Privacy Policy

City View Centre for Child & Family Services (CVCCFS) has always been committed to the protection of the personal and health information of its clients, partners and other stakeholders. On January 1, 2004, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, on November 1, 2004, the provincial Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) came into effect to regulate organizations that collect, use and disclose personal and health information in the course of commercial activity. CVCCFS has developed the following Privacy Policy in order to ensure compliance with PIPEDA, and PHIPA, as well as to inform individuals of our continuing commitment to the protection of their personal and health information.

What is personal and health information?

Personal and health information includes any factual or subjective information, recorded or not, about an identifiable individual. This includes information in any form such as a person’s e-mail address, food allergies, health information, person’s age, home address and so on. It does not include the name, title or business address or business telephone number of an employee of an organization.

Who is responsible for protecting the personal and health information collected, used and disclosed by CVCCFS?

Shelley Bond of CVCCFS is the Privacy Officer for the organization and is responsible for ensuring compliance with PIPEDA, PHIPA and with this Privacy Policy. Other individuals, such as program managers and certain staff, may be delegated to either act on behalf of the Privacy Officer or to take responsibility for occasional collection, use and disclosure of personal information.

Why does CVCCFS collect or use personal and health information?

CVCCFS is committed to providing quality, dependable and inclusive child care, support and information services to meet the diverse child care and early years needs of families and children. In order to meet these goals, CVCCFS collects, uses and discloses personal and health information for the following purposes:

Provision of services

• To determine eligibility for our programs and services.
• To assess the needs of each child and to ensure that these needs are met.
• To ensure the health and safety of all children who participate in our programs and services.
• To identify the children and their families (“clients”) who use the services of CVCCFS.
• To ensure we communicate with the appropriate parent/guardian for each child in our care.
• To aid in the placement of children in our Home Child Care program.
• To promote new and existing programs and services to our clients.
• To provide families with information and referrals to community support services in Ottawa.
• To ensure timely communication between parents/guardians, caregivers, child care community partners, referring agencies and CVCCFS staff.
• To ensure prescription medication is dispensed appropriately.

Administration

• To administer our programs and services (e.g. time sheets, attendance reports, etc.).
• To collect payment for services provided.
• To ascertain the qualifications and suitability of applicants to provide child care.
• To facilitate the recruitment of Program Assistants for children with special needs.
• To ascertain the qualifications and suitability of volunteer applicants.
• To distribute limited municipal subsidies for children with disabilities.

Reporting

• To generate statistics on services and programs provided by the Agency.
• To generate statistics on the child care needs of families in Ottawa.
• To report use of child care subsidies to the City of Ottawa.

Other

• To periodically undertake fundraising activities to enhance programs and services for children and families.
• To meet statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements relating to the services and programs provided to our clients.

Does CVCCFS disclose personal or health information?

We disclose personal and health information:

• With parental consent, to Providers in our Home Child Care program to enable them to provide services to the children in their care, to ensure the health and safety of those children.
• With parental consent, to child care programs working with Children’s Inclusion Support Services to develop individual support plans and team service plans for eligible children.
• To institutions providing the Agency with payroll and banking services.
• To our auditors, and
• To third parties for processing of data (e.g. hardware and software support).

Unless required to do so by law, CVCCFS does not currently disclose the personal or health information under its control to any other parties. It does not trade, sell, barter, or give away its client information to anyone. Should it be necessary in the future to make such a disclosure, CVCCFS will not do so without the express consent of the individuals involved.

How do individuals provide CVCCFS with their consent for the collection, use and disclosure of their personal and health information?

When families seek the services of CVCCFS, they provide their personal and health information expressly through a registration/referral process. CVCCFS then has access only to the personal and health information provided by the client that is required to fulfill the purposes stated above. A client may withdraw their consent at any time upon reasonable notice, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. Please note however, that due to our statutory and regulatory obligations, withdrawing consent may affect our ability to continue to provide a client with the services they have or would like to receive.

How much personal and health information does CVCCFS collect, use or disclose?

CVCCFS collects, uses and discloses the personal and health information it requires only in order to fulfill the purposes listed above, and no more.

How long does CVCCFS retain personal and health information?

CVCCFS only retains personal and health information for as long as is required to fulfill the purposes listed above. For example, the Child Care and Early Years Act stipulates that we keep a child’s file for three years after they have been discharged from a child care program. However, many of our programs retain information longer than this three year period (for example, programs where children may use the service more than once). The Canada Revenue Agency requires us to keep financial records (e.g. child care billings) for seven years plus the current year.

How accurate is the personal and health information collected, used and disclosed by CVCCFS?

CVCCFS makes every effort to ensure the personal and health information it collects, uses and discloses is as accurate and up-to-date as is required to fulfill the purposes listed above. If an individual’s personal or health information requires amendment, they need only contact CVCCFS to ensure that the correction is made. When a file is no longer needed, it is either destroyed or all personal identifiers are removed in such a way as to prevent accidental disclosure.

How secure is the personal and health information stored at CVCCFS?

CVCCFS is committed to ensuring that personal and health information is protected from unauthorized access, unintended disclosures or theft. This protection is provided by firewalls in the computer system, passwords to protect databases, encrypted e-mail, locked filing cabinets and limited access to certain work areas. Only the Privacy Officers and delegated individuals have access to this information.

How can individuals learn more about CVCCFS’s Privacy Policy?

Updated versions of this Privacy Policy will be posted on the CVCCFS web site at www.cityviewcentre.ca. This Policy is also available in hard-copy at the CVCCFS administration office, a copy of which can be requested by contacting CVCCFS at:

City View Centre For Child & Family Services
1099 Longfields Drive
Nepean, ON
K2J 5L2

How can individuals access their personal or health information held by CVCCFS?

Individuals have a right to access their own personal or health information in the possession and control of CVCCFS. They also have a right to know if their information has been disclosed to any third parties. If individuals wish to access their personal information, they need to contact CVCCFS in writing at the above mailing or e-mail address. CVCCFS reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee for the copying of this information. If you feel that the information in your file is inaccurate, you are entitled to bring it to our policy officer’s attention to seek to have the information amended. In certain cases, we may not agree to amend the information, but we will add your notations about the information to the file.

How can individuals relay their concerns about their personal or health information held by CVCCFS?

If individuals have a complaint related to the CVCCFS Privacy Policy, they can contact the Privacy Officer using any of the above contact information. If the Privacy Officer is unable to resolve the concern, individuals can contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at www.privcom.gc.ca or at:

112 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 1H3

Tel: (613) 995-8210
Toll free: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: (613) 947-6850

Approved by the City View Centre For Child & Family Services Board of Directors on November 1, 2004