Involve Airdrie Privacy Policy

It is the policy of the City of Airdrie (the “City”) to protect the privacy, accuracy and security of personal information that is collected, used and disclosed by the City in the conduct of its business, and to comply with all privacy legislation applicable to such information. This Policy outlines how the City collects, retains, uses, and discloses personal information obtained through Involve Airdrie, the City’s online public engagement platform (“the Site”).

The City is subject to Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act R.S.A. 2000, c. F-25 (the "Act").The Act and other applicable legislation may change from time to time; where such changes occur, this Policy will be amended accordingly to ensure the City's continued compliance.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

The City only collects your personal information that you voluntarily provide, with your knowledge and consent, in order for the City to serve your needs or to provide a service to you. Generally, this means that the City collects personal information directly from you.

Through the Site, usually your personal information is obtained when you provide it by contacting the City by email, if you post your personal information on the Site or if you set up a user account.

The City’s Customer Service team and its Corporate Communications team collect your personal information that you submit through the City’s customer feedback forms, which may include your email address and your contact information. This information is solely used to respond to your information request or service request.

The City primarily collects and uses personal information on the Site for the purpose of public engagement with the subject individual. More specifically, collection, use and retention of personal information may occur to support the City in:

  • Opening and maintaining the subject individual's user account(s) on the Site;
  • Offering, providing and administering the Site to or in relation to the subject individual;
  • Obtaining public engagement information from the individual;
  • Verifying the identity of the subject individual, as an authorized user of the Site and to implement, carry out and maintain security measures aimed at protecting users from identity theft, fraud and unauthorized access to accounts or to the Site;
  • Complying with legal or regulatory requirements (including those related to security);
  • Communicating with the subject individual regarding the Site or user accounts;
  • Responding to inquiries from the subject individual;
  • Administering, planning and managing the relationship of the subject individual with the City;
  • Developing, enhancing or providing the City's products and services;
  • Achieving other purposes reasonably connected with managing the subject individual's relationship with the City, and supporting the City's objectives;
  • Protecting the City's legal rights and property; and
  • Protecting the safety of one or more individuals in an emergency or where otherwise necessary.

Personal information may include:

  • Name, user name, email address or other contact or identity information;
  • Information related to the individual:

a) accessing, using or viewing information on the Site;
b) posting comments on the Site; and
c) replying to survey questions on the Site.

  • Information from communications with individuals, including feedback and requests for customer care/user support; and
  • Other information which the City may be required to collect pursuant to applicable laws


The City does not collect or use your personal information for any other purpose unless it has first obtained your consent. Such consent may be express or implied, as may be required pursuant to applicable law or as may be reasonable based upon the circumstances, and will always be informed so that the purpose for the collection or use is identified and communicated to you.

Disclosure of Personal Information

The City only discloses personal information as may be reasonably required to facilitate the authorized purposes listed above. For example, as part of connecting with you if you have questions related to public engagement on a particular issue.

The City does not otherwise disclose your personal information unless:

  • The City has your consent;
  • The City has a good faith belief that disclosure of the information is necessary to protect the rights or property of the City; or
  • The City has a legal duty or right to do so.

Consent

If you choose to voluntarily submit personal information to the City or through the Site, the City will consider that you have consented to the City’s collection, use and disclosure of this personal information for purposes reasonably related to your provision of the information and for the purposes set out in this Policy.

You can deny or withdraw your consent to the City's collection, use and disclosure of your personal information at any time upon reasonable notice, subject to any legal or contractual requirements. However, if you deny or withdraw your consent, you will still be able to provide your feedback on the Site because since registration for a user account, before providing your feedback, is optional.

Security of Personal Information

The City has in place reasonable practices and safeguards (including physical, technological and organizational measures) designed to help protect the security of personal information in its custody and/or under its control. Such safeguards are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information and include a range of measures designed to protect against the loss, misuse or unauthorized alteration of personal information.

Access to Personal Information

Upon request, the City will provide you with access to the personal information the City holds about you, in accordance with applicable law. The City reserves the right to require that any request for access to personal information be made in writing. Generally, there is no cost for such a request for access to personal information; however, the City reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee for access on a case by case basis in accordance with applicable law. The individual making the request will be notified in advance if such charges apply.

Accuracy

The City uses reasonable efforts to update personal information in its custody whenever possible, and where updating may be necessary for the on-going administration of the individual's relationship with the City or otherwise to support the purposes outlined in this Policy. The City will correct or amend personal information in its files and records where it can be demonstrated that the information is incorrect or incomplete.

Storage and Retention of Personal Information

The City stores the personal information it collects securely, on cloud-based servers which are located in Canada. The personal information collected by the City is retained only for such period of time as may be necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected, in accordance with its internal records management and retention policy and/or processes, or as may be required for statutory or other legal purposes. Personal information is destroyed or disposed of in a secure manner when it is no longer required to be retained, or may otherwise be made anonymous. You should be aware that there may be legally required minimum retention periods applicable to your personal information, which we must and do observe.

Website Privacy

The Site offers a variety of content and functionality that allows users to access information regarding, and interact with, the City. This may include the ability to submit comments and suggestions to the City, or to create a user account. No personal information is collected by the City via this functionality unless it is voluntarily provided by you, typically through contacting the City via email or a feedback form, making a posting on the Site, or registering in a secure portion of the Site. If personal information is collected via such functionality, the City takes steps to maintain the security and privacy of such information, and only uses or discloses such information in accordance with this Policy and the Act.

Collection of Other Information

The City’s web server automatically collects a limited amount of standard information essential to the operation and evaluation of the Site. This information includes:

  • the page from which you arrived,
  • the date and time of your page request,
  • the Internet Protocol (IP) address your computer is using to receive information,
  • the type and version of your browser, and
  • the name and size of the file you requested.

This information is not used to identify individuals who come to the Site. This information is only used to help the City assess its information services and is collected in compliance with section 33(c) of the Act.

This information is not used to identify visitors to the Site. Rather, the City uses this information for purposes such as diagnosing problems, improving the operation and content of the Site, and compiling aggregate and statistical information. The City does not track or record information about individuals and their specific online behavior.

In addition, the City may collect and use IP addresses to assist in the monitoring of any security or privacy breach of the Site, or any of its online services. IP addresses are stored by the City for a term that complies with applicable law and/or the City's existing audit requirements.

The City may use electronic "cookies". A cookie is small amount of data that is transferred to your browser by a web server. It cannot be executed as code, nor deliver viruses. Cookies are used on the Site to identify and track the IP address of a use who logged in, to present associated information specific to that user and to determine how visitors use the Site by collecting anonymous statistical information. In order for a cookie to be written to your computer, cookies must be enabled by your web browser. You may adjust your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to reject cookies. If you decide to reject a cookie, you may find that the functionality of the Site may be limited.

Links to Other Websites

The Site may contain links to other websites. The City is not responsible for the content and the privacy practices of other websites and encourages you to examine the privacy policy and disclaimers of each website and to make your own decision regarding the disclosure of personal information to that website.

Email and Forms

If you choose to provide the City with personal information in an email or by filling out an electronic form and submitting it to the City via the Site, the City will use the information contained in the message or form to respond to the message and to assist in providing the requested information or service. All email messages or forms received are the property of the City and may be accessed by any authorized City employee without further consent. All email messages are subject to the Act, and if required to be retained by law will be stored and maintained in accordance with the City's records management and retention policy.

Messages Sent over the Internet

The City cannot guarantee the privacy or security of information sent through the Site or by email over the internet as messages sent via the internet can be intercepted. If you are concerned about sending personal information to us through the internet you can use another method such as fax or regular mail.

Revision

This Policy is regularly reviewed to ensure that the City continues to serve the privacy interests of Site users and to comply with applicable law. The City reserves the right to revise, amend or replace this Policy at any time. Any updates to this Policy will be posted on or available via, the Site.

Inquiries

For questions or comments regarding the City's privacy policies and practices, for additional information about the administration of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, or to make a request for access to personal information, contact Legislative Services, Attention: FOIP Office, 400 Main St. SE, Airdrie, ABT4B 3C, by email to FOIP@airdrie.ca or phone 403-948-8800, Extension 8816.