Privacy Policy

The Elders' Institute is a subsidiary of St. Andrew's Hall, a college of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. The Elders' Institute provides a variety of resources for ruling elders and others within The Presbyterian Church in Canada including online courses, publications and workshops.

The Elders' Institute is strongly committed to protecting all personal contact information and respecting the privacy of all users of Elders' Institute resources.

This privacy policy has been developed to meet the principles of the Canadian Standards Association's Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information. These principles are reflected in legislation at the national and provincial levels (see, for example, British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection Act). This Privacy Policy also follows the guidelines in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

1. Accountability
The Elders' Institute has appointed it's director as privacy officer. She is responsible for compliance with privacy legislation and ensuring the protection of personal contact information. Questions pertaining to this privacy policy may be directed to:

Roberta Clare, Director
Elders' Institute, St. Andrew's Hall
6040 Iona Drive
Vancouver, BC
V6T 2E8 Canada
Toll-free (Canada & USA) 1-866-794-8888

2. Consent
Consent is given by anyone when providing information requested to complete an order. Orders include signing up for the Elders' Institute newsletter, ordering publications or registering for online courses.

3. Limited Collection
The Elders' Institute only collects personal contact information necessary to conduct its business and help develop future resources by identifying changes in demand and interest.

4. Identifying Purposes
Reasons for collection and using personal contact information vary:

e-News
When subscribing to the Elders' Institute monthly email newsletter, e-News, subscribers' email addresses are collected and used for that purpose only. The procedure on how to unsubscribe is described in every issue of e-News and after having unsubscribed, the email address is removed from the e-News mailing list.

Online Courses
When signing up for an online course, personal contact information is necessary for billing and for the shipping of, for example, course material. Personal contact information will not be disclosed to outside parties for any reason. To protect the confidentiality of all course participants, no content from any online course discussion and/or chat may be disclosed under any circumstances. Privacy is strictly maintained under the guidelines as reflected in Canada's federal and provincial privacy laws. The director of the Elders' Institute or the director's named designate oversees and monitors all courses including postings, chat room discussions and teaching materials.

Publications
When ordering publications or other materials from the Elders' Institute, personal contact information is used for billing and shipping. Personal contact information will not be disclosed to any outside party for any reasons.

Workshops
When participating in workshops or other events, held or organized by the Elders' Institute, personal contact information is used for billing or other procedures directly related to that particular workshop or event. Personal contact information will not be disclosed to any outside party for any reason.

On evaluation forms, used for many workshops, the Elders' Institute may ask for consent to contact workshop participants again, if agreeing to provide their personal contact information. However, no one has any obligation to provide his/her personal contact information.

Personal contact information will only be used to keep workshop participants up-to-date when, for example, new publications have been released or online courses are about to begin.

5. Confidentiality
The Elders' Institute keeps all personal contact information confidential and has never and will never trade, share, sell or otherwise exchange personal contact information.

6. Safeguards
The Elders' Institute takes all necessary steps to secure personal contact information. Only staff members from the Elders' Institute have access to personal contact information. Personal contact information is stored in an alarmed office and username/password protected when stored electronically.

7. Limited Responsibility
This privacy policy applies only to the Elders' Institute, personal contact information submitted from the Elders' Institute website or personal contact information given to an Elders' Institute staff member.

8. Revisions
This privacy policy will be revised as deemed necessary by the Elders' Institute. The latest version of this privacy policy will always be available on the Elders' Institute website.

This revision is dated and effective September 2008.