships’ Personal Information, we will use our best endeavors to contact the membership to seek consent to the use.

Continued payment of membership dues, will signify you agree to any such changes.

Access to Your Personal Information

If you have questions about the personal information collected, need to amend or wish to request deleting of specific information, please contact csfs@bellnet.ca.   The CSFS endeavors to ensure any Personal Information in its possession is current, accurate and complete.

The CSFS allows for reasonable right of access to personal information held by us about an individual and will endeavor to provide the information in question within a reasonable time.  To prevent fraudulent requests for access, we may require sufficient information to allow for confirmation that the person making the request is authorized to do so before granting access or making corrections.

When information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with rationale for nondisclosure.

Changes to personal information are done free of charge; however there may be a minimal charge for copies of records.

Your acceptance of this privacy policy

If you do not agree to the privacy policy, we ask you to not consider becoming a member of the CSFS and please do not use our site.

By using our site and being an active member, you consent to the collection and use of information by the CSFS.

Owing to the global nature of our membership, information provided to the CSFS may be outside of your state, province or county’s privacy policies.  However, we have taken steps outlined above to try to improve the security of your information.  The CSFS continues to comply to the general spirit of Personal Information Privacy as outlined by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) Revised June 2019, European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1990.  By submitting your information, you consent to these uses.

How to contact us/Complaints

We welcome your views on our website and our privacy policy.  If you would like to contact us with any queries, comments or complaints,  please send an email to csfs@bellnet.com.    The CSFS Board of Directors can act as a final grievance/complaints process where a member’s concerns can be heard inclusively, as needed.  Alternatively, you can also contact us via:

Phone: (613) 762-9237

Address:  P.O. Box 37040
3332 McCarthy Road
Ottawa, Ontario
K1V 0W0
Canada

September 2019