CISS Privacy Policy
Canadian International Student Services Inc. (“CISS”), in addition to its commitment to provide a stimulating and safe learning environment for students of all nationalities, is also committed to protecting, in accordance with applicable legislation, the accuracy, security, and privacy of any personal information CISS holds. For these reasons, we have created the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) which outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.
Consent
BY SUBMITTING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO CISS OR ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS AND AGENTS, YOU AGREE THAT WE MAY COLLECT, USE AND DISCLOSE SUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND AS PERMITTED OR REQUIRED BY LAW. In most circumstances, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain of the identified purposes at any time by contacting the CISS Chief Privacy Officer, however, if you do so, we may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with certain programs, services or information which may be of value to you. If you provide CISS or our service providers and agents with personal information of another individual, you represent that you have all necessary authority and/or have obtained all necessary consents from such person to enable us to collect, use and disclose such personal information for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.
What Personal Information do we collect?
Canadian privacy legislation defines “personal information” broadly as information about an identifiable individual or as information that allows an individual to be identified, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization. For the purposes of this policy, “Personal Information” means information about an identifiable individual as defined from time to time in applicable federal and provincial privacy legislation.
For example, your Personal Information includes information that relates to your educational history, academic transcripts, personal profiles, gender, ethnic origin, nationality, languages spoken, information contained in your application for our programmes or your study permit or visa, an unlisted address or phone number, an identifying number, among others. However, some Personal Information that is otherwise publicly available is not protected by applicable privacy laws.
Why do we collect your Personal Information?
In general, CISS collects, uses and discloses Personal Information about our students in order to provide our students with the various adult and youth educational programmes, language learning, tutoring, summer camps and tours we have developed and operate. CISS does not sell Personal Information to any third parties.
More specifically, we collect, use and disclose Personal Information for the following purposes:
- to assist you with your application for any of our programmes, including obtaining the necessary legal guardianship, study permits, immigration and Visa approvals;
- to evaluate you for placement in, and assist with registration and enrolment with CISS affiliated public and private high schools in Canada;
- to develop, enhance, market, sell, administer or otherwise provide CISS’s services;
- to distribute our newsletters, information and other materials to individuals on our mail and e-mail lists;
- as permitted by, and to comply with, any legal or regulatory requirements or provisions; and
- for any other purpose to which you consent.
To whom do we disclose your Personal Information?
From time to time, CISS may disclose your Personal Information to:
- schools and school administrators, consulates and government agencies, agents, residential providers and homestay families, and service providers, including organizations or individuals retained by CISS to perform functions on its behalf;
- a person who, in the reasonable judgment of CISS, is providing or seeking the information as your agent; or
- any third party or parties, where you consent to such disclosure or where disclosure is required or permitted by law.
Where do we store your Personal Information?
Your Personal Information is stored in secured locations and on servers controlled by CISS, located either at our offices or at the offices of our service providers.
How may you obtain access to your Personal Information?
Upon your written request, subject to certain exceptions, CISS will inform you of the existence, use and disclosure of your Personal Information and will give you access to that information. You may inform CISS in writing of any changes required to be made with your personal information. Once informed by you, CISS will make all reasonable efforts to update, correct and remove any outdated or incorrect information. Access and correction requests should be sent to our Chief Privacy Officer, using the contact information below.
How do we protect your Personal Information?
To help protect the confidentiality of your Personal Information, CISS employs administrative and technological safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of your Personal Information. For instance, we operate secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems.
We ensure our employees, staff and agents that have access to your personal information use it in accordance with the principles set forth in this Privacy Policy and applicable laws. In addition, where personal information is sent to a third party for processing, we make sure that all personal information is kept secure.
Retention of Personal Information
We retain personal information in our records for as long as necessary to fulfill the intended purposes or a legal or business purpose.
Privacy and our Website
In order to provide our website visitors with information, visitors may voluntarily submit Personal Information to us for purposes such as asking a question or obtaining information. You should be aware that email is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.
CISS does not use cookies nor does CISS use any electronic means to automatically collect personal information from you or your computer. However, CISS’s web servers will automatically collect IP addresses and we may view our web server IP log from time to time to prevent fraudulent acts and possible network attacks.
The only personal information CISS collects via the website is the information voluntarily supplied by you if you contact CISS via the Website.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
CISS reserves the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make a change to this Privacy Policy, we will post such changes on our website and make such revised policy and changes available upon request to the CISS Chief Privacy Officer.
Further Information
For information on CISS’s privacy practices, please contact its Chief Privacy Officer at:
Canadian International Student Services Inc.
Email: jkellie@cisscanada.com
Chief Privacy Officer
415 Yonge St, Suite 1201
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 2E7
Canada
Fax: 416-646-5403
Tel: 416-646-5400
Toll Free (from within Canada): 1-866-258-4303