Privacy statement

Our Commitment

In this Privacy Statement, the term “personal information” means personal information as defined in section 1(q) of Alberta’s Protection of Privacy Act (PPA).

The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information when you visit our websites (asc.ca and checkfirst.ca) in order to browse for information, to make inquiries, to utilize our online tools and calculators, to register for events or receive communications from us, or to otherwise conduct business with us.

Disclaimer

While we aim to provide information that is accurate and reliable, the ASC does not make any guarantees or assume legal responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information, software, tables, media and graphics on this website.

How the ASC collects, uses and discloses personal information

Legal authority. The PPA, as well as the Securities Act (Alberta), authorizes the ASC to collect, use and disclose personal information to provide you with the online tools and services, communications, as well as other ASC programs. The ASC is also authorized to use personal information in the administration of the Securities Act. 

Your consent. Your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information may be given to us in various ways. Generally, by providing us with personal information, we will assume that you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such information for the purposes identified or described in this Privacy Statement, if applicable, or otherwise at the time of collection.

You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information at any time, subject to contractual and legal restrictions (including any applicable provisions or restrictions as contained in the Securities Act), and subject to reasonable notice, by contacting us as explained below. Please note, however, that if you withdraw your consent to certain uses of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide services to you that we have provided previously.

Collection. Personal information about you that the ASC collects may include the following:

  • information that you provide to us through our websites to access services, submit complaints or whistleblower reports, report wrongdoing, utilize tools, or subscribe to receive information from us, such as your name, address, telephone number, email addresses and other contact information;
  • preferences such as how individuals use the websites and what they would like to see on the websites; and
  • other information that we collect with your consent or as permitted or required by law.

Accuracy. We make every reasonable effort to keep your information accurate and up-to-date. Whenever possible, we take in your information exactly as provided and avoid any potential errors that may arise when re-keying data.

You may be asked to verify your personal information and provide you with an opportunity to update or correct it.

You may request access to our records that include your personal information; you may also request corrections to your personal information. We will make the correction or annotate the record if we refuse to make the correction. Only factual information may be corrected. Subjective instances such as individual opinions cannot be corrected. If we have disclosed your personal information in the past year to third parties, we will notify them of the change. We will verify your identity and request supporting records to prove the correct personal information prior to changing your personal information.

Use. The ASC may use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • to contact you to send information you have requested;
  • to send you newsletters and other electronic communications that you have subscribed to;
  • to respond to your questions and requests;
  • to conduct and administer surveys, promotions, or other outreach initiatives;
  • to administer and enforce the provisions of the Securities Act; and,
  • otherwise with your consent or as permitted or required by law.

Disclosure. The ASC may disclose your personal information to third parties in the following circumstances:

  • to administer and enforce the provisions of the Securities Act;
  • as necessary for the ASC to meet its other legal, regulatory, insurance, audit, processing and security requirements; and
  • otherwise with your consent or as permitted or required by law.
 
Service providers
We may transfer personal information to third party agents or service providers which provide services such as data processing, electronic mailing/communication, administrative, website analytics, other online analytics or other services on our behalf. We take reasonable measures to ensure that your personal information that is processed by these service providers is protected and not used or disclosed for purposes other than as directed by us and in accordance with the provisions of applicable law. Some of our service providers may be located in foreign jurisdictions and will be subject to the laws of such jurisdictions, which may permit foreign government and national security authorities access to your personal information in certain circumstances.
Usage of our websites

Browsing activity. Certain browsing information may be collected to help the ASC evaluate our websites and determine how they are used. For example, we may collect your IP address, browser type, operating system, domain name, access times, pages viewed, and referring website addresses. This information may be combined with that of other visitors to the websites and used for the management and improvement of our websites. For example, we may use such information to assess which areas of the websites are most commonly accessed. The ASC may use service providers to help us collect and analyze this information, and we may share this information and other information of this type with service providers retained by the ASC to assist in the development and administration of the websites.

Security. We protect your personal information in our custody or control using reasonable physical, electronic or procedural security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, which may include safeguards to protect against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. We also maintain various contingency plans that include regular data back-ups that may utilize offsite resources.

Protected transmission. We use secure servers to receive any personal information you may provide us online. Credit Card payment information is processed through a secure third-party service provider. We do not maintain your credit card data on file.

Use of cookies

When you visit our websites, we collect a limited amount of statistical information which does not personally identify you. We may use both session and persistent cookies which are small files that are created by a web site, sent to your browser, and stored on the hard drive of your computer. A session cookie expires after you leave the website whereas a persistent cookie remains until it expires.

Cookies are used to make it more convenient for you to move around the site when you visit that site; for example, they can remember your web viewing preferences such as choice of language or accessibility options. They can also assist us in monitoring traffic patterns so that website content and design can be improved for visitors.

Cookies do not personally identify you but, if you prefer, you are able to visit our sites with cookies disabled. Click here to set your cookie preferences.

 
External sites and embedded content
Our websites may link to other sites or include content that is created and maintained by other public and private sector organizations. Additionally, you may be directed to a third-party website to register for an ASC event or other outreach initiative. Although these links and content are provided for your information and convenience, you should be aware that the privacy practices and the manner in which these organizations use personal information may differ from the ASC. These websites may but subject to different legal requirements that the ASC is not subject to. As a result, these websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the site and/or its content. You are therefore strongly encouraged to refer to the privacy policy or statement that may be contained on such third-party websites.
Retention and Disposal
We maintain and dispose of our records, including any personal information you may provide to us, in accordance the Government Organization Act and the Records Management Regulation, as well as the PPA and its regulations as applicable. 
Requesting access to personal information
If you would like to request access to our records containing your personal information, or other records that may be covered by Alberta’s Access to Information Act, you may submit a request here.

Contact Us

For more information about the ASC's privacy policies and practices, please contact the ASC's Privacy and Access Officer at:

Telephone: (403) 297-6454
Toll-Free: (877) 355-0585
Main Fax: (403) 297-6156
E-Mail: records.requests@asc.ca
Mail: Alberta Securities Commission
Suite 600, 250-5th Street SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R4