Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how the Vancouver Island Strata Owner Association (VISOA) collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit this website (“Site”), use our services, pay for a membership, make a purchase, or otherwise communicate with us (collectively, the “Services”). For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “we” and “our” means VISOA and “you” and “your” means you as the user of the Services, whether you are a customer, website visitor, or another individual whose information we have collected under this Privacy Policy.

Important: See “Securing Personal Information” below. Ensure you create a strong password to protect your “Individual Information” and a security question and answer to protect “Strata information”.

Consent

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you agree to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use or access any of the Services. This Privacy Policy complies with the Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”).

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Site, update the “Last updated” date and take any other steps required by applicable law.

How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

To provide Services, we collect personal information about you from a variety of sources, as set out below. The information that we collect and use varies depending on how you interact with us.

In addition to the specific uses set out below, we may use information we collect about you to communicate with you, provide the Services, comply with any applicable legal obligations, enforce any applicable terms of service, and to protect or defend the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others.

What Personal Information We Collect

The types of personal information we obtain about you depends on whether you are a VISOA member, how you interact with our Site, and use our Services. When we use the term “personal information”, we are referring to information that identifies, relates to, describes or can be associated with you. The following sections describe the categories and specific types of personal information we collect.

Information that you directly submit to us through our Services may include:

  • Shopping information including the memberships or products you purchase, your name, billing address, shipping address, payment confirmation, email address, and phone number.
  • Information you choose to include in communications with us, for example, when contacting the VISOA office or Strata Support Team.
  • Basic contact details including your name, address, phone number, email.
  • VISOA does not see credit card information. VISOA does not collect or retain banking information from cheques, e-transfers, or electronic funds transfers.

Information We Collect from VISOA Members

Some of our Services are available to members only. To use these Services, you need to create a profile on the Site. VISOA collects this information solely for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the profile and enabling you, should you so choose, to access and use the Services.

To create a profile for an Individual member, Associate member, or a profile under your strata corporation’s Corporate membership, you need to provide us with some personal information that is protected under the PIPA:

  • “Individual Information”: your name, address, phone number, email address (username), and password (For tips about passwords and protecting your profile see “Securing Personal Information”.)

Strata corporations that join VISOA as corporate members will need to provide:Strata corporations that join VISOA as corporate members will need to provide:

  • “Strata Information” that is personal information protected under the PIPA: names of strata council members and their positions.
  • “Strata Information” that is not protected under the PIPA: strata number, strata name (if any), location, type of strata, number of strata lots, type of management, a security question and answer.

Information We Collect from VISOA Business Members

Businesses that join VISOA as business members will need to provide contact information about their business. This information is not personal information protected under the PIPA.

  • Information shared with the public in the Business Directory online and/or in publications: business name, address, phone number, email address, website, logo, social media profiles, and description of services.
  • Information not shared with the public: contact information for administrative purposes, insurance information, and password.
  • Information that is collected but is also available to the public through other means: business licence number, WorkSafeBC account number, Technical Safety BC licence number (if applicable)

Information We Collect Through Cookies

We also automatically collect certain information about your interaction with the Services (“Usage Data”). To do this, we may use cookies, pixels and similar technologies (“Cookies”). Usage Data may include information about how you access and use our Site and your account, including device information, browser information, information about your network connection, your IP address and other information regarding your interaction with the Services.

Information We Collect from Third Parties

Finally, we may obtain information about you from our service providers who may collect information on our behalf, such as:

  • Companies who support our Site and Services (e. g. our website service provider).
  • Payment processors collect payment information (e.g. billing address) to process your payment in order to fulfill your orders and provide you with products or services you have requested, in order to perform our contract with you. Banking information is not collected on the Site. VISOA does not receive or have access to credit card information.
  • When you visit our Site, open or click on emails we send you, or interact with our Services, we, or third parties we work with, may automatically collect certain information using online tracking technologies such as pixels, web beacons, software developer kits, third-party libraries, and cookies. For more information see the “Cookies” section below.

Any information we obtain from third parties will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of the information provided to us by third parties and are not responsible for any third-party’s policies or practices. For more information, see the “Third-Party Websites and Links” section below.

How We Use Your Personal Information

Providing Products and Services

We use your personal information to provide you with the Services to perform our contract with you, including sending notifications to you related to your account, purchases, or other transactions, to create, maintain and otherwise manage your account.

Communicating with you

We use your personal information to provide you with customer support, and improve our Services. We may use your email address to send information such as a “newsletter” with information, events and publications. This is in our legitimate interests to be responsive to you, to provide effective services to you, and to maintain our business relationship with you.

Security and Fraud Prevention

We use your personal information to detect, investigate or take action regarding possible fraudulent, illegal or malicious activity. If you choose to use the Services and register an account, you are responsible for keeping your account credentials safe. See the “Securing Personal Information” section below.

Cookies

Like many websites, we use Cookies on our Site to power and improve our Site and our Services (including to remember your actions and preferences), to run analytics, and to better understand user interaction with the Services (in our legitimate interests to administer, improve and optimize the Services). We may also permit our website service provider to use Cookies on our Site to better tailor the Services.
Most browsers automatically accept Cookies by default, but you can choose to set your browser to remove or reject Cookies through your browser controls. Please keep in mind that removing or blocking Cookies can negatively impact your user experience and may cause some of the Services, including certain features and general functionality, to work incorrectly or no longer be available. Additionally, blocking Cookies may not

Securing Personal and Other Information

Individual Information

To protect the personal information in your profile. We recommend that you:

  • Create a strong password of at least 14 characters with upper and lowercase letters, at least one numeral, and at least one special character (e.g. *#%!).
  • Change your password at least every 6 months.
  • Use a unique password that is not used on any other site.
  • Do not share your username (email address), password, or other access details with anyone else.
  • Contact us immediately if you believe your account has been compromised.

Strata Information

This section within a profile can only be edited by VISOA or the strata’s administrators (e.g., council members). Each council member must create a profile under the strata corporation. VISOA then gives each council member administrator privileges. The council may choose to allow another person to be an administrator (e.g. a manager or bookkeeper).

It is the responsibility of the current strata council to:

  • Ensure that new council members each create a profile.
  • Advise VISOA when council members change so that administrator privileges can be removed and added as necessary.
  • Maintain and update the information about the strata including the names and positions of current council members.
  • Create a security question and answer for owners who wish to create a profile under the strata corporation.
  • Update the security question and answer from time to time as needed.
  • Contact us immediately if you believe unauthorized persons (e.g., persons who do not own a strata lot in your strata corporation) have used the security question and answer to access the Strata Information.
  • Where a breach is suspected, VISOA may take reasonable steps to verify the identity of persons who created profiles under the strata corporation, by contacting the individuals directly, and removing a person’s access if necessary.

Safeguarding

VISOA will protect personal information in its custody or control by making reasonable security arrangements to prevent unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification or disposal.

Please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee “perfect security.” In addition, any information you send to us may not be secure while in transit. We recommend that you do not use unsecured channels (e.g. public wi-fi networks) to log in to your account or email sensitive or confidential information to us.

Access to Personal Information

What You Can See

You can see your “Individual Information” and history of purchases (if any) when you log in to your profile. If your strata is a current member or was a member in the past, you will also see “Strata Information”. This contains basic information about your strata (e.g., strata number, strata name (if any), location, type of strata, number of strata lots, and type of management). It also contains a list of council members’ names and positions but no other information about those individuals.

What Strata Council Administrators Can See

“Strata Information” can only be edited by VISOA or your strata’s administrators (e.g., council members). Your strata council members and other owners in your strata cannot see a list of persons who created a profile or access those profiles. Your council and owners will not know that you are using the Services unless you tell them or share emails.

What VISOA’s Strata Support Team Can See

Strata Support Team members see the information in your profile, questions you submitted, and any previous correspondence between you and the team. Strata Support Team members are bound by a confidentiality agreement and will not disclose the contents of correspondence with any other person except that team members may share information amongst themselves for advice and quality control.

VISOA Disclosing Personal Information

Our staff, board members, and volunteers are bound by a confidentiality agreement. VISOA will not disclose personal information except:

  • In accordance with the law and this Privacy Policy.
  • When you direct, request us or otherwise consent to our disclosure of certain information to third parties, such as requesting us to forward an email to another person.
  • With third parties who perform services on our behalf (e.g., website management, payment processing, and data analytics).
    The VISOA membership list, current or past, and the Register of Members required by the Societies Act, will not be released to any person or organization outside VISOA without a court order. For example, VISOA does not share its membership list with businesses or marketers.

Strata Corporation Obligations under Section 36 of the Strata Property Act

Note that communications between council members and VISOA regarding assistance with strata council business are considered “correspondence sent or received by the strata corporation and council” under section 35 of the Strata Property Act. Under section 36, upon request of an eligible person, the strata corporation must provide copies of these records or allow the person to inspect them. We suggest that council members communicate in a professional manner and include the minimum amount of personal information necessary about any person in their communications with VISOA.

Retention of Personal Information

Your personal information (Individual Information) is retained indefinitely or until such time as you make a written request to have your account deleted.

Strata Information about current, new, or past corporate members (strata corporations) is retained indefinitely. Any owner of a strata lot within a strata corporation may create a profile under the strata corporation. If the strata is a current member the individual will have access to VISOA services. If the strata is not a current member, the individual may create a profile but will not have access to VISOA services until the strata renews their membership or the person pays for an Individual or Associate membership.

Business member information is retained indefinitely or until such time as a representative from the business makes a written request to have their account deleted.

Ensuring Accuracy of Personal Information

If you made an error when setting up your profile, you may log in to your account to make corrections to personal information such as your name, address, and phone number. Note that your email address is your username when you log in to your profile. Please do not change the email address unless absolutely necessary.

You may also contact VISOA to request that we make a correction to personal information we maintain about you. A request to correct personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information and the correction being sought. Note that VISOA is not able to change your username.

Your Rights

Under PIPA, you may have the rights listed below in relation to your personal information.

  • Right to Opt Out of Email subscriptions: You may opt out of receiving VISOA’s newsletters at any time by using the unsubscribe option displayed in our emails to you. If you opt out, we may still send you emails to provide Services to you, and manage your account or orders that you have made.
  • Right to Access Your Personal Information: You have a right to access your personal information, subject to limited exceptions. A request to access personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information being sought. We will make the requested information available within 30 business days, or provide written notice of an extension where additional time is required to fulfill the request.
  • Withdrawal of Consent: Where we rely on consent to process your personal information, you may have the right to withdraw this consent.
  • Right to Delete: You have a right to request that we delete your profile and any other personal information we maintain about you.
  • Right to Appeal:  If we decline to process your request, you may have a right to appeal our decision . You can do so by replying directly to our denial.

You may exercise your rights by contacting us using the contact details provided below. We may need to collect information from you to verify your identity, such as your name, email address and strata number, before providing a substantive response to the request. We will respond to your request in a timely manner or provide written notice of an extension where additional time is required to fulfill the request.

These rights are not absolute. In certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law. If your request is refused in full or in part, we will notify you in writing, providing the reasons for refusal.

Third-Party Websites and Links

Our Site provides links to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties (e.g. government websites, blogs, news articles, and VISOA business members’ websites). If you follow links to sites not affiliated or controlled by us, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions. We do not guarantee and are not responsible for the privacy or security of such sites, including the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of information found on these sites. Information you provide on public or semi-public venues, including information you share on third-party social networking platforms may also be viewable by other users of the Services and/or users of those third-party platforms without limitation as to its use by us or by a third party. Our inclusion of such links does not, by itself, imply any endorsement of the content on such platforms or of their owners or operators, except as disclosed on the Services.

Children’s Data

The Services are not intended to be used by persons under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information about children. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information, you may contact us using the contact details set out below to request that it be deleted.
As of the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy, we do not have actual knowledge that we collected any personal information of individuals under 16 years of age.

Questions and Complaints

VISOA’s Privacy Officer or designated individual is responsible for ensuring VISOA’s compliance with this policy and the Personal Information Protection Act.

Please direct any complaints, concerns or questions regarding VISOA’s compliance in by email to the Privacy Officer. If the Privacy Officer is unable to resolve the concern or you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (OIPC).

Contact VISOA

To request assistance with editing information in your profile, to delete your profile, or questions about your membership, please send an email to administrator(at)visoa.bc.ca or complete the Contact Us form.

Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you, please send an email to privacyofficer(at)visoa.bc.ca

Please provide sufficient detail to verify your identity, such as your name, email address and strata number, and details of your question, request, or complaint.

Last updated: June 21, 2024