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Privacy Notice

GENERAL

At PKF Lawyers, safeguarding your confidentiality and protecting your personal information is a primary concern. We are committed to meeting or exceeding the privacy standards established by Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and all applicable privacy laws. 

The guidelines below set forth the principles we use in gathering, using, maintaining and protection personal information you provide us.

PKF Lawyers has followed the ten privacy principles described in the PIPEDA to govern our actions as they relate to the use of personal information. The ten privacy principles, and how they apply to us, are as follows:

Principle 1 – Accountability. PKF Lawyers is responsible for maintaining and protecting any personal information under our control. In fulfilling this mandate, PKF Lawyers has designated an individual who is accountable for our compliance with the law.

Principle 2 – Identifying Purposes. The purposes for which personal information is collected shall be identified before or at the time the information is collected.

Principle 3 – Consent. Your knowledge and consent is required for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information except where required or permitted by law.

Principle 4 – Limiting Collection. The personal information collected must be limited to those details necessary for the purposes identified by PKF Lawyers. Information must be collected by fair and lawful means.

Principle 5 – Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention. Your personal information may only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected unless you otherwise consent, or when it is required or permitted by law. Your personal information may only be retained for the period of time required to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.

Principle 6 – Accuracy. Your personal information must be maintained in as accurate, complete and up-to-date form as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is to be used.

Principle 7 – Safeguarding Personal information. Your personal information must be protected by security safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity level of the information.

Principle 8 – Openness. PKF Lawyers is required to make information available to you concerning the policies and practices that apply to the management of your personal information.

Principle 9 – Customer Access. Upon request, you shall be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of your information, and shall be given access to it. You may verify the accuracy and completeness of the information, and may request that it be amended, if appropriate.

Principle 10 – Handling Customer Complaints and Suggestions. You may direct any questions or enquires with respect to the privacy principles outlined herein, or about our privacy practices, by contacting PKF Lawyers‘ Privacy Officer.

THE TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

PKF Lawyers gathers and uses only such information that is necessary for providing or enhancing our products and services. The choice to provide us with personal information is always yours. However, your decision to withhold particular details may limit the products and services we are able to provide and make it more difficult for us to advise you or provide services. If we are unable to accommodate your request based on the information that has been provided, we may ask for additional details in order to identify other ways to be of assistance. We will also maintain file histories and other records regarding your financial and personal information in order to comply with such matters as regulatory and tax requirements.

We may also collect anonymous/non-personal information. Anonymous/non-personal information is information that cannot be associated with or traced back to a specific person.

THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

The following is a summary of the circumstances under which and purposes for which your personal information may be used by PKF Lawyers:

  1. to provide legal services to you.  
  2. for business operations, to facilitate our business administration, and as necessary to provide our services.  If PKF Lawyers needs to use your information, but does not need to disclose it to third parties, it will be used but will not be disclosed. 
  3. consistent with applicable law and ethical standards of conduct, if PKF Lawyers, in good faith, believes that such disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health and safety of others.
  4. to personalize the website for you, enhance your visit to our website, enable your access to and use of our website services.
  5. to provide to you personalized products and services.
  6. to provide to you information on law-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. 
  7. to collect payment from you or from third parties. 
  8. to effectively provide the products and services you have requested. 

In the event of a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of PKF Lawyers, records containing personal and financial information may be transferred to the purchaser. 

We only use your personal information for the purposes that we have disclosed to you. If for any reason your information is required to fulfill a different purpose, we will notify you and ask you for your consent before we proceed.

When you visit our website, information is not collected that could identify you personally unless you choose to provide it voluntarily. You are welcome to browse our website at any time anonymously and privately without revealing any personal information about yourself.

In some instances such as a legal proceeding or court order, we may also be required to disclose certain information to authorities. Only the information specifically requested is disclosed and we will take precautions to satisfy ourselves that the authorities who are making the request have legitimate grounds to do so.

We sometimes contract outside organizations to perform specialized services. Our trusted service suppliers may at times be responsible for processing and handling some of the personal information we have received from you. We will not furnish your personal or financial information to an outside organization for its use in marketing or solicitation without your prior consent.

Where PKF Lawyers discloses your personal information to its affiliates, agents or sub-contractors, the affiliate, agent or sub-contractor in question will be obligated to use that personal information in accordance with the terms of this privacy statement.

THE NATURE OF THE INTERNET

Information that PKF Lawyers displays on its website may be stored, processed in, or transferred between computers and servers located in various places around the world. In addition, should you submit any information for publication on our website, it may be published on the internet and thereby made available around the world.

SECURITY MEASURES

PKF Lawyers will take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information, including storing all the personal information you provide on secure servers.

We use current technologies and maintain security standards to ensure that your personal information is protected against unauthorized access, disclosure, inappropriate alteration or misuse. All safety and security measures are also appropriate to the sensitivity level of your information. Electronic client files are kept in a secured environment with restricted access. Paper-based files are stored in restricted access areas.

We manage our server environment appropriately and our firewall infrastructure is strictly adhered to. Our security practices are reviewed periodically and we employ current technologies to assist us in protecting the confidentiality and privacy of your information.

In the course of daily operations, we attempt to restrict access to personal information to authorized employees who have a legitimate business purpose and reason for accessing it. As a condition of their employment, all employees of PKF Lawyers are required to sign a confidentiality agreement, abide by the privacy standards we have established and to follow all applicable laws and regulations. Unauthorized access to and/or disclosure of patient information by an employee of PKF Lawyers is strictly prohibited. All employees are expected to maintain the confidentiality of personal information at all times and failing to do so will result in appropriate disciplinary measures, which may include dismissal.

ACCESSING AND AMENDING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Decisions are often made based on the information we have. Therefore, it is important that your personal information is accurate and complete. As a patient, you have the right to access, verify and amend the identifying personal information we hold in our files. 

To help us keep your personal information up-to-date, we encourage you to amend inaccuracies and make corrections as often as necessary. Despite our efforts, errors sometimes do occur. Should you identify any incorrect or out-of-date information in your file(s), we will make the proper changes and provide you with a copy of the corrected information. Where appropriate, we will communicate these changes to other parties who may have unintentionally received incorrect information from us.

PRIVACY OFFICER

You may direct any questions or enquires with respect to your personal information or our privacy practices by contacting our Privacy Officer, as follows:

PKF Lawyers

9th Floor – 444 St. Mary Avenue

Winnipeg, MB Canada

R3C 3T1

Attention: Troy Harwood-Jones, Privacy Officer

Facsimile No. 204-947-3747

Email: tharwoodjones@pkflawyers.com

UPDATING THIS POLICY

Any changes to our privacy policy and information handling practices shall be acknowledged in this policy in a timely manner. We may add, modify or remove portions of this policy when we feel it is appropriate to do so. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are familiar with any changes.  

Last Updated: April 2020