Privacy Policy - Gazifère

Privacy Policy

Our Commitment

This Privacy Statement is based on Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and Québec’s Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (SQ 2021, c 25). It governs the commercial relationship between Gazifère Inc. (“Gazifère”, “we”, “us”) and individuals with whom we interact, such as our customers or potential customers, landowners, website users, contractors and other stakeholders (“you”).

At Gazifère, we are committed to providing excellent service and ensuring that our relationship with you is conducted with integrity and in a responsible, fair, honest and ethical manner. Consistent with these objectives, we maintain high standards of confidentiality with respect to the personal information in our possession.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement or wish to access the personal information in our possession about you, please contact our Privacy Officer. Contact information can be found in section 4.0 of this Privacy Statement.

1.0 Collection, use and disclosure of personal information

1.1 What personal information do we collect?

Personal information is information that may be used to identify a specific individual. Examples of personal information include your name, address, age and other personal identification numbers such as driver’s license and social insurance number. In the course of carrying on our business, it is necessary for Gazifère to collect, use, and disclose information about individuals.
Gazifère limits its collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information to the purposes that we have identified for you.

1.2 Purposes: Why do we collect personal information?

Gazifère collects and uses personal information for purposes reasonably required to carry on our business. These purposes include :

  • To provide you with natural gas and related energy services.
  • To bill and collect payment for products and services.
  • To meet legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations to you and to others.
  • To provide information about using energy safely and efficiently.
  • To tell you about the energy services or products of Gazifère and its business partners that may be of interest to you.
  • To understand your energy needs and preferences – from time to time, we may ask you to participate in surveys that provide us with necessary information about the effectiveness of our safety information materials or other communications.
  • To trace overpayments and return credits to the appropriate person.
  • To confirm identity and related contact information.
  • To ensure account security through various methods of account verification.
  • To manage, develop and improve our operations to ensure the safe and efficient operation of our business.

If we identify a new purpose for the personal information that we have collected from you, we will provide notice of these new purposes in this Privacy Statement and, as necessary, obtain your express consent before using your personal information for the new purpose.

1.3 Consent: Why do we require your permission?

Gazifère will only collect, use or disclose your personal information with your consent, except in limited circumstances. By your receipt of this Privacy Statement, Gazifère will assume, unless we hear from you otherwise, that you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by Gazifère in accordance with this Statement. Should you wish to change your information, please contact responsable.protection@gazifere.com.

You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information at any time, subject to any legal, contractual or regulatory restrictions and reasonable notice.

Please note that withdrawing your consent may change how Gazifère can interact with you. If you want to withdraw your consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer. Contact information can be found in section 4.0 of this Privacy Statement.

We do not sell customer lists to any outside company for marketing, solicitation, or other purposes. We will not use or disclose your personal information without your consent except in the following circumstances:

  • When required by law or law enforcement purposes.
  • For an emergency that threatens life, health or security.
  • To bill for or collect a debt that you owe us or to evaluate your creditworthiness.
  • To a third party that we have contracted with to provide you with services on our behalf. or to assist us in understanding your energy needs and preferences.
  • To facilitate or conclude a commercial transaction, such as the sale of Gazifère assets or shares or any other form of business combination, merger or joint venture, to the extent where the other party is linked by appropriate confidentiality agreements and usage limitations.
  • If the information is publicly available.

1.4 Storing of information and restricting access

We may store your information in electronic databases or email systems hosted by us or our service providers for periods and with safeguards that we believe are reasonable, depending on the nature and sensitivity of the information.

Access to the information is restricted to a select group of individuals whose job function requires them to have access to your information. Access to the information is done in accordance with our security protocols.

Some information will be stored with service providers. Storage of this information is governed by our agreements with the service providers. We expect these service providers, at a minimum, to have the same security and storage protocols as Gazifère in accordance with our Records Management Policy and Records Retention Schedule. Please note that Gazifère uses cloud-based solutions, and the data collected may reside in data centres outside of Québec. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Privacy Officer. Contact information can be found in section 4.0 of this Privacy Statement.

1.5 Automated decision-making

If Gazifère uses your personal information to make a decision based only on an automated processing of your information, we will let you know about that use when we inform you about the decision, or earlier. If you would like to learn more about this kind of decision-making at Gazifère, please contact our Privacy Officer. Contact information can be found in section 4.0 of this Privacy Statement.

2.0 Protecting your personal information

2.1 Security safeguards and employee awareness

Keeping your personal information confidential and secure is a priority for us. In order to ensure the protection of your personal information and right to privacy, we have developed security procedures to safeguard and protect your personal information against loss, theft, unauthorized disclosure, copying, and unauthorized use or modification, including:

  • Limiting the collection, use and disclosure of personal information to that reasonably required to carry on our business.
  • Ensuring that areas and documents are only accessible by authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.
  • Protecting the confidential nature of personal information when dealing with other organizations and requiring them to meet the same standard as we do in handling personal information.

Our personnel are trained to maintain the security and confidentiality of your personal information. In addition to PIPEDA, all Gazifère personnel must abide by Québec’s privacy legislation Act to Modernize Legislative Provisions as Regards the Protection of Personal Information when handling personal information related to our customers or potential customers, landowners, website users, contractors and other stakeholders.

2.2 Agents and third-party service providers

From time to time, Gazifère may use third-party vendors, including vendors located outside of Québec, to process the information on its behalf, including for information storage, payment processing, human resource administration and similar purposes. In those cases, your data may be made available to these third parties solely to assist Gazifère in developing or maintaining our relationship with you. Where information will be communicated outside of Quebec, Gazifère will complete a privacy impact assessment before transferring the information to ensure that the information will receive adequate protection outside of Québec. In all cases where third parties may be able to access your information, we will continue to protect it through confidentiality arrangements and not allow your data to be removed from Gazifère’s control. We only share your personal information with others in the ways explained in this Privacy Statement. Any third party with whom we share your personal information is contractually bound to keep the information confidential and to refrain from using it in any way other than is necessary to perform the services.

3.0 Your rights

3.1 Accessing your personal information

You have the right to ask whether we hold any personal information about you and, if so, to request to review, update, correct or obtain a copy of any of your personal information that Gazifère holds. Where Gazifère has collected your personal information from another party, you may also request Gazifère to provide the source of the information. We will respond to your request to access, update, correct or receive a copy of your personal information within 30 days of the request being made. Access to personal information in your file is free. However, a reasonable charge may be required if you request a transcription, copying or transmission of the information. You can refuse to allow us to obtain, use or share your personal information, or you can withdraw a previously given consent at any time. However, by so doing, depending on the circumstances, you could be limiting or even preventing our ability to provide you with the service or product you desire.

3.2 Gazifère management of your personal information

You have the right to know which Gazifère job roles have access to your personal information, how long Gazifère will keep your personal information, and to request Gazifère stop sharing your personal information in certain circumstances.

We will respond to your request for more information about access to, storage and sharing of your personal information within 30 days of the request being made.

3.3 Registering complaints or observations

In the event of any conflict or other concern regarding access to your personal information, the accuracy or our use of your personal information, the protection of your personal information, or if you wish to submit observations related to an automated decision that Gazifère has taken, you may register a question or complaint by contacting our Privacy Officer. Contact information can be found in section 4.0 of this Privacy Statement.

4.0 Contact information and resources

Your personal information is kept at our places of business and is accessible only to that Gazifère personnel who need it to carry out their duties or in the execution of their mandates. If you wish to access your personal information, change your consent to how we may use your personal information, or if you have questions or comments concerning our Privacy Statement or the way we have handled or made use of your information, please contact our Privacy Officer as follows:

To find out more about Québec’s Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (SQ 2021, c 25, the law that applies to Gazifère), contact the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec by calling 1-888-528-7741 or consult the website www.cai.gouv.qc.ca.

5.0 Visiting the Gazifère website

When visiting the Gazifère website, you are not required to disclose personal information such as name, address or telephone number. Nor is personal information collected automatically by electronic means, except as described below.

Personal information is collected when you voluntarily complete an online application, a request form, a subscription request or a survey. That information is used the same way as any other personal information collected by delivering our services or responding to your requests. We will not send you any unsolicited electronic communication.

Our website collects visitor information by Internet protocol (“IP”) fields or addresses. It captures which pages were accessed. This information is used internally, only in aggregate form, and helps us to manage and improve the content of our website and to diagnose technical problems, and thus to better serve you. Gazifère may store a “cookie” in your computer when you visit the website to facilitate the display of web pages. The “cookie” will not be used to collect any kind of personal information.

6.0 Changes to This Privacy Statement

In order to ensure that our Privacy Statement is kept up to date, we reserve the right to change it from time to time. Any changes will be effective when posted on the website. Please periodically review the Privacy Statement to ensure you are informed of current practices. In the event that we change our Statement materially, we will notify you of such changes (by mail, email or on our website).

7.0 Gazifère’s commitment to the Ten Privacy Principles

7.1 Accountability

Gazifère is responsible for personal information under its control and has designated a Privacy Officer who is accountable for Gazifère’s compliance with the ten privacy principles.

7.2 Identifying Purposes

Gazifère shall identify the purposes for which personal information is collected at or before the time of collection.

7.3 Obtaining Consent

The knowledge and consent of an individual is required for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, except where inappropriate.

7.4 Limiting collection

The collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by Gazifère.

Personal information shall be collected by fair and lawful means.

7.5 Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention

Gazifère shall not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as permitted by law. Gazifère shall retain personal information only for as long as necessary to achieve fulfillment of the identified purposes.

7.6 Keeping Personal Information Accurate

Gazifère shall keep personal information as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.

7.7 Safeguarding Personal Information

Gazifère shall protect personal information by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

7.8 Openness Concerning our Privacy Practices

Gazifère shall ensure that specific information about its policies and practices relating to the management of personal information is made readily available to individuals with whom it interacts.

7.9 Access to Information

Upon request, Gazifère shall inform an individual of the existence, use and disclosure of their personal information and shall give such individual access to that information.

7.10 Challenging Compliance

An individual shall be able to address a challenge concerning Gazifère’s compliance with the Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector by contacting the Gazifère Privacy Officer.