Privacy Policy

Study in Ontario Canada

Website Privacy Policy

Last Updated: March 16, 2022.

Introduction

Your privacy is important to the Ontario Council for International Education (“OCIE”). This Website Privacy Policy explains how OCIE collects, uses and discloses personal information in connection with the Study in Ontario Canada website (the “Website”). 

Table of Contents

  1. Your Consent
  2. How OCIE Defines Personal Information
  3. Personal Information that OCIE Collects
  4. How OCIE Uses Personal Information
  5. How OCIE Discloses Personal Information
  6. Withdrawing Consent
  7. Retention of Personal Information
  8. Protection of Personal Information
  9. Accuracy and Access to Personal Information
  10. Non-Personal Information
  11. Other Website and Businesses
  12. Social Media and Similar Sites
  13. Children and Personal Information
  14. Changes to this Website Privacy Policy
  15. Notices to You
  16. Contacting Us

Appendix A – Additional Information for EU Data Subjects

  1. Your Consent

By providing OCIE with your personal information, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of that information by OCIE in connection with the Website in accordance with this Website Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted by applicable law. 

  1. How OCIE Defines Personal Information

In this Website Privacy Policy, “personal information” means information about an identifiable individual, such as an individual’s name and email address, but does not include (to the extent permitted by law) information that is publicly available in a telephone directory or that is business contact information that enables an individual to be contacted at a place of business. Personal information also does not include information that has been aggregated or anonymized, as explained in Section 10, below.

  1. Personal Information that OCIE Collects
    1. Information You Provide

You may be asked to voluntarily give your personal information to OCIE when you interact with the Website. For example, we may collect:

  • contact information (such as name, email address, postal address and phone number) when you make an inquiry or contact us;
  • contact information when you sign up for an OCIE newsletter; and
  • contact information, communications preferences and correspondence you send to us.

In those circumstances, you can choose not to provide certain requested personal information, but then you might not be able to proceed with your intended interaction or transaction with OCIE.

    1. Automated Collection

OCIE may automatically collect certain information regarding your use of the Website. For example, we may collect:

  • the dates and times that you use the Website;
  • the browsers, operating systems, software and devices that you use to access the Website;
  • the address of the website you came from;
  • a general geolocation and your IP address; and
  • details of your use of the Website, including the pages you visit, the duration of your visit and the number of times that you visit the Website.

The Website may use technologies (e.g. cookies, web beacons, tokens, pixels or tags) to collect information that assists OCIE to improve its products, services, customer communications and advertising and to prevent fraud. OCIE may use information collected through technological means to recognize you as a user of the Website, to facilitate and improve your use of the Website, to confirm that messages have been delivered to and opened by you and to provide you with targeted advertisements. You may choose to decline or disable cookies if your web browser or device permits, but doing so may affect your ability to access or use certain features of the Website.

Some of the information automatically collected by technological means is non-personal information (because the information does not identify you), and OCIE will handle that non-personal information as explained below in this Website Privacy Policy unless applicable law requires otherwise.

  1. How OCIE Uses Personal Information

OCIE may use your personal information collected by OCIE for purposes relating to or arising from your relationship and transactions with OCIE and as otherwise set out in this Website Privacy Policy or permitted by applicable law, including:

  • to facilitate your interactions and transactions with OCIE, including to personalize and enhance your experience on the Website;
  • to process and respond to your inquiries, requests and other communications;
  • to maintain, protect and improve the Website;
  • to evaluate and communicate with you regarding your application to a program at an Ontario publicly-funded institution through the Website;
  • to protect and enforce OCIE’s legal rights, interests and remedies and to protect the business and operations and of OCIE or other persons, including security and fraud monitoring and prevention; and
  • to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

OCIE may use your personal information to create non-personal information, and OCIE may then use, disclose, transfer and retain the non-personal information as set out below in this Website Privacy Policy. 

  1. How OCIE Discloses Personal Information
    1. Specific Consents

OCIE may disclose your personal information to other persons in accordance with express or implied consents that you give during your interactions and transactions with OCIE. For example, OCIE may disclose your personal information to a specific academic institution on your request.

    1. Suppliers and Service Providers

OCIE may disclose your personal information to its suppliers and service providers (including service providers that provide information technology, email delivery or marketing services) to assist OCIE in the provision of information and services to you, to provide services to OCIE, to assist OCIE to use your personal information as set out in this Website Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

    1. Law Enforcement/Legal Disclosures

OCIE may disclose your personal information as required or authorized by applicable law, including to comply with a subpoena, warrant or court or arbitral order or litigation disclosure obligation. OCIE may disclose your personal information to law enforcement agencies or other independent organizations if OCIE reasonably believes the disclosure is necessary or appropriate in connection with national security, law enforcement or other issues of public importance, or if OCIE reasonably believes the disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect and enforce OCIE’s legal rights, interests and remedies or to protect the rights, interests, business, operations or customers of OCIE or other persons (including to detect and prevent fraud and other illegal activities, or to enforce any of the terms of use, terms of service or other agreements that govern access to or use of any of OCIE’s products or services). OCIE has no control over, or responsibility or liability for, the use, disclosure or retention of your personal information by the agencies, independent organizations or other persons to whom OCIE discloses the information in the foregoing circumstances, and the collection, use, disclosure and retention of the disclosed information by those agencies, independent organizations or other persons is not subject to this Website Privacy Policy.

    1. Business Transactions

OCIE may disclose your personal information in connection with a proposed or actual business transaction in which OCIE is involved (e.g. a corporate amalgamation, reorganization, merger or acquisition, or the sale or transfer of some or all of OCIE’s business or assets), and in those circumstances OCIE will require the information recipient to agree to protect the privacy of your personal information in accordance with applicable law.

  1. Withdrawing Consent

When you interact with OCIE, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information as set out in this Website Privacy Policy. You may withdraw your consent in the following ways:

  • Disabling Automatic Website Collection: You may choose to decline or disable cookies if your web browser or device permits, but doing so may affect your ability to access or use certain features of the Website.
  • Contacting Us: You may withdraw your consent for other purposes (such as receipt of a newsletter) by contacting us using the information set out at the end of this Website Privacy Policy. You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.
  1. Retention of Personal Information

OCIE will retain your personal information for the period reasonably necessary for the purposes set out or referenced in this Website Privacy Policy and to comply with OCIE’s legal obligations or enforce or protect OCIE’s legal rights, or a longer period required or permitted by applicable law. OCIE will delete or dispose of your personal information, or depersonalize the information, when OCIE is no longer required or permitted by applicable law to retain the information for the purposes set out or referenced in this Website Privacy Policy.

  1. Protection of Personal Information

The privacy and security of your personal information is extremely important to us. OCIE uses reasonable safeguards – including administrative, physical and technical security and safeguarding measures – appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in OCIE’s possession or under OCIE’s control to help protect the information from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, deletion or similar risks. 

  1. Accuracy and Access to Personal Information

OCIE will rely on you to ensure that the personal information that you provide to OCIE is as accurate, complete and up to date as necessary for the purposes for which OCIE uses the personal information. You will promptly notify OCIE of any changes to the personal information that you provide to OCIE using the procedures made available for that purpose by OCIE or by contacting OCIE’s Privacy Officer using the contact information set out in Section 16 at the end of this Website Privacy Policy.

You may reasonably request access to your personal information collected by OCIE and information about OCIE’s use, disclosure and retention of that personal information by submitting a written request to OCIE’s Privacy Officer using the contact information set out in Section 16 at the end of this Website Privacy Policy. OCIE may decline to process a request that is unreasonably repetitive, frivolous, vexatious or impracticable, that infringes or jeopardizes the privacy of other persons, or for other reasons permitted or required by applicable law.

  1. Non-Personal Information

OCIE may use your personal information to create and collect non-personal information (information that is not about an identifiable individual), including personal information that has been aggregated or otherwise depersonalized so that the information no longer relates to an identifiable individual. OCIE may use, disclose, transfer and retain non-personal information for any purpose and in any manner whatsoever. If non-personal information is combined with your personal information, then OCIE will treat the combined non-personal information as personal information for the purposes of this Website Privacy Policy for as long as the non-personal information is combined with your personal information.

  1. Other Website and Businesses 

This Website Privacy Policy only addresses the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information by OCIE on the Website. The Website and correspondence (including emails and messages) may include advertisements for products and services offered by independent businesses or links to websites operated by independent businesses or OCIE may otherwise refer you to or provide information to you about independent businesses. OCIE has no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other websites, online services or businesses, their products or services, or their collection, use, disclosure or retention of your personal information. This Website Privacy Policy does not apply to the collection, use, disclosure or retention of your personal information by those websites, online services and independent businesses. If you have questions about how those websites, online services or independent businesses collect, use, disclose or retain personal information, please contact the owner or operator of the website, service or business.

  1. Social Media and Similar Situations

When you use certain aspects of the Website or other services to access or post information to social media websites, the personal information that you post or share in connection with these third party websites is visible to other persons and can be read, collected, used and disclosed by other persons, including to send unsolicited messages to you. When you click on a link to a social media website, you will leave the Website and go to that social media website. Any information provided to such third party social media websites and other websites is governed by their own privacy policies, which you may read on the applicable website. You are solely responsible for the personal information that you choose to post or share in those situations. OCIE has no control over, or responsibility or liability for, the collection, use, disclosure and retention of the personal information that you disclose in those situations, and this Website Privacy Policy does not apply to the collection, use, disclosure or retention of your personal information by those websites.

  1. Children and Personal Information

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without the consent of a legal guardian. To register for a membership account with us or purchase our products and services, we must obtain the consent of your parent or legal guardian if you are under the age of majority and consent is a requirement in the jurisdiction of your residence. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child where parental confirmation was required, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child where we should have obtained parental consent, please contact OCIE’s Privacy Officer using the contact information set out in Section 16 at the end of this Website Privacy Policy. 

  1. Changes to this Website Privacy Policy

OCIE may change this Website Privacy Policy as it applies to OCIE from time to time by posting a new version of this Website Privacy Policy on the Website. OCIE’s collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information will be governed by the version of this Website Privacy Policy in effect at that time. Your continued interactions with OCIE after any change to this Website Privacy Policy will signify your consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information by OCIE as set out in the changed Website Privacy Policy. Accordingly, you should check the “Last Updated” date of this Website Privacy Policy (at the top of this Website Privacy Policy) and review any changes since the last version. If we make material changes to the ways in which we collect, use, disclose and retain your personal information, we will provide you with appropriate notice.

  1. Notices to You

You consent to OCIE sending you emails (to the email address you provide to OCIE) regarding this Website Privacy Policy and related matters.

  1. Contacting Us

If you have any comments or questions about this Website Privacy Policy or OCIE’s collection, use, disclosure and retention your personal information, please contact OCIE’s Privacy Officer at:

Ontario Council for International Education

Attention: [Privacy Officer]

[Address]

Tel: [•]

Email: [info@ocie.ca]

________________________________________________________________________

Appendix A

Additional Information for EU Data Subjects

If you are in the European Union [or the United Kingdom], OCIE will process your personal information in accordance with the Website Privacy Policy to which this Appendix A is attached and the additional terms set forth in this Appendix A. 

Legal Basis for Processing Your Personal Information

We may process your personal information on the following legal basis:

  • You have consented to our processing of your personal information (such as if you have consented to receive marketing emails from us). You may withdraw your consent to the use of your personal information for promotional purposes at any time as set out in Section 6 of the Website Privacy Policy, above.
  • Our processing of your personal information is in our legitimate interest or in the legitimate interest of a third party (such as to protect and enforce our legal rights or the legal rights of other persons or to personalize your experience on our website). 
  • Our processing of your personal information is necessary to perform a contract or take steps to enter into a contract with you; and/or
  • Our processing of your personal information is necessary to comply with a relevant legal or regulatory obligation (for example, where we are required to disclose personal information to a court).

Your Legal Rights

You have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

  • Right to access, correct, and delete your personal information: You have the right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you as well as the following information: (i) the source of your personal information; (ii) the purposes, legal basis and methods of processing; and (iii) the entities or categories of entities to which your personal information may be transferred. You also have the right to request that we delete your personal information. We are not required to comply with a request to delete your personal information if the processing of your personal information is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation or for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim. 
  • Right to restrict the processing of your personal information: You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information under the following circumstances: (i) you contest the accuracy of the personal information; (ii) the processing is unlawful but you wish to restrict rather than prohibit the processing of your personal information; (iii) the purposes for processing your personal information no longer exist, but you require the personal information for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims; or (iv) you have legitimately objected to the processing of your personal information and the processing is therefore restricted pending the verification of whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override your objection. Please note that we may lawfully continue to process your personal information following a request for restriction to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim; to protect the rights of another person; or if you have provided your consent. 
  • Right to data portability: To the extent that we process your personal information  based on your consent or under a contract and (b) through automated means, you have the right to receive such personal information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, or you can ask to have it transferred directly to another data controller. 
  • Right to object to the processing of your personal information: You can object to any processing of your personal information which is based on our legitimate interest (or those of a third party) if you believe your fundamental rights and freedoms outweigh such legitimate interests. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests that override your rights and freedoms. Right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority: You have a right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority if you have concerns about how we are processing your personal information. We ask that you please attempt to resolve any issues with us first, although you have a right to contact your supervisory authority at any time.  

How to Exercise Your Rights: If you would like to exercise any of the rights described above, please contact us using the contact information set out in Section 16 of the Website Privacy Policy (above).