Privacy Policy

BIA recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.

Your Privacy Rights

From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the “Act”), and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which it incorporates. The Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information.

BIA is responsible for the personal information we collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this policy.

What personal information do we collect?

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. Information is collected only as necessary and appropriatedfor the purposes of the BIA and achievement of its objectives.

How do we collect your personal information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible, and in most instances, we collect your personal information directly from you.

Consent:

In most cases, we shall ask you to specifically consent, if we collect, use, or disclose your personal information. Normally, we ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances, we may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your conduct with us.

Use and disclosure of Your Information

Under certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information:

• when we are required or authorized by law to do so;
• when you have consented to the disclosure;
• when the services we are providing to you requires us give your information, unless you tell us otherwise;
• if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up services or archival file storage) and the third party is bound by our privacy policy;
• if the information is already publicly known.

Updating Your Information

Since we use your personal information to provide legal services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. If any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.

Is My Personal Information Secure?

We do take all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are:

• premises security;
• restricted file access to personal information;
• deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
• internal password and security policies.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests which require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

Communicating with Us

You should be aware that e-mail is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

Web Site

Our website contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy. On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimize our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.