Weare committed to providing our clients with excellent service. Doing business with a Property and Casualty insurance broker involves providing information about yourself, so protection of your personal information is one of our highest priorities.
Our brokerage and the insurance industry have a solid track record of respecting your right to privacy and safeguarding your personal information. As a result of federal legislation, we’ve further strengthened our privacy commitment by informing you of why and
how we collect, use and disclose your personal information. You can be assured that we’ll only handle your personal information in a manner
that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.
A Brief Summary of Our Privacy Practices.
Whydo we collect personal information?
When you first become a client or whenever you acquire or renew a product from us, we need to collect some of your personal information. Common purposes for which we collect your personal information are to:
- Enable us to acquire or renew an insurance policy for you;
- Assist you and assess your ongoing needs for insurance;
- Assess your need for other products, such as financial products, and to offer them to you;
- Ensure your information is accurate and up-to-date; and
- Protect us both against error or fraud.
Whatpersonal information do we collect?
Personal information is information that identifies you as an individual client and relates specifically to you. Depending on the purpose(s) for which we need to collect it, we may ask for the following personal
information about you including:
- Basic information such as your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address, birth date and marital status.
- Claims history
- Credit and past payment records
- Driver’s record
- Details about your property such as the value of your home and its contents
- Medical information such as any condition that may affect the operation of a vehicle
- Employment information
We may obtain information from:
- You
- Insurance companies
- Other insurance brokers or agents
- Credit
organizations
- Motor vehicle and driver licensing authorities
- Financial institutions
- Medical professionals
Whodo we disclose your personal information to?
For many of the purposes identified above, we will need to share your personal information with others in order to serve your needs. These other parties commonly include:
- Insurance companies
- Other insurance brokers or agents
- Credit organizations
- Professionals working with us such as adjusters or lawyers
- Financial institutions. For example, the organization that carries your mortgage.
How
do we protect your personal information?
In order to protect your personal information and right to privacy, we will:
- Not collect, use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than those that we identify to you.
- Keep your personal information only for as long as we need it to fulfill the stated purpose or as required by law.
- Maintain your personal information in as accurate, complete and up-to-date a form as possible.
- Safeguard your personal information to the best of out ability.
- Respond to any request you may make to access or correct the personal information we hold about you.
- Obtain the appropriate consent from you for the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information.
Consent
We may obtain your express consent or we may determine that consent has been implied by the circumstances.
- We might ask you for your express consent in
writing, for example in a signed consent or application form.
- We may ask for your express consent in person or over the telephone.
- We may determine that by seeking insurance through our organization, your consent has been implied for us to deal with your personal information in a reasonable manner.
There are also legal exceptions in which we will not need to obtain your consent or explain the
purposes for the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information. For example, this could apply when there is an emergency
situation, or if it is necessary for your protection or ours.
Youcan control how we handle your personal information
We want you
to know that you do have choices in this matter. You could refuse to allow us to obtain, use or share your personal information or you could
also withdraw a previously given consent at any time.
However by doing that, depending on the situation, you may be limiting or even preventing our ability to provide you with the product or service you desire.
For example, if you do not allow us to obtain information about your driving record, it is unlikely that we will be able to provide you with auto insurance.
We’ll be happy to discuss particular situations with you to help you with your decision.
Contact Information and Resources
We are committed to treating you with respect and courtesy, and to providing the highest level of service.
Please contact our Privacy Officer at the address below if you:
- Wish to access your personal information.
- Wish to change your consent to the ways in which we may collect, use or disclose your personal information
- Have a complaint about our privacy policies, or the manner in which we’ve handled your personal
information.
- Have any other questions about our privacy policies, wish to obtain a copy or our Personal Information Policy & Procedure Handbook, or request additional information.
We will respond to you promptly and do our utmost to resolve your concerns. To find out more about federal privacy laws, please contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at 1-800-282-1376 or visit their website at www.privcom.gc.ca
|
