Last Revised: June 28, 2024

Introduction

The privacy of your personal information is important to Circular Economy Leadership Canada (CELC). 

This Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by CELC on our websites (circulareconomyleaders.ca, and its subdomains), including our community platform “Circul8” at circul8.circulareconomyleaders.ca.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personal information in compliance with the mandatory requirements and your rights under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada.

What personal information do we collect about you?

CELC collects personal information from you when you provide it to us directly, and indirectly through your use of Circul8. This information may include the following kinds of personal information:

• information you provide to us in order to sign up for our newsletters (e.g. your name, email address, phone number and company);
• information that you provide for the purpose of registering or creating a user account with Circul8, (e.g. your name, email address, phone number, job title, company name and information, user credentials and country); 
• information collected automatically about your use of Circul8 using cookies (please see our Cookie Policy) and other tracking technologies (e.g. what pages you visit and the time and date of your visit). We may also collect information about the device you use to access Circul8. We do not collect user-specific cookies on any other of our websites other than Circul8 (i.e. cookies are used to provide functionality without any personal information, and to collect usage, session information, and IP addresses via Google Analytics), and do not share user-specific information from Circul8 with our other websites (i.e. cookies are not shared between CELC websites); 
• information you provide when you participate in Circul8 rooms (“Rooms”) and discussion boards (e.g. your comments and messages); and
• records of your interactions with us (e.g. if you reach out or request support via email or another method).

We only collect personal information that is relevant and necessary for the purposes identified in this Policy or as required by law.

What do we use this personal information for?

Depending on how you use our websites, your interactions with us, and the permissions you give us, CELC may use your personal information to:

• send you marketing communications (via Circul8, MailChimp, and directly through our email provider) where you have opted-in and given explicit consent and to show you targeted advertising where we have your consent (e.g on the Circul8 platform);
• communicate with you with respect to your participation or potential participation in Circular Economy Leadership Canada, including automatic emails on the Circul8 platform (the delivery preferences of which you have control over);
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• administer our websites and maintain and monitor their usage;
• carry out research (e.g. we may collect comments and feedback posted on Circul8, and use that to understand sentiment around particular ideas);
• personalize our websites for you and to show you content we think you will be most interested in, based on your browsing activity or user account information;
• investigate any complaints or contraventions of our terms and conditions;
• enable your access to and use of Circul8; and
• for security purposes, to investigate fraud and where necessary to protect ourselves and third parties.

We do not use personal information for any other purpose unless we obtain consent or as required by law. 

Who do we share your personal information with?

CELC may share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

• with our suppliers and service providers where they provide services to us which involves them handling personal information on our behalf, including but not limited to MailChimp, Zapnito, and Google Workspace, subject to appropriate confidentiality and security safeguards;
• with our professional and legal advisers;
• with employees of The Natural Step Canada, Smart Prosperity Institute, and related entities;
• with third parties engaged in fraud detection or prevention;
• with law enforcement or other governmental authorities, when legally required to do so; and
• in the event that the assets of the CELC are acquired by another entity, personal information may be transferred to the acquiring party;

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

How do we treat confidential business information shared in CELC Partners-only sections of Circul8?

Parts of the Circul8 community platform will only be accessible to CELC Partners, each which have signed a partnership agreement outlining their responsibilities in sharing and handling information with other CELC Partners. These sections of Circul8 will be indicated clearly.

Partners may wish to share sensitive or confidential information in these Partners-only sections with the understanding that any other CELC Partner could have access to this information.

The CELC will take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to ensure these areas of Circul8 are not accessed by those who are not CELC Partners, and that CELC Partners understand their responsibilities to treat information and conversations in the Partners-only sections of Circul8 as confidential.

Securing and retaining your personal information

CELC will take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse, or alteration of your personal information. We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. We store all personal information on secure servers provided by our service providers, with security standards.

Access and corrections to your personal information

We provide your self-service access to some of your personal information, and a manner with which to update it, directly MailChimp and Circul8. To access other information not available through these self-service means, or to address any concerns about the handling of personal information, you may contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information provided below.

Updating this statement

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The updated Policy will be posted on our websites, and the effective date will be indicated.

You should check these pages occasionally to ensure you are familiar with any changes.

Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Office at [email protected].