Privacy Officer: Alison Fletcher
Phone: 1-800-991-2121
Email: privacyofficer@berkshire.ca
Berkshire
Investment Group Inc., Berkshire Securities Inc. and Berkshire Insurance
Services Inc. (“Berkshire”) are committed to protecting your privacy and the
confidentiality of your personal information. In order to comply with privacy
legislation, we have developed this Privacy Policy. Any personally identifiable
information about a client** is considered personal information (“Personal
Information”) and will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
IDENTIFIED PURPOSES
Berkshire
only collects, uses and discloses Personal Information for the following
purposes:
•
Administering
your account(s);
•
Offering and
providing investment, insurance products and services to you;
•
Establishing
and maintaining communications with you;
•
Verifying your
identity;
•
Complying with
the law or the requests of law enforcement agencies or regulators; and
•
Notifying you
or allowing our affiliated companies to notify you of certain products or
services offered by our affiliated companies.
CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE
If
you are not satisfied with Berkshire’s response to a privacy related inquiry
or complaint, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of
Canada during business hours at 1-800-282-1376 or at www.privcom.gc.ca.
**
In this policy “client”, “you” or “your” includes any individual who
has requested, applied for or been supplied with products and services by
Berkshire including any other individual for whom the client has acted as agent,
guardian or representative.
CONSENT
Your
knowledge and consent of Berkshire’s collection, use and disclosure of your
Personal Information is critical. We rely on the following actions by you as
indications of your consent to our existing and future Personal Information
practices:
•
Your voluntary
provision of Personal Information directly to Berkshire or through an insurance
broker or representative for the purpose of acquiring an investment, insurance
contract or related service or product (including information previously
provided to Berkshire);
•
Your express
consent or acknowledgement contained within a written, verbal or electronic
application process;
•
Your consent
solicited by Berkshire (or our agent) for a specified purpose;
•
Your receipt of
this Privacy Policy, until you notify Berkshire of a withdrawal of this consent;
or
•
Your consent
given through your authorized representative such as a legal guardian, agent or
holder of a power of attorney.
Subject
to certain legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice, you may
withdraw this consent at any time. Berkshire will inform you of the consequences
of withdrawing your consent.
In
some cases, refusing to provide certain Personal Information or withdrawing
consent for Berkshire to collect, use or disclose your Personal Information
could mean that we cannot provide you with investment products, insurance
coverage or other requested products, services or information. If you wish to
withdraw your consent to be notified of marketing initiatives by us or our
affiliates for products or services, please call us at 1-800-991-2121.
LIMITING
COLLECTION AND RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Berkshire
will only collect, use, or disclose Personal Information that is necessary for
the Identified Purposes or as required by law. If we require Personal
Information for any other purpose, you will be notified of the new purpose, and
subject to your consent, that new purpose will become an Identified Purpose.
Berkshire will only collect Personal Information by fair and lawful means. We
will retain Personal Information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment
of the Identified Purposes.
Berkshire
will maintain your Personal Information as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as
is necessary for the Identified Purposes.
SAFEGUARDS
Berkshire
will protect your Personal Information by security safeguards appropriate to the
sensitivity of the information. Safeguards will vary depending on the
sensitivity, format, location, and storage of the Personal Information.
ACCOUNTABILITY,
OPENNESS AND CUSTOMER ACCESS
Berkshire
is responsible for all Personal Information under its control and has designated
a Privacy Officer who is accountable to Senior Management for Berkshire’s
compliance with this Privacy Policy.
A
copy of this Privacy Policy (and any future updates) can be obtained from our
website at www.berkshire.ca. If you have
any questions about this Privacy Policy or your Personal Information, please
call us at 1-800-991-2121. When you call us, we may confirm your identity by
asking you to confirm certain Personal Information and you may be directed to
send us certain requests in writing.