Privacy Policy
Energy Storage Canada and our consultants, contractors, or industry partners (ESC or we/our) collect, use, and disclose Personal Information in compliance with Canadian and applicable laws when providing services to our members or individuals who reach out to us (together, you or your). This Privacy Policy serves to let you know how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information when you visit, access, log-in to, or use our website, our services, and/or purchase products through our proprietary or third-party platforms (The Platforms).
What is Personal Information
Within this policy, Personal Information is defined as any factual or subjective information, recorded or not, about an identifiable individual or which may allow an individual to be identified. For instance, personal information includes age, name, ID numbers, income, ethnic origin, blood type, opinions, evaluations, comments, social status, disciplinary actions, employee files, credit records, loan records, and medical records.
We are responsible for the personal information that we possess or control. We maintain internal practices to protect personal information and our VP of Corporate Services to oversees privacy matters.
Information we Collect and Why we Collect it
| Information Collected | Purpose | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account Information Such as your name, business name (if applicable), phone number, and email address. |
This information is collected to maintain our relationship with you, our suppliers, and other third parties. | Consent; Contractual Necessity |
| Security Information This information includes personal data that can we be used to authenticate your identity. We collect information through email and our O365 Platform. |
We collect this information to verify your credentials or authenticate you and understand your preferences and online activities when interacting with the Platforms. | Consent; Contractual Necessity |
| Text Data This information includes email address, MS Word Documents, PDF Files, employment agreements, resumes, and training certificates. |
We collect this data to answer any questions or inquires you may have, as well as to update you on changes to our practices and procedures. | Consent; Contractual Necessity; our legitimate interests |
| Meta Data This includes information such as the date you use the platform. |
We use this data to manage and send updates to our mailing list subscribers. | Consent; Contractual Necessity; our legitimate interests |
| Raw Data This includes transactional data we use to facilitate EFT Payments. |
This data is collected to collect and process payments. | Consent; Contractual Necessity |
| Aggregated and Anonymized Data This is data collected related to the use of our website or Platforms. |
This data is collected to provide and enhance our platforms, to develop and manage operations, to develop our service offering, and to fulfill our contractual obligations. | Consent; Contractual Necessity; our legitimate interests |
Providing Your Personal Data to Others or Receipt From Others
From time to time, we may aggregate and anonymize data to provide services or need to provide your personal information to other parties (such as our third-party service providers or our affiliates) to provide to the Platforms and process your transactions, for ESC to conduct business, or as required by applicable law. We provide only what is necessary to complete the service and/or fulfil our obligations. We may also receive information about you from another party. When we receive information from another party, we do so because it is for a legitimate business purpose, such as to contact potential customers who have expressed an interest in our Platform, or it is necessary to complete the service or would negatively impact you to be required to obtain the information from you first. For example, we may be required to provide or receive information to facilitate any payments.
How do we store and retain your Personal Information?
Storage and Location
Most information uploaded or sent to ESC is stored in the cloud, through our third-party providers. BSG makes best effort to request these providers locate the data in Canada, or a jurisdiction with similar privacy and data laws of Canada. We generally do not keep hard copies of personal information. If we receive hard copy documents with personal information, we will destroy them as soon as possible, in accordance with legal requirements.
Retention
We retain personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this Policy, unless otherwise required by law or if you request its deletion. Canadian law requires us to keep financial information for at least 6 years. Once we no longer need the information for its original purpose, we securely dispose of or de-identify it, in accordance with legal requirements and any written requests from you.
Online Communications
The Platforms feature a form for submitting information to us. We use the personal information you provide solely to respond to your questions or inquiries. Additionally, we send emails to individuals in our contact database regarding updates to our services or practices. Our emails include options to opt out and instructions on how to unsubscribe. You can also request removal from our contact list by contacting our Coordinator of Events & Engagements, Jame George (jame.george@energystoragecanada.org). Please note, in some cases, we may need to authenticate your identity before processing your request.
Electronic Marketing Communications
We may send you information about the Platforms or other services we believe may interest you. Unless we already have a business relationship with you or you have provided your contact information (e.g., through your business card), we will obtain your consent before sending any commercial electronic communications.
You can withdraw your consent and opt-out of our sales and marketing communications at any time.
To do so, please contact our Coordinator of Events & Engagements, Jame George (jame.george@energystoragecanada.org) or use the unsubscribe link in any email you receive. By unsubscribing and requesting placement on our “do not contact” list, you acknowledge and agree that we will retain your information on this list to ensure compliance with your preferences and prevent unsolicited communications.
Third Party Links
Our Platforms include links to other websites where your personal information may be collected. We are not responsible for how these websites collect, use, or disclose your personal information. We recommend reviewing their privacy policies before providing them with your personal information.
Do Not Track Signals
As there is not yet a common understanding of how to interpret Do Not Track (“DNT”) signals, we do not currently respond to such browser DNT signals.
Our Third-Party Service Providers
To the extent we engage third-party service providers, we try to ensure that those providers maintain comparable privacy protections and practices if they process your personal information. Some of our third-party service providers include:
- Glue Up (For CRM, sales and marketing purposes)
- Microsoft 365 (For conducting work)
- Stripe (for payment processing)
- Quickbooks Online (for payment processing)
- Internic (for website domain services)
- Squarespace (for website hosting services)
We encourage you to read and review all our third-party service providers’ privacy policies available through the links above. For more information on the service providers we engage, please contact our VP of Corporate Services, Leone King via leone.king@energystoragecanada.org
Automated Decision Making
We do not use systems that make autonomous decisions with your Personal Information.
Your Consent
We will obtain your explicit consent to collect, use, and disclose your personal information whenever possible and as required by law. If you provide your personal information directly to us, we assume you consent to its processing for the intended purpose. This applies if you sign up as a customer, agree to our Terms and Conditions, purchase a Subscription, access the Platforms, or if an authorized representative does so on your behalf.
We do not collect, use or disclose personal information without consent unless authorized or required by law to do so, such as in the following circumstances:
- When the information is publicly available, such as in public directories, registries or published information;
- if we are required to disclose personal information to a lawful authority;
- in an emergency that threatens someone’s life, health or personal security;
- for security reasons; or
- as otherwise authorized by law.
We obtain electronic or oral consent from those who subscribe to our mailing list for updates related to the Platforms or who express an interest in receiving communications from us.
Your Rights to the Personal Information We Posses About You
Every user of our Platform and Website is entitled to the following Data Privacy Rights:
Right to access: You can request copies of your personal data from ESC.
Right to rectification: You can ask ESC to correct any inaccurate information or complete any incomplete information about you.
Right to erasure: You can request ESC to delete your personal data under certain conditions.
Right to restrict processing: You can ask ESC to limit the processing of your personal data under certain conditions.
Right to object to processing: You can object to ESC processing your personal data under certain conditions.
Right to data portability: You can request ESC to transfer your collected data to another organization or directly to you under certain conditions.
Security and Accuracy
We protect personal information in our files from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, and alteration using technical, physical and administrative methods. We frequently monitor our systems to ensure we have implemented up-to-date and effective security measures. Senior employees only have access to Personal Information required to carry out their work. We ensure that all our employees and/or sub-contractors have entered into agreements related to the protection and security of your Personal Information containing terms no less restrictive than the terms outlined in this Privacy Policy.
Through our providers, we have implemented the following security measures, including:
- Data encryption for both transit and storage.
- Secure SSL communication with HTTPS.
- DDoS protection.
- Continuous website security monitoring, including a mandatory password management software to maintain strong and efficient passwords.
- Use of strong, complex passwords with regular changes.
- Implementation of server-side measures against common hacks and attacks.
- Secure server-side endpoints to prevent unauthorized access.
- Adherence to best practices and coding standards.
- Ongoing protection against SQL injection and vulnerability testing.
- Controlled and secure access to all data and source code.
- Daily backups of platform data for disaster recovery purposes.
Nevertheless, you acknowledge that no security system is completely invulnerable. When you share your personal information with us, there is a risk that it could be compromised if our systems, or those of our third-party providers, are breached. If a breach has been identified, we will notify you as soon as required to by law.
We strive to maintain accurate personal information in our records. If you notice any inaccuracies in your information, we encourage you to contact us to update it.
Contact Us
If you would like to review or correct your personal information we have on file, or have any other concerns regarding your privacy rights, please send a written request to:
Jame George
Events and Engagement Coordinator
jame.george@energystoragecanada.org
She will facilitate a response within 30 days. If more time is required, we will advise you, and provide the reasons.
You acknowledge that when you request to exercise your privacy rights, you are consenting to our collection of your basic contact information so that we can authenticate you and communicate with you regarding your request.
Challenging Compliance
ESC will respond to questions we receive about this Policy and our legal compliance. We will investigate all challenges and attempt to resolve all complaints. If you feel we have not met our legal obligations under this Policy or applicable laws, please contact our Vice President, Corporate Services, Leone King, via leone.king@energystoragecanada.org Following our investigation, we will decide whether to update our policies and practices as necessary.
If you are unsatisfied with our responses, you may at any time consult the relevant government privacy office based in your province, state or country.