Website Privacy Notice

Welcome to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (“CIHI”) website, located at www.cihi.ca (the “Website”). CIHI is committed to protecting the privacy of Canadians and ensuring the security of their personal information. This Website Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes how CIHI collects, uses and discloses personal information collected through the Website, as well as the rights Website visitors have with respect to their personal information. This Privacy Notice should be read in conjunction with our Cookie Notice. For more information about how CIHI processes your personal information, please read CIHI’s Personal Information Privacy Policy (PDF).

This Notice does not apply to personal health information, de-identified health information or health workforce personal information collected by CIHI, which is governed by CIHI’s Privacy Policy on the Collection, Use, Disclosure and Retention of Personal Health Information and De-Identified Data, 2010 (PDF). Please also review our Privacy and Security page for more information about CIHI’s commitment to privacy.

Definition of “personal information”

In this Notice, “personal information” means information (regardless of its format) about an identifiable individual. This may include, for example, your name, contact information, home address, email address, birth date and information relating to your account with us (if any). It may also include more technical information, such as your IP address, browser settings and device ID, but only when this information can identify you as an individual. Information that is aggregated or anonymized and cannot be associated with an identifiable individual is not considered to be personal information.

Collection of personal information

We limit the collection of personal information to what is reasonably required to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected. 

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect personal information directly from you when you provide it to us, from a CIHI client organization with which you are affiliated or through automated means when you interact with our Website. 

Personal information we collect directly from you

We collect personal information you provide to us through our Website. For example, we may collect and use the following types of personal information you provide directly to us:

  • Name and contact information, such as your name, phone number, email address or address. We may collect this information when you register to receive emails from us (e.g., to receive news and upcoming releases or career alerts), sign up for one of our events, register to create a profile on our Website or make a purchase from our eStore. We collect this information in order to provide you with the service you have requested. 
  • Information about your relationship with a client organization of CIHI, which we collect when you register to create a profile. We collect this information in order to grant you the appropriate permissions to access our services on our Website (as explained on our General Help and FAQ page).
  • Job application information, which may include some of the information described above, as well as your CV, letter of motivation and any additional information provided by you in the application form. We collect this information in order to evaluate your job application.
  • Payment information, such as credit card information, which we collect when you make a purchase from our eStore and use in order to process payments.
  • Any other information you provide to us through our Website, such as when you contact us for customer support (e.g., by emailing help@cihi.ca). We will use this information to respond to your inquiries.

Personal information we collect from a CIHI client organization

We may receive personal information about you from the CIHI client organization with which you are affiliated. This allows us to grant you the appropriate permissions to access our services on our Website.

Personal information we collect through automated means

When you visit our Website, we may collect technical information using electronic means such as cookies. This information may include information about your visit to our Website, including the IP address of your computer and which browser you used to view our Website, your operating system, screen resolution, location, language settings in browsers, the site you came from, keywords searched (if arriving from a search engine), the number of page views, information you entered, advertisements you have seen, etc. This data is used to measure and improve the effectiveness of our Website or to enhance our visitors’ experience. We treat this information as personal information when it is associated with your account or contact information.

For more information, please review our Cookie Notice.

Use of personal information

We use your personal information to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, as described under Collection of personal information above.

We may also use your personal information for the following purposes, or otherwise with your consent or as permitted or required by law:

  • To provide and deliver our products and services to you, as detailed above under Collection of personal information. 
  • To verify your identity, including to allow you to access appropriate/authorized areas on our Website.
  • To manage our business operations. This may include managing and facilitating the use of our Website (including through cookies and similar technology) and ensuring the security of our Website and detecting fraudulent activity.
  • For internal data analytics purposes. This may include understanding and assessing your interests and changing needs with a view to improving our products and services and developing new ones, as well as to evaluating potential improvements or other modifications to the functionality of our Website and services. We will use aggregated information (i.e., information compiled from individual records of personal information that ensures that the identity of individuals cannot be determined by reasonably foreseeable methods) for these purposes. 
  • For promotional purposes. We may use your personal information to provide you with personalized content and services, such as tailoring our products and services, our digital customer experience and offerings, and deciding which of these to show you on our digital channels and on third-party channels (e.g., on social media platforms). We may also use your personal information to communicate with you in a variety of ways (e.g., email, telephone, text message, direct mail, or through our online customer support services) about our programs, products, services or events that may be of interest to you. If you no longer wish to receive our commercial electronic messages, please follow the unsubscribe procedure included in each of these messages.

Sharing of personal information

CIHI may make your personal information available to third parties as follows, or otherwise with your consent or as permitted or required by law:

  • Service providers: We may hire service providers to perform services on our behalf. This may include a person or an organization retained by CIHI to perform work on its behalf, including cloud service providers, email marketing platforms, customer relationship management platforms, marketing automation platforms and analytics platforms. We provide them with limited amount of information necessary in order for them to provide the services required. They may not use the information for purposes other than to facilitate and carry out the services they have been engaged to provide. These service providers may not disclose this information to others. CIHI will protect personal information disclosed to third parties by contractual agreements, which include obligations of confidentiality.
  • Client organizations: We may share your personal information with the CIHI client organization with which you are affiliated, in order to confirm your relationship with the organization and to grant you the appropriate permissions to access our services. 
  • As permitted or required by law: From time to time, CIHI may be compelled or allowed to disclose personal information to others. This could happen if a court orders it during a legal proceeding, for instance. 

What are your privacy choices?

You have choices about the way CIHI handles your personal information. 

  • Changing your communication preferences. You can always choose not to receive marketing or promotional messages from CIHI by email by clicking Unsubscribe in any email you receive. Please note that even if you have indicated your choice not to receive commercial electronic messages from us, we may still communicate with you in connection with our products and services, in accordance with applicable law (e.g., to send you a customer service message, important product information, service notification or recall). In addition, it may take up to ten (10) business days to register a change of preference across all our records.
  • Withdrawing your consent. You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and sharing of personal information at any time, subject to contractual and legal restrictions and reasonable notice. Note that if you withdraw your consent to certain uses of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide you with certain of our products or services. To withdraw your consent, please communicate with us as set out under Contact us below.

Personal information outside of Canada

Your personal information may in some cases be transferred to jurisdictions outside Canada. As a result, your personal information will be subject to the laws of other jurisdictions and may be available without notice to you to foreign governments, courts, law enforcement and regulatory authorities under lawful orders and/or under laws applicable in such jurisdictions. Regardless of the company or person who processes your information and where it is processed, we will take steps to protect your information in accordance with applicable data protection laws and this Notice.

Security of personal information

We will use reasonable security measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access. CIHI has implemented security measures that contain administrative, technical and physical controls that are designed to safeguard your personal information. Read more about about our Information Security Program.

Retention

Personal information will be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes for which it was collected and for which consent was received, unless otherwise authorized or required by law. Personal information that is no longer required to fulfil the identified purposes will be destroyed, erased or made anonymous.

Access and correction

You may be entitled to access your personal information and request the rectification of information that is inaccurate, incomplete or no longer up to date, subject to limited exceptions set out in applicable laws. To exercise your rights, please contact us using the contact information detailed under Contact us below.

Contact us

If you have questions, concerns or complaints regarding this Notice or CIHI’s collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, please contact us:

Chief Privacy Officer
Canadian Institute for Health Information
495 Richmond Road, Suite 600
Ottawa, Ontario  K2A 4H6
Phone: 613-694-6526
Email: privacy@cihi.ca

Changes to the Website Privacy Notice

We may review and update this Notice as required to keep current with rules and regulations, new technologies and standards. Our Notice may therefore change from time to time. We will post any changes on our Website and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice where required by law.
 

If you have a disability and would like CIHI information in a different format, visit our Accessibility page.