Website Privacy Policy
PURPOSE
This Website Privacy Policy (the “ Website Privacy Policy”) sets out how Healthcare Excellence Canada (“HEC”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) collects, uses and discloses personal information obtained through https://www.healthcareexcellence.ca (including, without limitation, the HEC Community Portal made available on the website) (collectively, the “Website”), during our online and offline activities, or otherwise through your interactions with us.
POLICY
HEC collects limited personal information through the Website and online activities, including, without limitation, participation on social media. HEC also collects personal information via our third-party electronic newsletter service provider when people express an interest in receiving HEC publications, news releases, and e-mail bulletins. Personal information may be obtained from people who attend HEC-sponsored events, such as workshops, seminars and related events, and otherwise in the course of HEC’s program delivery (as further described below). Such information may be stored on servers located outside Canada, including, without limitation, in the United States of America. Where personal information is stored outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of that foreign jurisdiction and may be accessible to that jurisdiction’s governments, courts, and/or law enforcement or regulatory agencies.
Please read this Website Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices for processing and storing data. By engaging with the Website and otherwise providing your personal information to us, including while using our services, you accept and consent to the practices described in this Website Privacy Policy.
HEC may change this Website Privacy Policy at any time by updating this page. As such, you should check this page from time to time for any updates. Your continued access to and/or use of the Website or our services, or your continued interaction with us after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of, and agreement to, the terms of this Website Privacy Policy, as revised. If you do not agree to terms and conditions of this Website Privacy Policy, you should discontinue your use of the Website and/or your engagement with HEC immediately.
HEC does not sell, share or distribute your personal information, except as described in this Website Privacy Policy, as described at the time of collection, or as permitted or required by applicable law. Unless outlined in this Website Privacy Policy or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, no personal information is collected without first obtaining your consent, which may be: (a) implied or presumed when you provide information to us with knowledge as to how we will use it; or (b) express, as required by applicable law.
Generally, HEC will use and/or disclose your personal information without your consent only when permitted or required by applicable law, including, without limitation, to comply with any court order, law or legal process, or respond to any lawful government or regulatory request.
AUTOMATICALLY OBTAINED INFORMATION
Our servers collect and store information, such as the Internet protocol address from which you access the Website, your browser type, the date and time you accessed the Website, the Internet address of the website that you came from, and cookie information (as further described below).
COOKIES
A cookie is a file that is written to your hard drive when you access a website. We use cookies as permitted by applicable law to improve user experience, personalize your access to content of the Website to your interests, ensure data security, and understand general traffic patterns. This information may be used to guide enhancements in Website structure and/or to evaluate the effectiveness of a program or publication.
From time to time, HEC uses Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) tracking pixels and Siteimprove pixels for web optimization. From time to time, HEC also uses Google Remarketing to advertise its programming on other websites using cookies. You may opt out of the use of cookies for re-marketing purposes by visiting the Google site here: https://adssettings.google.com/
Information collected includes, but is not limited to, data to track frequency of visits, pages visited, web browser used, and city of web visitor.
HEC tracks its Website usage via Google Analytics to help inform its programming and marketing activities. Data collected by Google Analytics is stored by Google and shared with us in the form of aggregated reports that allow us to better understand how users interact with the Website. If you wish to be excluded from Google Analytics data collection, you can download its Opt-Out Browser Add-On, which is accessible here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
We note that Google, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and LinkedIn own and operate data centers around the world. To find out more about their data center locations and privacy policies, please see the following links:
- https://policies.google.com/privacy.
- https://www.facebook.com/policphp
- https://x.com/en/privacy
- https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
We note that, where personal information is stored outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of that foreign jurisdiction, and may be accessible to that jurisdiction’s governments, courts, and/or law enforcement or regulatory agencies.
REGISTRATION DATA
HEC also collects limited personal information from individuals who make requests to HEC for information or who create an account to access or utilize certain aspects of the Website (an “Account”). Personal information collected for these activities is used only for the purpose that it is collected and is not generally used or disclosed for any other purpose, except where permitted or required by applicable law or with your consent. HEC does not otherwise share its mailing lists, in whole or in part, with any organization regardless of their affiliation with HEC, unless permitted or required by applicable law.
Information collected may include your name, email address, the organization you represent, your job title, and the document you have requested. If you elect to create an Account, you may be required to disclose your contact information, including, without limitation, a defined username, a password, and your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, personal preferences and interest topics (collectively, “Registration Data”). You can deactivate or make changes to your Account at any time. To deactivate or make changes to your Account, contact info@hec-esc.ca. Please note that usernames cannot be changed.
Registration Data is stored on HEC’s web servers located both in and outside of Canada, including, without limitation, in the United States of America. Where personal information is stored outside of your jurisdiction, it is subject to the laws of that other jurisdiction and may be accessible to that jurisdiction’s governments, courts, and/or law enforcement or regulatory agencies. We may, in compliance with applicable privacy laws, transfer personal information we have if we merge with or are acquired by a third party, or should a third party acquire all or part of our business, or should any such transaction be proposed.
We use Registration Data to administer the Website and provide our services. We may also use such data when utilizing third-party service providers (including vendors or suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content for the operation and maintenance of the Website) when necessary to permit those service providers to provide products or services to HEC. Access to personal information by the service providers is limited to the information reasonably necessary for them to perform the applicable services for HEC.
PROGRAM INFORMATION
HEC requires its partners, program applicants and other agents to provide certain personal information about themselves and their team members involved with projects, programs, awards, or applications for which funding and/or other support is sought. Such information may include, without limitation, curriculum vitae, contact information, academic affiliation, gender, language and areas of work. HEC may solicit comments from reviewers and committees for review of applications, commissioned reports and other similar types of products which may include comments respecting the suitability, expertise and qualifications of the project participants, either individually or collectively. Information gathered for program participation is stored on secure servers.
HEC uses personal information provided in connection with program applications to review such applications, to administer and monitor awards, and to promote healthcare improvements in Canada. As part of the review process, application information may be disclosed to independent reviewers drawn from the healthcare improvement sector, including, without limitation, the academic, private and public sectors. All such individuals are informed of HEC’s obligations to protect such information.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, HEC may publish or otherwise disclose in its communications (including, without limitation, press releases and on the Website), personal information relating to approved projects, funding and/or other support, and reports for which funding and/or other support has been approved, as well as programs, partnerships, projects, program applications, and events. The purpose of these communications is to publicize the projects, awards, and/or reports that are supported by HEC and/or to promote healthcare improvements. Such disclosure/publication may include, without limitation, personal information relating to team leads, team members, authors, award holders, and funding partners. Such personal information may include, without limitation, names, job titles, institutions, affiliations (where applicable) and fields of work. With specific consent, where permitted or required by applicable law, or where the information is already available through other means, HEC may also disclose comments provided by such individuals, with attribution.
Information contained in agreements, purchase of service contracts, program applications, or in job applications will only be disclosed for statistical purposes or, in the case of program information, to potential funding partners or funding agencies for the purposes of program or project administration.
HEC may use information provided to it in connection with program applications and commissioned reports to identify potential reviewers.
HEC also uses personal information provided in memoranda of understanding, program applications and commissioned reports for purposes of internal management, administration and evaluation requirements. In this regard, HEC may use and disclose personal information for program planning, evaluation and review, in audits, and for generating statistics for these activities.
ELECTRONIC CORRESPONDENCE
Subscriber information for our email bulletin and registration information for HEC events is stored on secure servers. HEC uses a third-party provider for this service via our customer relationship management software (CRM), with the third-party service provider performing analytics that evaluate the effectiveness of a publication and to help inform the marketing activities that it performs on our behalf.
Information collected may include, without limitation, your name, email address, open rates, click rates, browsers used, and unsubscribe rates. This information is stored by our third-party provider in the United States of America and the third-party provider provides services to us from the United States of America. We note that where personal information is stored outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of that jurisdiction, and may be accessible to that jurisdiction’s governments, courts, or law enforcement or regulatory agencies.
EXTERNAL LINKS
The Website may link to, or be linked to, websites not maintained by or affiliated with HEC. HEC provides such links for your convenience only. Other websites are governed by privacy policies and practices that may differ significantly from those of HEC. We strongly recommend that you review the privacy policies and practices applicable to personal information collected through a linked website before submitting any personal information. Linking to any other website is at your sole risk, and HEC assumes no liability for damages from such linking.
SECURITY
The security of your personal information is very important to us. We use physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards designed to protect your personal information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, use, alteration or disclosure. The following are examples of our security procedures used to protect your personal information:
- the Website uses industry-standard SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption to protect data;
- we use firewalls to protect information held in our servers in a secured data centre; and
- we monitor the limited number of employees who have potential access to your personal information.
- we require all employees to complete a cybersecurity awareness program
We caution that, while we endeavor to secure your personal information, no network, system or server is 100% secure.
We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Website Privacy Policy or as required or permitted by applicable law. This period may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us. When no longer needed, or when required by applicable law, we will securely dispose or anonymize your information.
REQUESTS FOR MANAGING PERSONAL INFORMATION
Under certain circumstances and subject to applicable laws, supported by a written request and proof of identification, you may access information about you that we have collected, used or disclosed, and/or ask that it be corrected and/or withdraw your consent to our disclosure or use of your information.
As required or permitted by applicable law, you may be entitled to additional rights, including, without limitation: (a) the right to control the dissemination of your information; (b) the right to receive computerized information collected from you in a structured, commonly used and technological format and to have this information transferred directly to another organization; and (c) the right to request information about data processing.
Finally, you also have a right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection authority, in particular in the jurisdiction where you normally reside, where we are based, or where an alleged infringement of data protection law has taken place.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at:
Healthcare Excellence Canada
Attention: Vice-President, Organizational Performance and Corporate Services
150 Kent Street, Suite 200
Ottawa, ON K1P 0E4
Telephone: 613-728-2238
Email: privacy@hec-esc.ca
Last updated: April 17 2025
